Azerbaijan GP: First win of the season for Hamilton in an action-packed race!

Conditions at the Baku Street Circuit were extremely windy, as the lights went out. Sebastian on pole got an impressive start, and the German stormed to the lead. He was followed by the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas. Kimi, who started on the ultrasofts from P6, got an awesome start, and the Iceman was right at Verstappen´s tail. However, Ocon in his Force India was challenging Kimi, going into Turn 3. The Frenchman ended up hitting Kimi´s SF71-H, which caused significant damage to the Iceman´s front wing. Ocon himself had to retire the race due to the collision. Williams´ Sirotkin, too, faced a DNF already on the opening lap. Safety car was deployed right away, as two cars had stopped on the track. Kimi had to pit for a new front wing, and he switched to the yellow-marked soft Pirellis. The unscheduled pit stop dropped the Iceman down to P14. Kimi´s race definitely hadn´t started the way I had hoped for!

The re-start took place on lap 6. Sebastian held on to his lead with determination. Further down the pack both Verstappen and Renault´s Sainz managed to make it past Ricciardo. Kimi had taken a convincing re-start as well; in a couple of laps the Iceman had already made his way up to P11. The yellow Renaults of Sainz and Hulkenberg were absolutely flying around the Baku Street Circuit in a way never seen this season! Sainz was challenging Verstappen for P4, and the Spaniard managed to make it past the flying Dutchman. Hulkenberg followed his teammate´s example and passed Verstappen a lap later. The Red Bull ace was seriously in trouble with his pace. Renault´s pace was incredible; who could have predicted to see the Renault teammates in 4th and 5th? However, Hulkenberg´s joy was very premature, as on lap 10 the German made a rarely-seen mistake and ended up hitting the wall, which caused a puncture and ended his race.

The Red Bull teammates were having a heated battle of their own for P5. Ricciardo was extremely hungry to overtake his teammate, but the hot-headed Dutchman was stubborn to defend his position by any means necessary. On lap 11 they even banged their wheels, when Ricciardo made a move, but luckily neither one of the drivers got damage to his RB14. However, this was only the beginning of an adrenaline-filled battle, which had severe consequences...

Sebastian and Hamilton banged fastest lap times alternately. On lap 21, however, the Briton pushed a bit too hard, locking up his front tyres. The mistake made the gap to Sebastian increase into seven seconds already. Due to a flat spot on his tyres, the reigning world champion had no choice but to pit for a fresh set of soft Pirellis, re-joining the track in P3. Sebastian pitted on lap 30 for a similar tyre choice to Hamilton. Bottas was now leading the race, as Sebastian re-joined the track in P2. Bottas´ pace was excellent, and it seemed, that the Finn was going to drive a very long first stint.

The battle between the passionate Red Bull teammates was continually ongoing. On lap 34 Ricciardo smelled his teammate´s blood and made a bold move, moving past Verstappen! However, the Australian pitted a few laps later, with his teammate pitting a lap after Ricciardo. Both Red Bull drivers opted for a fresh set of ultrasoft tyres. Verstappen´s pit stop strategy proved more successful, as the Dutchman re-joined the track ahead of teammate Ricciardo. This meant one thing only; Ricciardo had a desperate mission to overtake his hard-fighting teammate for the second time!

Lap 39 saw a dramatic turn; something that had been "floating in the air" for the entire race. Ricciardo decided to make a move on his teammate, who ended up changing his line twice at the braking. Ricciardo hit the rear of Verstappen´s Red Bull, which wiped both Red Bulls out of the race! What a catastrophic turn for the Austrian-based team! A true worst-case scenario indeed! Safety car was deployed, and all top drivers pitted for a fresh set of ultrasoft Pirellis. Magically, Mercedes had made the most genius strategic call, and against all odds, Bottas had taken the lead in the race! Sebastian was second, Hamilton third and Kimi fourth.

There was a bizarre-looking incident behind safety car, as Haas´ Grosjean got caught by surprise by the low grip caused by the cold tyres. All of a sudden the Frenchman lost control of his car and ended up into the wall. This brought even more debris on the track, which meant more laps behind the safety car. The safety car came in with only five laps to go. Sebastian was hungry to get back in the lead. Too hungry! Going into Turn 1 on the cold tyres, Sebastian was way too optimistic about his braking, and he went wide. This move turned very costly for Sebastian, as he lost positions to Hamilton and Kimi. In a blink of an eye Sebastian had dropped from P2 down to P4! It really hurt my heart to see this happening!

