Hamilton steals the spotlight in Mercedes 1-2 as Ferrari falter in epic Bahrain GP

Lewis Hamilton posted a stunning victory this evening to lead a surprise Mercedes one-two in an epic Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019, held under the bright lights at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir. 

The dream result for Mercedes was the product of a heartbreaking ending for rivals Ferrari after pole-sitter Charles Leclerc
suddenly experienced engine trouble over the final 10 laps after leading for most of the way.

A chasing Hamilton was able to erase a 10-second gap from Leclerc and passed the struggling Ferrari driver with nine laps to go. Bottas was also able to overtake with three laps remaining.

Hamilton won ahead of his teammate under the safety car and as the thundering fireworks lit up the night sky. Leclerc had to settle for third place to claim the first podium of his Formula 1 career.

“We were lucky today, but you still have to take it as it comes,” said Hamilton after the race.

“This guy here [Leclerc], he has lots of wins coming for sure,” Hamilton added, talking about Leclerc after they congratulated each other on their results.

Presenting the top three their respective trophies in the podium ceremony were His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister; Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Ayman Tawfiq Almoayyed; Bahrain Motor Federation President Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa; and Gulf Air CEO Kresimir Kucko.

Bottas commented after the race: “As a team, we got lucky today.”

Said Leclerc: “It happens, it’s part of Motorsport. Today was not our day. The team did an amazing job to recover the pace missing in Australia. We were lucky in an unlucky situation, as without the safety car we wouldn’t have finished where we did.”

Hamilton claimed his win in a total race time of 1h 34m 21.295s. He was classified 2.980s ahead of Bottas. Leclerc was saved at the end by the safety car, which was deployed on the 55th lap following the dramatic retirement of Renault’s two cars. They pulled over to the side at the same time but on different parts of the track.

Leclerc was also being chased towards the finish by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who was classified fourth 6.408s from Hamilton.

In fifth was Sebastian Vettel, who also had a disappointing race in the other Ferrari challenger. He made a brilliant start as he took the lead at Turn One, although lost it later on back to Leclerc. On lap 39, Vettel was then forced to limp back to the pits after losing his front wing following a spin as he battled for position with Hamilton. Vettel was able to regain some places en route to claiming fifth place, 36.068s from first.

McLaren’s 19-year-old rookie Lando Norris (+45.754s) enjoyed a fantastic result by placing sixth, while Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen (+47.470s) was seventh. Completing the top 10 and the points finishers were Pierre Gasly (+58.094s) of Red Bull, Alexander Albon (+62.697s) of Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez (+63.696s) of Racing Point.

The remainder of the classification featured Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (+64.599s), Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (+1 lap), Haas’s Kevin Magnussen (+1 lap), Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (+1 lap), and the Williams pair of George Russell (+1 lap) and Robert Kubica (+2 laps), from 11th to 16th, respectively.

Joining Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo DNFs were McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’s Romain Grosjean.