REVIEW: BAHRAIN 2018
Toro Rosso Honda's Pierre Gasly took his first F1 points finish with a great P4
Sebastien Vettel took victory in round two of the 2018 championship in a hugely exciting race in Bahrain.
After taking pole on Saturday and with Lewis Hamilton back in P9 after a grid penalty, Vettel was favourite to make it two wins from two this season. Kimi Raikkonen started from P2 with Valteri Bottas having to settle for P3. Story of qualifying was Pierre Gasly taking P6 in his Honda powered Toro Rosso, starting in fifth due to Hamilton's grid drop.
Straight out of the blocks Gasly showed he was where he deserved, with a move round the outside of Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull in turn one. Ricciardo did take back fourth spot back in P4 but it was a sign of things to come from the young Frenchman.
Gasly's team-mate Brendon Hartley collided with Sergio Perez in turn four, resulting in a 10 second time penalty. The New Zealander drove well but that penalty took the sting out of his race.
Onto lap two and Max Verstappen, who started in 15th after a crash in Q1 on Saturday, made a move up the inside of Hamilton in turn one. However, the Red Bull driver unnecessarily squeezed Hamilton off the track, causing a collision and picking up a puncture.
Having originally pitted for a fresh tyre, the damage sustained was to much and he retired. The nightmare was doubled for Red Bull, as a complete and catastrophic electrical shut-down on Ricciardo's car forced him to retire as well.
A virtual safety car was brought out after Ricciardo's retirement. On the restart Kevin Magnussen when wheel-to-wheel with Gasly. Gasly defended well, forcing the Haas wide to hold P5. Magnussen was involved in a bit more drama later in the race.
Team-mate Romain Grosjean, who had damage to his side, took a strange line through turn one, pulling wide into turn two. Magnussen, sick of being held up, went to go up the inside. However, Grosjean swiped back aggressively, Magnussen managing to avoid the Frenchman.
The race was filled with overtaking moves in the midfield, as well as a world class triple overtake by Hamilton into turn one.
Raikkonen made his second stop on lap 35, but his rear left wheel wouldn't come off. despite this, the traffic light system told the Fin to set off. As the team battled to get the wheel of , the Ferrari drove away, crushing a mechanics leg and taking Raikkonen out of the race.
Raikkonen's retirement move Hamilton up to third, but communication problems with his team left him off the pace when Vettel managed to stretch his soft tyres to the end. Bottas was close enough to make a move in the last lap, but a half hearted attempt into turn one paved the way to victory for the Ferarri.
A fantastic win for Vettel, who managed his tyres to perfection. Also, a great result of Marcus Ericsson in the Alfa Romeo Sauber, who also managed to make an ambitious one stop strategy work to claim ninth.
Gasly hinted at a Honda turn around, guiding his Toro Rosso to fourth, making him the best placed Red Bull car. A fantastic result for a team and engine supplier who each had awful seasons in 2017.