Had Sebastian had a little more patience, he would have won the race! As three laps before the chequered flag the race-leading Bottas suddenly suffered a rear-right puncture after hitting debris on the finish straight! What a cruel turn for the Finn, who hadn´t put a foot wrong in the race! However, a much desired win turned into a bitter DNF. On the closing laps Force India´s Perez managed to make it past Sebastian as well, which worsened the consequences of the German´s greedy move. Due to Bottas´ puncture teammate Hamilton crossed the finish line as the race winner, with Kimi second and Perez third. I was very happy for Kimi, who had had a difficult start to the race but who finally had "luck" on his side. Due to the mistake of his own, Sebastian had to settle for P4. However, Perez is still under investigation by the stewards for a DRS infringement. Sainz finished 5th for Renault. Sauber´s Leclerc was the well-deserved Driver of the Day, as the rookie made it 6th in the race. Another positive surprise was Williams´ Stroll, who finished 8th behind McLaren´s Alonso.

Hamilton´s first win of the season made the Briton move at the top of the drivers´ championship standings. Hamilton has now 70 points to Sebastian´s 66 points. Kimi is third with 48 points and his compatriot Bottas fourth with 40 points. Ferrari has taken the lead in the constructors´ championship standings with 114 points to Mercedes´ 110. So Sebastian´s venturesome move came with a high price. With hindsight it´s easy to say, that he should have had more patience and that he should have waited for a better chance for overtaking. But no way he could have known, that Bottas was about to suffer a puncture a lap later... I admire Sebastian for his passionate attitude towards racing, even though it sometimes leads into mistakes. But I have to say I was so gutted for him, finishing the race in P4! In Australia safety car worked for him, but today was a different story.

It would be extremely interesting to be present at Red Bull´s debriefing tonight! There´s no denying it; Verstappen´s season has been a disaster so far. The man has raw speed and exceptional talent, but there have simply been too many thoughtless mistakes this season! If he wants to improve and become a world champion one day, he has to take a good look in the mirror and learn from his mistakes. He can´t make his personal interest a priority, putting the team´s interest aside! If Max can overcome these difficulties, he has no doubt a great future ahead of him.

Azerbaijan GP / Qualifying: Hat-trick hero Sebastian nailed it again!

I really needed the F1 action today! My son has been at hospital for over a week now because of an infection, and he has been feeling very sick. His mouth is still so sore, that he can´t eat, drink or speak. Yesterday my husband came to the hospital to spend the weekend there with him, and I headed home to get some rest. Formula 1 offered me a perfect escape from the hospital world, which has been all about cancer 24/7.

Qualifying made me forget about the hospital world for a moment. Q1 began with drama almost from the off. Grosjean in his Haas had a major lock-up, which forced the Frenchman to take the escape road; ultimately a gearbox issue ended his day before it had even properly begun. Both Kimi and Sebastian showed top form right away. As has been the pattern this season, Kimi had the upper hand on his teammate in the first segment. The most dramatic moment of the first session was the close call between the Toro Rosso teammates at the end of Q1. A slow-moving Hartley was limping out of Turn 14 with a puncture and was almost hit by an onrushing Gasly! It was another miscommunication issue by Toro Rosso, which ruined both drivers´ chances to reach Q2. Force India´s Ocon was responsible for the most positive surprise of Q1, as the Frenchman went 6th fastest in the opening session. Also the rookies Leclerc and Sirotkin moved into Q2 for the first time this year. In addition to the unfortunate Toro Rosso duo and Haas´ Grosjean, out of Q2 were McLaren´s Vandoorne and Sauber´s Ericsson.

Q2 held expected tyre strategy in terms of the three top teams, as Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull sent their drivers out on the red-marked supersoft compound. The windy conditions at the Baku Street Circuit threw many challenges. Kimi had a lock-up on his first run, forcing him to take the escape road in Turn 15. The second flyer didn´t prove successful, either; the Iceman had flat-spotted his only fresh set of supersoft Pirellis! This forced Kimi to switch to the purple-marked ultrasoft rubber at the end of the second session. Kimi put together a perfect lap and went fastest. Also the other top drivers came out on the softest compound at the end of the session, but neither one improved his lap time.  It was extremely tight between the Mercedes teammates, as Hamilton edged Bottas only by three thousandths of a second. Red Bull´s Ricciardo just barely made it into the decisive last segment, as he rounded out the top ten. The Williams duo of Stroll and Sirotkin were the first fallers in Q2, still making it the best qualifying result of the season for Williams so far. It was also the first time this season, that both Force Indias reached Q3!

