RACE

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel roared to a brilliant victory in the 2017 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Bahrain International Circuit once again provided the perfect setting for a sizzling motorsport spectacle, as a record crowd of 33,000 – and 93,000 in all for the weekend – enjoyed Formula 1 action at its finest.

After splitting the first two races of the season with Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton, Vettel was eager to strike back and it was the star pair once again battling in the end for all the glory. This time it was the scarlet red of Ferraritaking the chequered flag as a brilliant series of fireworks lit up the night sky above Sakhir.

The German gained the lead from pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas during a safety car period early on in the race. At the re-start, he managed to stave off his rival and eventually built a comfortable advantage of over 10 seconds from therest of the pack.

Vettel crossed the finish line with a winning time of one hour 33 minutes 53.374 seconds. Hamilton, who had been given a five-second time penalty for impeding Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in the pit lane, had cut the gap to 6.660seconds by the end. Bottas had to settle for the final podium place 20.397s back in third.

PODIUM PLACERS QUOTES

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel

said Vettel during his post-race interview on the podium.

“It’s been an awesome weekend,” said Rosberg. “The key was the start; I had a quick getaway and from then on I was trying to control the pace. It’s absolutely awesome to get the win.”

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished as the runner-up for the second straight year, while Rosberg’s Mercedes teammate and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton completed the podium placers.

Rosberg led much of the race by a comfortable margin and at the end of the 57-lap challenge was classified 10.2 seconds in front of Raikkonen. Hamilton was well behind the leading pair, finishing the race 30.148s behind the winner.

Raikkonen stated:

“I had a bad start, after a few laps, I had gone straight behind Nico and it was pretty hard to recover. It was bad luck.”

Added Hamilton, whose two-year winning streak in Bahrain ended tonight:

“A big thank you to the fans. I got some incredible support here; I’ve been so well taken care of.”

WHAT MEDIA SAID

While Lewis Hamilton spluttered off the line, Rosberg roared into the lead and never looked back. True, he was never challenged for the rest of the evening, strolling ahead into the distance, but the German did not put a foot wrong.He did all he had to do, no more, no less. – Daniel Johnson, The Telegraph.