Vettel wins Bahrain; Bottas, Hamilton 2-3

Sebastian Vettel held on to win a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position 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.

Bottas proved a point after a disappointing eighth place at the season-opening Australian GP two weeks ago. Hamilton was gifted a podium spot after Ferrari botched Kimi Raikkonen’s second tire 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 with a broken leg.

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

Red Bull had an awful race, with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen retiring early. Red Bull’s feeder team Toro Rosso had 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 fourtime F1 champion. He was under serious pressure from the faster car of Bottas, who was on better tires, but did not crack. Vettel started on the front row with Raikkonen and Bottas started third. Hamilton was ninth on the grid after incurring a fiveplace penalty for an unauthorized gearbox change.

IndyCar: Josef Newgarden had eight laps to catch rookie Robert Wickens. He barely needed half that. Newgarden used four new tires to run down Wickens in the IndyCar race Saturday night at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.

Newgarden started fourth on the restart and got around Wickens with 3½ laps to go on the 1.022-mile oval. The defending series champ raced to his eighth IndyCar victory and third on an oval, 2.994 seconds ahead of Wickens. Owner Roger Penske won a record ninth series victory at the track, 198th overall.