Sebastian Vettel has taken the lead of the world championship with victory on Easter Day of the Bahrain GP 2017 after title rival Lewis Hamilton was hit with a costly race penalty for gamesmanship.
Although Hamilton was twice let through by team-mate Valtteri Bottas, the Mercedes driver was penalised five seconds for driving slowly on pit entry to hold up Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, at the first round of pit-stops when he was 'stacked' behind Bottas which was ordered to let Hamilton by so he could chase Vettel, but 12 seconds in nine laps was too big a task.
Vettel had taken the lead after an early pit stop and stayed clear of Hamilton through the final stages when the Englishman launched a desperate charge to claw back the Ferrari. Vettel's second victory of the season gives him a seven-point lead over Hamilton in the F1 championship standings.
Ferrari being proactive with strategy won them the race.
Hamilton's mistake at the pit entry cost him a cracking battle at the end,It was a great race at Gulf air Bahrain Grand Prix, although it's getting harder to watch Honda destroying Mclaren with another terrible engine program.
We can all agree we have a good 2017 F1 season ahead of Us.
Full Bahrain Grand Prix race results
1. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - Ferrari 57 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes - Mercedes +6.660ss
3. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes - Mercedes +20.397s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - Ferrari +22.475s
5. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull - TAG +39.346s
6. Felipe Massa BRA Williams - Mercedes +54.326s 7. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +1m 02.606s
8. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +1m 14.865s
9. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault - Renault +1m 20.188s
10. Esteban Ocon FRA Force India-Mercedes +1m 22.252s
11. Pascal Wehrlein GER Sauber - Ferrari +1 lap
12. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
13. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault - Renault +1 lap
14. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +3 laps
Did not finish
15. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber - Ferrari 50 laps completed
16. Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 12 laps completed
17. Lance Stroll CAN Williams - Mercedes 12 laps completed
18. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull - TAG 11 laps completed
19. Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas-Ferrari 8 laps completed
20. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren-Honda 0 laps completed
Driver Standings Top 5
1. Sebastian Vettel GER. FERRARI (68)
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR. MERCEDES (61)
3. Valtteri Bottas FIN . MERCEDES (38)
4. Kimi Räikkönen FIN. FERRARI (34)
5. Max Verstappen NED. RED BULL (25)
The next race is the FORMULA 1 VTB RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX Sochi, in Fri 28 Apr – Sun 30 Apr 2017.