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2018 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race 2 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details[1]
Date	8 April 2018
Official name	Formula 1 2018 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Location	Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.412 km (3.362 mi)
Distance	57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Time	1:27.958
Fastest lap
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:33.740 on lap 22
Podium
First	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari
Second	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Third	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 2018 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix)^[1] was a Formula One motor race that took place on 8 April 2018 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.^[2] The race was the second round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship and marked the fourteenth time that the Bahrain Grand Prix had been run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

Sebastian Vettel was the defending race winner. He entered the round with a seven-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship.^[3][4] In the World Constructors' Championship standings, Ferrari hold a ten-point lead over Mercedes.

Report

Practice

Daniel Ricciardo was fastest in first practice with Kimi Räikkönen fastest in second and third practice.^[5][6][7]

Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel qualified on pole position with a time of 1:27.958, a new outright track record, with teammate Kimi Räikkönen second. Mercedes locked out the second row, although Lewis Hamilton subsequently took a five place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and started from ninth on the grid. Pierre Gasly made Q3 for the first time in his career, eventually qualifying in sixth. Max Verstappen started the race in fifteenth position, having been prevented from taking part in Q2 following a crash in Q1 after he lost control of his throttle as his car rode over a kerb.^[8]

Race

At the start, Vettel got away well, leading into turn 1. Bottas overtook Raikkonen to claim 2nd, and Gasly also overtook Ricciardo to claim 4th. However, Ricciardo got 4th place back at turn 4, on the first lap. Max Verstappen made up ground on the first lap so he was behind Lewis Hamilton, who'd fallen to 10th place. The pair fought at turn 1 on lap 2, with Verstappen puncturing his left rear tyre. His teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, experienced an electrical shutdown at the same time, forcing him to retire. Brendon Hartley received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sergio Pérez. Verstappen then lost drive, also forcing him to retire from the Grand Prix. This was the first time in 8 years that both Red Bull Racing drivers retired from a Grand Prix, and the first time since the 2016 Russian Grand Prix that neither Red Bull drivers had scored points. Hamilton overtook Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg into one corner to move up into 6th place. He then passed Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly in the next few laps to move up into 4th place.

During his second pit stop on lap 35, Kimi Räikkönen struck Ferrari tyre changer Francesco Cigarini with his left rear tyre as his car left the pit box, breaking Cigarini's tibia and fibula.^[9] The incident was caused by the Ferrari pit box's light incorrectly switching to green despite the fact that the left rear tyre had never actually been changed.^[10] After analysis, the faulty green was determined to have been caused by the pit system checking (only) if the wheel was securely fitted, and if the wheel gun had been "sufficiently active" beforehand.^[9] Räikkönen immediately stopped in the pit lane on advice over team radio and retired the car. Räikkönen's retirement promoted Lewis Hamilton to the podium, and Ferrari was subsequently fined €50,000 for an unsafe pit release.^[11]

Räikkönen's pit lane incident meant that teammate Sebastian Vettel could not carry out his second pit stop on schedule, and had to extend the stint on his soft tyres for 30% longer than the expected lifespan of the tyres, as stated by Pirelli. Towards the end of the race, with Vettel struggling with his tyres, Bottas got within DRS range of Vettel, but could not pass for the lead of the race. Pierre Gasly finished the race in P4, equalling Toro Rosso's best result in 2017, scoring Honda's best result since returning to F1 and earning him his first points in F1

After the race, Brendon Hartley and Sergio Pérez both received 30 second time penalties for failing to maintain position on the formation lap.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	Car no.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:29.060	1:28.341	1:27.958	1
2	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:28.951	1:28.515	1:28.101	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:29.275	1:28.794	1:28.124	3
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:29.396	1:28.458	1:28.220	91
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:29.552	1:28.962	1:28.398	4
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:30.121	1:29.836	1:29.329	5
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:29.594	1:29.623	1:29.358	6
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:30.260	1:29.187	1:29.570	7
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:30.338	1:30.009	1:29.874	8
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	1:29.893	1:29.802	1:29.986	10
11	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:30.412	1:30.105		11
12	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:30.218	1:30.156		12
13	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:30.5302	1:30.212		13
14	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	1:30.479	1:30.525		14
15	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:29.374	no time		15
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:30.5302			16
17	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:31.063			17
18	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:31.414			18
19	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:31.420			19
20	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:31.503			20
107% time: 1:35.177
Source:[12]

Notes

• 
  ^1  – Lewis Hamilton received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.^[13]


• 
  ^2  – Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean set identical lap times in Q1. As Alonso was the first to set his time, he was considered to have qualified ahead of Grosjean and advanced to Q2.

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	57	1:32:01.940	1	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	57	+0.699	3	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	57	+6.512	9	15
4	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	57	+1:02.234	5	12
5	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	57	+1:15.046	6	10
6	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	57	+1:39.024	7	8
7	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	56	+1 lap	13	6
8	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	56	+1 lap	14	4
9	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+1 lap	17	2
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	56	+1 lap	8	1
11	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	56	+1 lap	10
12	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+1 lap	19
13	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	56	+1 lap	16
14	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	56	+1 lap	20
15	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	56	+1 lap	18
161	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	56	+1 lap	12
172	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	56	+1 lap	11
Ret	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	35	Wheel	2
Ret	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	3	Transmission	15
Ret	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1	Electronics	4
Source:[14]

Notes

• 
  ^1  – Sergio Pérez originally finished in twelfth place but had thirty seconds added to race time for overtaking on the formation lap.


• 
  ^2  – Brendon Hartley originally finished in thirteenth place but had thirty seconds added to race time for failing to retake his original starting position before reaching the safety-car line on the formation lap.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Sebastian Vettel 50 2 Lewis Hamilton 33 5 3 Valtteri Bottas 22 1 4 Fernando Alonso 16 2 5 Kimi Räikkönen 15

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 65 2 Mercedes 55 1 3 McLaren-Renault 22 1 4 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 20 5 Renault 15

See also

• 2018 Bahrain FIA Formula 2 round

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix.

• The race on Formula1.com