Vettel too fast for Hamilton in Bahrain
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel held off a tremendous late charge from Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton to win the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday and take the overall lead in the Formula One title race in Sakhir, Bahrain.
Hamilton was catching Vettel on every lap but ultimately ran out of time and finished about seven seconds behind.
Vettel and Hamilton were level with a win each heading into this race, but Vettel’s second victory of the season and 44th of his career puts him in command.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas finished third after starting from pole position for the first time in his career. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was fourth.
Bottas made a clean start but Hamilton was beaten for pace by Vettel, who overtook him heading into the first corner.
Hamilton’s hopes were also hit when he was given a five-second time penalty early into the race for driving too slowly in the pit lane and holding up Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was fifth.
Soccer: Breakers fall in NWSL opener
Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux scored for FC Kansas City during a 2-0 victory over the Boston Breakers in the NWSL season opener at Children’s Mercy Victory Field.
Leroux put FC Kansas City up 1-0 with an assist by Becky Sauerbrunn. Rodriguez scored in the 49th minute with an assist by Shea Groom.
The Breakers host Sky Blue FC next Sunday at Jordan Field. . . .
Only four points separate Chelsea and secondplaced Tottenham in the English Premier League with six games left after Manchester United’s 2-0 win over the lackluster leaders opened up the title race. At one stage four weeks ago, Chelsea held a 13-point lead.
Misc.: Johnson fights off cramps to win
Steve Johnson fought through late cramps to win tennis’ U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, beating Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) at Forest Oaks in Houston. . . .
Borna Coric of Croatia claimed his first tour title after saving five match points to defeat Philipp
Kohlschreiber 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the Grand Prix Hassan II final in Marrakech, Morocco. . . .
Philippe Gilbert’s renaissance continued in Volkenburg, Netherlands, as the Belgium champion won a two-man sprint to claim a fourth victory in cycling’s Amstel Gold Race classic. The 34-year-old former world champion, who also won the Tour of Flanders earlier this month, produced a strong final push to catch former winner Michal Kwiatkowski, who launched the sprint with about 300 meters left. Michael Albasini won the dash for third place. . . . Francois Pervis of France won the men’s 1km time trial at the world track cycling championships in Hong Kong. Pervis won his fourth rainbow jersey in the event with a time of 1 minute 0.714 seconds. Elinor Barker of Britain won her first individual world title by beating American
Sarah Hammer in the women’s 25km points race. . . . Canada scored a try less than two minutes from the end after squandering a 19-0 lead to beat the United States 26-19 in the first all-American rugby final at the World Series Sevens in Singapore.