MasterlyVettel grabs victory as Hamilton finds top gear too late

LEWIS Hamilton’s late charge was not enough to stop Sebastian Vettel from winning the Bahrain Grand Prix and taking overall lead of the championship.

A masterclass from Vettel on track, and the right strategy calls from his Ferrari team off it, enabled the fourtime champion seal his second win of the campaign and take an early advantage over Hamilton in the title race.

Pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas finished in third position, with Kimi Raikkonen crossing the line in fourth.

“Lewis was a threat in the end,” said Vettel after claiming the 44th win of his career. “It is a long year. I was a bit down yesterday because the gap was so big, but right from the first lap I found the car was there. The Easter hunt was on, so I am really really happy.”

Hamilton added: “The pit lane was my fault so apologies to the team. Of course the disappointment is there. Losing points for a team when we could have won the race is painful but it is what is.” Final positions after Race (57 Laps): 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 33mins 53.373secs, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:34:00.033, 3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:34:13.770, 4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:34:15.848, 5 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:34:32.719, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams 1:34:47.699, 7 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:34:55.979, 8 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:35:08.238, 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:35:13.561, 10 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:35:29.084, 11 Pascal Wehrlein (Ger) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap, 12 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 13 Jolyon Palmer (Gbr) Renault at 1 Lap, 14 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren at 3 Laps Not Classified: 15 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 50 Laps completed, 16 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 12 Laps completed, 17 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 12 Laps completed, 18 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 11 Laps completed, 19 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 8 Laps completed, 20 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 0 Laps completed Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton 1min 32.798secs on Lap 46 World Championship Standings after Bahrain Grand Prix: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 68pts, 2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 61, 3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 38, 4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 34, 5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 25, 6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 22, 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams 16, 8 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 14, 9 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 10, 10 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 4, 11 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 4, 12 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 3, 13 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 2, 14 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2,