Hamilton benefits from Leclerc's Bahrain woes

Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain GP, ​​the 74th of his career and his first of the season, at the end of a race full of twists and turns where the Team Ferrari ended up the big loser of the Sakhir meeting with mechanical problems for Charles Leclerc who had won the race around fifteen laps from the finish and a spin of Sebastian Vettel.

Starting from pole, Charles Leclerc fell back to 3rd after a bad start but managed to regain the advantage against Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Sebastian Vettel. The Monegasque had a comfortable lead until he encountered an engine problem probably linked to energy recovery forcing him to give in to the Mercedes by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

The new Ferrari resident was able to retain his 3rd place with the entry of the safety car following the double abandonment of the Renault de Nico Hulkenberg et Daniel Ricciardo who were in the points. The Monegasque takes his first podium in F1 even if he hoped for much better this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel was fighting for second place against Lewis Hamilton before spinning when the reigning world champion got up to him. The German finished 5th behind Max Verstappen (Red Bull) after having to go to the pits to change his front wing.

Lando Norris offers a promising 6th place to McLaren ahead of Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo). Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) was able to move up to 8th place ahead of Alexander albon (Toro Rosso) and Sergio Pérez (Racing Point) who preceded Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Lance stroll (Racing Point) and Williams by George Russell and Robert Kubica.

Carlos Sainz Jr (McLaren) and Romain Grosjean (Haas) retired, the Frenchman having suffered contact with Lance Stroll on the first lap while the Spaniard suffered a puncture after a collision with Max Verstappen.

LAP 57/57: BREED CLASSIFICATION

Agony for Leclerc
Norris and Albon get their first points in F1 #BahrainGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ODtV69EY07

- Formula 1 (@ F1) March 31, 2019

Discover the analysis of the Bahrain GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2210 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.