Vettel wins ahead of Mercedes in Bahrain

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) signed his second victory of the season by winning the Bahrain Grand Prix held on the Sakhir circuit. The four-time world champion, who scored his second victory of the season after the Australian GP and the 44th of his career, took the lead by anticipating his first stop before the intervention of the safety car following the accident between Lance stroll (Williams) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Toro Rosso).

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) could have come back in the final laps, but the Briton received a 5s penalty for having slowed down too much when entering the pits while his teammate Valtteri Bottas carried out its shutdown, thereby blocking Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull). The three-time world champion saved a 2nd place by easily regaining the advantage over the Finn in the last stint and is now 7 points behind Sebastian Vettel.

Kimi Râikkönen (Ferrari) failed at the foot of the podium by preceding Daniel Ricciardo, the only Red Bull driver to finish after the retirement of Max Verstappen who lost his brakes.

The French in the points

Felipe Massa (Williams) took 6th place ahead of Sergio Pérez (Force India). The two French people are in the points with Romain Grosjean (Haas) 8th and Esteban Ocon (Force India) 10th behind Nico Hulkenberg which offers the first points of the season to Renault Sport F1 team.

It's another double abandonment for McLaren. Fernando Alonso returned to the garage following an engine problem two laps from the finish, while Stoffel Vandoorne could not even start.

In the Manufacturers' Championship, Scuderia Ferrari is in the lead with 3 points ahead of Mercedes GP. Red Bull Racing is 55 points behind the Prancing Horse.

Discover the analysis of the Bahrain Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2110 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.