Q3 proved, how difficult it was to put together a perfect lap at Baku. Sebastian was absolutely on fire right from the beginning, taking provisional pole by three tenths to Hamilton! Kimi, instead, made a mistake at the final turn by hitting a kerb and was sixth fastest after his first run. Ricciardo in his RB14 had also a close call as the Australian brushed the wall on his first attempt, and was almost a second down on the pace-setting Sebastian. Kimi seemed determined to challenge his teammate for pole, whilst neither Silver Arrow seemed truly in the hunt for pole. Up until the last sector the Iceman had looked set to steal pole position away from his teammate, but a crucial mistake in the final sector blew Ferrari´s hopes of a front row lockout. Instead, Kimi will line up in disappointing P6! Also Sebastian made a mistake on his last flyer, and the German didn´t manage to improve his lap time. However, the magical first lap secured pole for Sebastian! This was his first hat-trick of pole positions since 2013! Still the German Ferrari ace was a bit disappointed, that he hadn´t been able to improve in the dying moments of the last session, which tells all about his perfectionism. Hamilton held onto 2nd place for Mercedes, with teammate Bottas third. This was only the second time in the last 6 races, that Hamilton has out-qualified his Finnish teammate. This time Ricciardo in 4th had an upper hand on his teammate Verstappen, who qualified fifth. Ocon and Perez, who made their first Q3 appearances of the year, qualified 7th and 8th, with the Renault duo of Hulkenberg and Sainz rounding out the top ten. However, Hulkenberg has been handed a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

Azerbaijan GP has offered a lot of thrilling entertainment and drama in the past three years, and I´m sure it won´t let us down this year, either. The biggest talking point of last year´s race was the incident between Sebastian and Hamilton behind the safety car. I hope it was the last time that I ever see such road rage by Sebastian! Tomorrow is a perfect opportunity to wipe that incident off everyone´s mind by winning the race! All top five drivers will start to the race on the more durable rubber. Kimi´s hopes lie in the ultrasoft tyres, which hopefully enable the Iceman to take a rocket start. However, gaining positions on the opening lap hasn´t been one of Kimi´s strengths lately. I really hope Ferrari will come up with a great strategy for the Finn! One thing is for sure: safety car is guaranteed to come out at some stage(s) of the race! Another thing for sure is, that there´s no room for mistakes, as the walls are unforgivably close! I´m definitely looking forward to a thriller of a race!

Chinese GP: Verstappen destroyed Sebastian´s race!

Yesterday´s Chinese GP was... quite a race! I had looked forward to a red-coloured race. I have to say I "saw red" during the race, but not in the way I had hoped for!

Drama started to unravel already at the start. Kimi in P2 got a better start than teammate Sebastian on pole. Sebastian saw that and made things uncomfortable for Kimi by blocking him, going into Turn 1. Due to Sebastian´s move Kimi first lost a position to his compatriot Bottas and then also to Red Bull´s Verstappen, who had started to the race on the ultrasoft compound! Sebastian had hoped that the red team would have maintained their double lead after the start, but in reality his move had led to a very different situation. However, I really can´t blame Sebastian for his move. Every driver concentrates on his own race and in the heat of the start it´s impossible to predict, what kind of consequences a certain move might have. However, Kimi had dropped down from P2 to P4. Hamilton was fifth.

Sebastian was controlling the race in the lead, as Bottas was already three seconds adrift. Verstappen seemed unable to match the Finn´s pace and was already eight seconds down. Kimi, on the other hand, wasn´t fast enough to challenge the Dutchman for P3. At this point everything looked so promising for Sebastian!

Red Bull opened the pit stop roulette in terms of the top teams on lap 18. And what a pit stop strategy the energy drink team had! They made a double stop, as both Verstappen and Ricciardo drove into the pits on the very same lap. It was an impressive effort from the Red Bull team to make two stops in a row! Both Red Bull aces opted for the white-marked medium Pirellis, which indicated a one-stop race for them. Hamilton pitted on the following lap, and teammate Bottas a lap after his teammate. Both Silver Arrows switched to the hardest compound as well. Sebastian and Kimi now had a double lead in the race.

