Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel withstood a late charge from Lewis Hamilton to win a captivating Bahrain Grand Prix and open up a seven-point championship lead after three races of the 2017 Formula One season.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland, left, takes a curve followed by teammate Lewis Hamilton of Britain during the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix, at the Formula One Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Sund.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany steers his vehicle during the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix, at the Formula One Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Sunday, April 16, 2017.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland steers his auto during the qualifying session for the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix, at the Formula One Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Saturday, April 15, 2017.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas finished third after starting from pole position for the first time.
"It's the first pole in my career", said Bottas.
Hamilton deserves credit for a ferocious second and final stint, but ultimately his mistake meant this one was always Vettel's to lose - and the German obliged with a faultless drive to re-claim the outright lead of the championship.
He said: "I think the Ferraris are very quick on race-trim so hopefully it will be very close".
The delay for Bottas ensured Vettel led behind the Safety Car, but the leading pair were on supersoft tires compared to softs for Ricciardo and Hamilton behind. Hamilton also appeared to be struggling and had Verstappen close on his tail throughout the opening laps as the Red Bull seemed to extract a remarkable amount of performance from the super-soft compound tyre.
Valtteri Bottas proved in qualifying that he is going to be no pushover in the fight with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. "I'm genuinely happy with the job I did".
Vettel completed the 57 laps of the 5.4-kilometer (3.4-mile) track in 1 hour, 33 minutes, 53 seconds, for his third win in Bahrain after success with Red Bull in 2012 and 2013.
Can Ferrari bite back in the race?
"I crossed the line, looked up and saw both were ahead", said Vettel.
Mauricio Pochettino: Seven points is "a massive difference"
Pochettino said: "We knew very well how hard Burnley have made it for other teams here, so I give a lot of credit to my team". Of course, Spurs still face a very uphill climb for the league title, but entering today there was not really any true hope.
"He was closing in, when I faced traffic I lost a lot of time but when he faced it he lost time too".
"I feel I'm now in the game", he said.
Raikkonen had struggled to clear Massa on two occasions after dropping behind the Williams during the safety auto period, but after pitting last of the front-runners his final stint saw him rapidly close on Bottas to finish just two seconds adrift of his countryman at the flag. Moments after stepping out of his vehicle, he grabbed his team-mate from behind and offered his hand in celebration.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen had already crashed out by then, blaming brake failure after he trekked across the gravel into the tire barrier on lap 12.
In marginally cooler conditions with an air temperature of 35 degrees Celsius and track of 39, the session began slowly.
Vettel won by a clear six seconds at the end but Hamilton's pace set up a grandstand finish as he dramatically cut the gap, helped by teammate Bottas moving over to concede second in the final stint.
It was Vettel's third victory in Bahrain and the 44th of his career, a signal that Ferrari not only have a fast and competitive vehicle again, but also that the team has rediscovered its confidence. Meanwhile, Vettel went ahead to win the Bahrain GP 2017, his second consecutive win of the season.
Five drivers are eliminated from the first two parts of qualifying - Q3 and Q2 - to leave the best 10 in Q1.
Briton's Jolyon Palmer started a career-high 10th but was 13th and last of those who finished.
The team struggled past year after switching back to Honda engines and it looks like things are getting worse.
Alonso, a two-time world champion, did not even make it into Q2 after his engine's power unit broke down. We need to look at everything, whatever we can do tomorrow, work together as a team and plan a good strategy, a plan for the race tomorrow.
Vandoorne starts from 17th, making it unlikely that McLaren will get in the points here. "But last time I started a bit further behind and ended on the podium so anything is possible".
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