The desert of Bahrain was expected to be Ferrari's territory, as Sebastian had snatched three poles and four wins at Sakhir in previous years. After the season-opener, however, the question on everyone's lips was, where Ferrari's pace had disappeared after the winter tests. Predictably though, the Pearl of the Middle East proved a real turnaround for the Red Team.
Qualifying belonged to the Scuderia, especially to the young and hungry Ferrari debutant Leclerc. He stamped his authority on Bahrain soil in every qualifying session. The cool-headed Monegasque had provisional pole firmly in his grasp, as Hamilton was two and Bottas three tenths down on Leclerc's benchmark. Sebastian had only one attempt in Q3, as he had been forced to use two sets of tyres in Q2 due to a lock-up on his first flyer. So everything depended on Sebastian's flyer at the end of the session. And no, the German wasn't able to match his teammate's time! As Leclerc managed to even improve his lap time on his second attempt, the gap between the red-suited drivers was almost three tenths. This was the historic 62nd front-row lock-out for the Scuderia, meaning a joint record alongside McLaren and Williams. However, it was extremely tight between Sebastian and the Silver Arrows. Sebastian in P2 and Bottas in P4 were separated by less than a tenth of a second only. Red Bull proved even more toothless against the Red Team than Mercedes, and P5 was the maximum Verstappen could extract from his RB15. McLaren and Haas were the strongest teams of the midfield, as both cars of both teams made it among the top ten.
I have to admit, that I was slightly worried about the start. Young Leclerc had answered all expectations in a stunning way by taking his maiden pole. On the other hand, I knew that Sebastian wasn't going to settle for playing the second fiddle. However, as the lights went out in the darkening night of Bahrain, it turned out, that the start wasn't the most sparking moment of the race. Sebastian in P2 took a magnificent start and accelerated into the lead past his teammate. Bottas from P4 took a splendid start as well, storming past teammate Hamilton and pole-sitter Leclerc. However, Bottas' joy was premature. Going into Turn 1 on the second lap, the Finn got surprised by the heavy wind, locking up his front tyres. The Finnish Mercedes ace lost positions both to Leclerc and his teammate.
Leclerc proved fast like the Bahrain wind, and he wasn't going to settle for P2. By lap 6 he had already closed the gap to his teammate. With the help of DRS it was an easy-looking job for Leclerc to get past Sebastian and snatch the lead. For some reason Sebastian still wasn't able to match his teammate's pace. Hamilton was the top driver to stand out of the crowd in terms of the tyre strategy. The Briton opted for another set of soft Pirellis for his second stint, whilst his rivals switched to the medium rubber. Hamilton had benefited from the undercut and moved ahead of Sebastian during the German's pit stop. However, soon after his pit stop Hamilton seemed to be in trouble with his soft tyres. Sebastian saw his prey and hunted down the struggling Briton. It was a rewarding moment indeed to see Sebastian overtake the reigning world champion on the first DRS zone.
After the second pit stops the order of the top five seemed stabilized. Leclerc had a firm lead in the race, with teammate Sebastian second. Hamilton was a couple of seconds off Sebastian and Bottas was 10 seconds down on his teammate. Verstappen was keeping P5. Unfortunately after the second pit stops Hamilton's and Sebastian's tables turned. Hamilton proved extremely competitive on his medium Pirellis, and Sebastian turned into the underdog. This time the Briton hunted down Sebastian, determinedly lurking for a chance to overtake. Hamilton had spotted a perfect hunting place, Turn 4. The Briton ingeniously used the tail wind and left braking as late as possible. It was a close call on the Briton's first attempt, but Sebastian managed to defend his position successfully. The following lap, however, saw a dramatic incident in the same corner. Hamilton dived alongside his arch rival; Sebastian saw Hamilton coming and hit the throttle a bit too early. Sebastian lost the rear of his Lina and spun! Hamilton instantly snatched P2. Sebastian's mistake had other consequences as well. Due to the spin there was a lot of vibration, which caused the entire front wing to fly off in full speed, with sparks flying all over! Sebastian had no choice but to pit for a new nose. A podium finish slipped dramatically through Sebastian's fingers. Unfortunately a mistake of his own seemed like a repetition from last year.
The race saw another dramatic turn 11 laps before the chequered flag. Suddenly Leclerc, who was having a firm lead in the race, reported about engine wows on the team radio. The Monegasque's SF90 had been hit with an engine recovery system issue, which made him lose 5-7 seconds per lap! What a crushing moment for Leclerc, who had dominated the whole weekend in a superior way. Hamilton inevitably closed the gap to unlucky Charles, who couldn't do anything but watch how Hamilton closed up on him and stormed past. Soon after Hamilton it was Bottas' turn to overtake groveling Charles. Verstappen, too had his eyes set on the Monegasque...
In spite of the huge misfortune, Charles got a small share of luck at the end of the race. Both Renaults came to a sudden halt almost simultaneously with only a few laps to go, and safety car was deployed. It was an anti-climax to see the cars cross the finish line behind the safety car, but it brought at least a glimpse of justice for the unlucky Leclerc. Amazing but true, Mercedes snatched a 1-2 in a venue, that was supposed to be Ferrari's turf! Leclerc was robbed of his maiden victory, but at least he made it on the podium. Charles also scored the extra point for the fastest lap time. Verstappen finished 4th, and Sebastian, who had dropped himself off the podium by making the mistake in the battle against Hamilton, had to settle for P5. McLaren's rookie Norris was "the best of the rest", finishing in impressive P6. Kimi made it P7 at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo Racing.
The battle for the drivers' championship couldn't be more exciting. Bottas has a 1-point lead only over his teammate in the drivers' standings. Sebastian is in tame P5 and has four points less than his teammate Leclerc at the moment. Mercedes have now 87 points to Ferrari's 48. The Red Team have some serious homework to do. But Leclerc has already shown, that the team has hired the right man for the job. What a diamond the Red Team has in Leclerc! Sebastian needs to have a fresh start and not let last year's mistakes haunt him. Chinese GP will be a new race with a new chance. Forza Ferrari!
With a passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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