However, Ferrari had no choice but to react to Mercedes´ strategy, and they called Sebastian in. But Bottas benefitted from the undercut, making the Finn snatch the lead, as Sebastian re-joined the track on a fresh set of medium Pirellis. Sebastian was right at the Finn´s tail, but Bottas seemed to have a grasp on the victory. At this point it seemed, that Ferrari were going to "sacrifice" Kimi´s race to increase Sebastian´s chances to win the race. Kimi stayed out on the worn tyres, although his lap times were significantly slower than the top two´s.

By lap 26 Bottas and Sebastian had closed the gap to Kimi. The Iceman did everything he could to hold his compatriot back, to give his teammate a chance to overtake the Finnish Mercedes ace. However, a lap later Bottas made a classy move on Kimi and took the lead. Sebastian moved ahead of his teammate immediately and attacked Bottas, but the Finn defended his position like a lion.

Kimi pitted not until on lap 28 for a fresh set of medium tyres. At this point it seemed, that the Iceman´s race was ruined. He re-joined the track in P6, 10 seconds behind Red Bull´s Ricciardo. I was sad for Kimi, as he had lost two positions at the start due to his teammate´s move, and now the team "sacrificed" his race to make his teammate win. That´s F1 racing but it didn´t sound very fair!

Lap 30 was the turning point in the race. There was a weird-looking incident, where the Toro Rosso teammates collided in Turn 14. Gasly hit his teammate Hartley, leaving a lot of debris on the track. After the race it turned out to be a miscommunication issue, as the teammates were to switch places at some point of the race, and Gasly thought Hartley would give way in Turn 14. However, the Toro Rosso collision brought safety car out, and Gasly was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. Bottas and Sebastian had already passed the pit entry, when safety car was deployed, but Red Bull reacted right away and called their drivers in for another double stop. Both Verstappen and Ricciardo opted for a fresh set of yellow-marked soft tyres, which was a genius strategy. Due to the Red Bull duo´s pit stops Hamilton moved third and Kimi fifth.

The re-start took place on lap 35. Bottas made an excellent job and held on to his lead. Soon Kimi was in trouble with Ricciardo, who was on the fresh soft tyres. There was a huge difference in terms of the grip of those two cars, and there was nothing Kimi could do to prevent the Australian to attack him. Ricciardo made a stunning move and passed Kimi. Meanwhile Ricciardo´s teammate Verstappen was challenging Hamilton for P3. But once again the flying Dutchman was lacking patience, and he made a move in an undoable place! Verstappen went off and dropped down to P5. Unfortunately this was only the first stupid move from the Dutch Red Bull ace!

Ricciardo was absolutely flying on his fresh soft tyres, and on lap 40 the Honey Badger made a move on Hamilton and passed the reigning world champion! I can only imagine, what was going through Sebastian´s mind at that time. Also Verstappen had made it past Hamilton, and both Red Bull drivers were storming towards the lead... On lap 42 Sebastian´s nightmare materialised, as his ex teammate Ricciardo stormed past the German, claiming P2 already. The Australian was utterly on flames! He had already smelled Bottas´ blood and the chase had begun!

With 13 laps to go, Verstappen made his second mistake, which had dramatic consequences. Max made a thoughtless overtaking move on Sebastian in Turn 6, ending up crashing into Sebastian´s SF71-H! That was a stupid move, which cost both drivers dearly! However, due to this collision, Kimi´s race was saved, as the Iceman moved third. Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. I was proud of Sebastian, who kept his head cool and said on the team radio, that he didn´t even need to comment Verstappen´s manoeuvre.

Meanwhile, there was a dramatic turn in the lead. With some ten laps to go, Ricciardo had hunted down Bottas, who had no chance to defend his lead on the worn medium tyres. What a rise the Australian had made after the safety car, making his way from P6 to the lead! Ricciardo crossed the finish line as the race winner. The Finns had a tight fight for P2, but Bottas had the upper hand and finished the runner-up, with Kimi completing the podium. I was very happy for the Iceman; he definitely deserved the podium finish! Hot-headed Verstappen finished in P4, and the 10-second penalty cost him one position only, dropping him in 5th behind Hamilton. Hulkenberg finished 6th for Renault. Poor Sebastian was struggling badly after the collision, and the German got passed by McLaren´s Alonso on the second last lap, finishing in modest P8. What a huge injustice, that in spite of the penalty, Verstappen finished the race ahead of Sebastian!

