Vettel holds off Bottas to win thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix

DOMINATING Raikkonen’s car hits mechanic; Hamilton finishes 3rd as Vettel leads him by 17 points

SAKHIR,BAHRAIN: Sebastian Vettel just held on to win a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday and extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton, who finished third behind teammate Valtteri Bottas despite starting from ninth.

Vettel was almost overtaken by Bottas on the last lap, but made a crucial blocking move and won by only 0.6 seconds.

Hamilton was gifted a podium spot after Ferrari botched Kimi Raikkonen’s second tyre change. A rear wheel was not fitted properly and, in his haste to get back into the race, Raikkonen’s car hit a team mechanic. Ferrari said the mechanic was taken to the hospital for treatment. There was no immediate update on his condition or the nature of his injury.

Vettel made it two straight F1 wins after victory at the seasonopening Australian GP two weeks ago, sealing his 49th career win on his 200th race start.

“A bit sad because one of our mechanics got injured,” Vettel said. “A mixed day overall.”

Red Bull had an awful race, with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen retiring early on. In an ironic twist, Red Bull’s feeder team Toro Rosso had arguably the result of the day — with French driver Pierre Gasly driving superbly to finish a careerbest fourth.

But it was determined and astute defending from Vettel, who drove just like a four-time F1 champion. He was under serious pressure from the faster car of Bottas, who was on better tires, but did not crack.

Vettel whooped with joy as he crossed the finish line, although his team’s celebrations were more low-key than usual following the mechanic’s hospitalization.

Raikkonen came in for his second tire change of the race after 36 of 57 laps of the 5.4-kilometer