Bahrain – Race: Technical KO for Leclerc, Hamilton takes the win!

In the pit lane, on the grid before the start, the excitement was exceptional around one man. For the first time in his career, Charles Leclerc was starting from pole position, ahead of nine world champion titles, those of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, in second and third respectively.

Behind this trio, the winner of the first race, Valtteri Bottas, and an explosive duo on the third row: Max Verstappen and the Haas of Kévin Magnussen. The six drivers and the rest of the grid settled into their starting positions with this fear: being destabilized by the wind, violent, especially on the main straight or in the sixth corner. A wind that brought a lot of sand, somewhat swept away by the 20 drivers during the formation lap.

Feverish start for Leclerc, but quickly caught up!

Change of leader at the start! With momentum, Vettel dispossessed Leclerc of his position gained a day earlier. Worse, the poleman was also overtaken by Bottas, who had himself swallowed Hamilton in the first corner. The Monegasque digested for a few moments the pressure of a first start in the lead… before launching an attack in the next lap! Same place but a different outcome this time: Leclerc was back in front of the winner in Australia. A battle and a double blow for Bottas, also overtaken by Hamilton in the fourth corner. #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 | L 2/57

A small mistake by Bottas in corner 1, and 2 places lost!

2 LEC
3 HAM #F1 pic.twitter.com/jwCUmol4vN — Sector F1 🚥🇺🇸 (@Sector_F1) March 31, 2019

In 6th place, the good operation was for Carlos Sainz, ahead of Magnussen. Bad deal for Romain Grosjean, however. Starting 11th, the Frenchman lost positions, before being hit by Lance Stroll at the exit of the second corner of the first lap. The start of the race was definitely hectic, with a collision between Verstappen and Sainz on the 4th lap. Threatened by the McLaren, the Red Bull driver closed the door on the inside of the fourth corner and caused a puncture. His former teammate at Toro Rosso lost a lot and dropped to the back of the field.

#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 | T 5/57

Contact between Sainz and Verstappen

Puncture for the Spaniard it seems #F1 pic.twitter.com/vLFMtCE0UV

— Secteur F1 🏎️🇺🇸 (@Secteur_F1) 31 mars 2019

But the focus quickly returned to the front of the race. Setting the fastest lap in the third, fourth, and fifth laps, Leclerc caught up with Vettel… and overtook him on his first attempt. A very impressive reaction from the Monegasque, who then took the lead of the Grand Prix and immediately started to pull away! Vettel was quickly pushed back beyond a second gap, trailing by 2.5 seconds on the 10th lap. The top 4 resumed their starting order: Leclerc-Vettel-Hamilton-Bottas. Verstappen remained in fifth, but there were changes behind with Ricciardo climbing to sixth place, ahead of Räikkönen, Hülkenberg (who had started 17th!), Pérez, and Magnussen.

In the battle for 12th position, Pierre Gasly initiated the pit stops at the end of the 10th lap. He was followed by his teammate Max Verstappen on the next lap, suspected of having a slow puncture according to his team.

LAP 6/57: After telling his engineer he’s quicker than his team mate, Leclerc battles past Vettel to take the lead #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/cjesWrO1lX

— Formula 1 (@F1) 31 mars 2019

In distress, Hamilton relinquishes second place to Vettel

The first tire change allowed Leclerc to keep the lead. At the pit stop on lap 14, car #16 was then equipped with medium tires, with a yellow band. Following closely, Lewis Hamilton’s car #44, with a different choice, the soft tires, with a red band. The latter had made a smart move by performing the undercut on Vettel, who had to do one more lap before stopping!

In the meantime, Daniel Ricciardo had taken the lead in an anecdotal fashion before being overtaken by the frontrunners. The Australian was banking on a one-stop strategy (fulfilled on lap 25) and stayed on track with his starting tires. The same idea applied to Kevin Magnussen, the only Haas car on track after Grosjean’s retirement, forced to withdraw following his opening lap contact with Stroll. The “Formula 1 of the others” was then led by Nico Hülkenberg, who overtook Kimi Räikkönen in a move reminiscent of Leclerc’s on Vettel for the lead.

Happy thanks to his team’s strategy, Hamilton was still struggling with his tires, especially at the rear! A few moments on the tarmac run-offs resulted in lost seconds: as a direct consequence, the five-time world champion lost his second position to Vettel almost without a fight, on lap 23. For the German, however, there was a gap with Leclerc: the leader had built a lead of 7.8 seconds, noted after 24 laps, becoming more and more significant as the Grand Prix progressed.

Vettel then Leclerc: a two-part catastrophe for Scuderia Ferrari!

The excitement died down for a few laps before picking up again at the second wave of stops. Still at a good distance, Hamilton attempted another undercut on Vettel on the 36th lap. The Scuderia reacted immediately by bringing in Vettel right afterward. But the German was under pressure, coming out just ahead of the Brit, hindered by traffic. The battle between the two world champions lasted a few minutes… and was abruptly interrupted by Vettel’s spin!

Under threat, the German was overtaken by his rival and immediately spun out, all by himself, without touching Hamilton. A personal error with terrible consequences: the vibrations from this incident caused an explosion of his front wing. The German was forced to return to the pits to repair his damaged car. His return to the track was in the ninth position, behind the top 4, as well as Hülkenberg, Ricciardo, Norris, and Räikkönen.

LAP 39/57: There’s worse to follow for Sebastian Vettel – he and George Russell make contact and Vettel loses his front wing – dramatically! #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/GkXlzI9FDc

— Formula 1 (@F1) 31 mars 2019

The two Renault drivers were indeed having it out on track, a little too close, on the verge of a collision. Once back in action, Vettel quickly dispatched the quartet clustered within a matter of seconds.

At the front, Leclerc had pitted without any issues to change his tires (on lap 37). But to everyone’s shock, twelve laps from the end, the Monegasque driver called over the radio to report an engine problem! His lead was melting away like snow in the sun, inexorably. The reason? An electrical recharge issue, with 160 horsepower lost. An unsolvable problem: Lewis Hamilton officially took the lead of the Grand Prix on lap 48. For Leclerc, it was a terrible end to the race on more than one front, forced to struggle at 250 km/h at top speed. Valtteri Bottas took second place from him on lap 54.

Leclerc saved… by the safety car, Hamilton wins!

Paradoxically, the Ferrari driver was saved by the intervention of the Safety Car following… the consecutive retirements of the two Renaults. An incredible timing for the French team, which lost everything three laps from the finish. This neutralization cemented the final standings of this Grand Prix, with a final trio: Hamilton-Bottas-Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton secures the victory, the 74th of his career!

After Melbourne, another one-two finish for Mercedes, thanks to Valtteri Bottas’s second place. Slim consolation for Leclerc, who climbs onto the first podium of his career, but obviously not in the desired position.

The Monegasque secures the point for the fastest lap. Fourth place for Max Verstappen, ahead of Vettel… and Lando Norris, who scores the first points of his career with a sixth-place finish. The end of the top 10 changed due to the retirement of both Renaults: Räikkönen taking seventh position, ahead of Gasly, Albon (who also opens his points account), and Pérez.

Here is the final ranking of the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix:

In the overall standings, the Mercedes team makes an initial break, both in the drivers’ and constructors’ standings. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton are separated by just one point, and have a fifteen-point lead over the first pursuer: Max Verstappen. In total, 14 drivers have made it into the top 10 in the first two races.

Among the constructors, Mercedes leaves Sakhir with a 39-point lead over Scuderia Ferrari. Note the provisional fourth place of Alfa Romeo (10 pts), and the last place of Williams, now the only team with zero points. A situation that may continue throughout this 2019 season…