I have looked up to Max Verstappen a lot in the past. I´ve admired him for his courageous moves and his passion on track. Unfortunately there´s only a thin line between courageous moves and stupid manoeuvres. I was so angry at Verstappen after the collision! However, Max saved my respect for him by his action after the race. Max humbly admitted his mistake and had apologised to Sebastian immediately after the race. Max certainly knew, that without the stupid move, he would have been there to fight for the victory with his teammate! Sebastian kept his head cool and didn´t start calling Max any names after the race. Sebastian has had outbursts of his own in the past, so he was wise enough to understand, that these things can happen sometimes. But still, it was so unfair, that Max finished the race ahead of Sebastian!

Sebastian now has 54 points in the drivers´ championship standings, whilst Hamilton has 45 points. Bottas in third has 40 points and Ricciardo in fourth has 37. Kimi has now 30 points. The situation in terms of the constructors´ standings is extremely interesting, as Mercedes leads by one point only! Red Bull in third is now 30 points down on Mercedes.

The round 4 takes the F1 circus to Baku, Azerbaijan, which was the venue of huge drama last year. Let´s see, what the grand prix holds this year.

Chinese GP / Qualifying: The red team shone in Shanghai!

This weekend I´ve had my F1 studio at hospital. Today I woke up early, made myself a cup of coffee and put my head phones on. I was trying to keep quiet when watching the qualifying, as my son was still sleeping next to me. But it was extremely difficult, as the shootout for pole was a staggering thriller!

After Ferrari had been dominating in the heat of Bahrain, I expected Mercedes to bounce back in the cooler conditions of Shanghai. I was absolutely amazed to see, that it wasn´t the case! Sebastian at the wheel of his Loria went fastest on his first run, followed by his teammate Kimi, who was three tenths down on him. Bottas was the leading Mercedes, massive seven tenths down on pace-setter Sebastian! Teammate Hamilton was surprisingly a second off the pace! Against all odds the cooler conditions of Shanghai appeared to hamper Mercedes. Red Bull, once again, faced reliability woes. Ricciardo had had a suspected turbo failure in the last free practice, and the team did everything they could to get the Australian out in Q1. There were only three minutes in the clock, when the Honey Badger headed out from his pit box. Ricciardo managed to scrape through to Q2, but just two places above the drop zone. The top eight (Vettel, Räikkönen, Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Hulkenberg and Ocon) sat out the second runs. Toro Rosso´s Gasly couldn´t repeat his Bahrain heroics, as his final lap in Q1 was only good enough for 17th, whilst teammate Hartley was the last driver to make it through to Q2. Other drivers eliminated from the second segment were the Williams duo of Sirotkin and Stroll and the Sauber duo of Leclerc and Ericsson.

Both Mercedes and Ferrari opted for a similar tyre strategy in Q2, as both top teams came out on the yellow-marked soft Pirellis. The red team showed excellent performance on the more durable rubber as well; Kimi topped the timesheets after the first runs, with teammate Sebastian second. Bottas was six tenths and Hamilton a second down on the Iceman. Red Bull, even though they made their runs on the purple-marked ultrasoft compound, were unable to match Ferrari´s and Mercedes´ pace. The Mercedes teammates made their second run on a fresh set of soft tyres. It seemed, as if Mercedes had found their "party mode" again, as Hamilton went fastest. Bottas jumped second, a one-and-a-half tenths down on the Briton. Both Kimi and Sebastian came out on the ultrasofts and were both on course to go quicker, but they aborted their laps. This meant, that all top four drivers will start to the race on the softs. Haas´ Magnussen was the first driver to be knocked out of the pole shootout, whilst teammate Grosjean in P6 made it among the top ten. Force India´s Ocon, the McLaren duo of Alonso and Vandoorne and Toro Rosso´s Hartley were out of the last decisive phase.

Kimi was absolutely on flames in Q3. For the 99 per cent of  the last segment it looked like Kimi would become the oldest pole sitter in 25 years! The Iceman took first blood, setting the fastest time in all three sectors, which meant a new track record at Shanghai. Teammate Sebastian was over a tenth off the pace after his first run. However, Mercedes seemed to be struggling more on the softer tyres, and the Silver Arrows were both four tenths off Kimi´s staggering pace. Red Bull were even further behind, as Verstappen was six and Ricciardo seven tenths adrift. It was obvious, that it was down to the Ferraris to battle it out for pole. And what a battle it turned out! On his second attempt, Kimi blitzed the first two sectors, but Sebastian was only 0.098s adrift! Sebastian had an absolutely magical last sector, and the German snatched his 52nd career pole by 0.087s to the Iceman! So Sebastian made it a new track record again! Once again Bottas was the leading Mercedes in third, leaving teammate Hamilton 4th. Red Bull locked out the third row, with Verstappen 5th and Ricciardo 6th. Hulkenberg made it 7th for Renault and Perez 8th for the pink Force India. Renault´s Sainz and Haas´ Grosjean completed the top ten.

Kimi is definitely in an impressive form, as the Iceman has made it on the front row in all three races this season! This was the second successive front row lock-out for the red team, which has made me think, whether it´s really true, that Mercedes are losing their dominance in the sport. Kimi´s compatriot Bottas has showed superb performance as well. The Finn has out-qualified his teammate in four qualifying sessions out of five! I´m sure both Sebastian and Kimi have high hopes to win the race tomorrow. I am happy to see either one of them on the top step of the podium! Kimi would definitely deserve the win after all the difficulties! However, I believe Mercedes´ race pace is better than their single-lap pace, and for sure they will put up a tight fight for the victory. Can´t wait to wake up tomorrow morning to watch my heroes fight for the glory in the land of dragons!

Bahrain GP: Glorious win for Sebastian but a pit stop tragedy for Kimi!

If the season-opening Australian GP was described as a boring race with no overtaking, yesterday´s Bahrain GP was definitely something else. What a thriller of a race!

Hamilton in P9 was the only top ten driver to start the race on the middle compound, whilst everyone else was on the red-marked super soft Pirellis. When the lights went out, the drama started. Sebastian on pole took a splendid start and held on to his lead. Kimi instead, who was starting on the dirtier side of the track, had a lot of wheel spin and lost his second place to his compatriot Bottas. Ricciardo in his Red Bull was fourth and the Toro Rosso sensation Gasly was fifth.

Red Bull had a pitch black start to the race. Verstappen, who had taken a rocket start, was already challenging Hamilton for P9 on the second lap. The flying Dutchman seemed to have "all or nothing" attitude, as he attacked the Briton extremely aggressively. Max´s move lead into contact between these two. Hamilton in his W09 got away from it undamaged, but Max got a rear-left puncture and had to limp into the pits. However, his RB14 was too severely damaged, and the Dutch Red Bull ace had to retire a few laps later. Meanwhile teammate Ricciardo faced a nightmare of his own. Suddenly his RB14 was hit with a complete shutdown, and the Australian had no choice but to park his car on track. What a catastrophic race for the energy drink team! Due to Ricciardo´s retirement, virtual safety car was deployed.

For some drivers the issue seems to be, whether it´s possible to overtake. For others the issue is, how many cars you can overtake with one move. I´m not a fan of Hamilton, but what he did on lap 5, was incredibly amazing. On the finish straight the Briton attacked his rivals and passed three cars with just one move! McLaren´s Alonso, Force India´s Ocon and Renault´s Hulkenberg had no choice but to witness, how the reigning world champion made his way up to P6! What a feeling it was to see four cars driving side by side, with sparks flying from all of them! That was an epic moment indeed. Hamilton had begun his hunt, and by lap 8 he had already made it past Haas´ Magnussen and Toro Rosso´s Gasly, moving 4th already.

Sebastian seemed to be in control of the race, as the gap to Bottas was 2-3 seconds. On the other hand, Kimi seemed unable to challenge Bottas for the second place. Sebastian pitted from the lead on lap 19; he opted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis and re-joined the track in P4. Teammate Kimi pitted on the following lap for a similar tyre choice. Bottas pitted a lap after his fellow countryman but had a different tyre strategy. The Finn switched to the white-marked medium tyres, which made it obvious, that he was on a one-stop strategy. Bottas re-joined the track in P3.

Teammate Hamilton stayed out due to his harder tyres and was leading the race. However, Sebastian kept banging fastest lap times and was catching the Briton rapidly. Hamilton´s tyres were done, so in no time Sebastian was right at the Briton´s tail. There was no way Hamilton could prevent Sebastian to make a move and take the lead. The Briton drove into the pits and switched to the hardest compound available, similar to his teammate. Hamilton re-joined the track in P4, 25 seconds down on the race leader Sebastian.

On lap 36 Kimi was called in for his second pit stop. But what a catastrophy the pit stop turned! For some reason Kimi´s rear-left tyre was still unremoved, as the Iceman was given green light to go. This lead into a scary-looking incident, as one of the mechanics got run over by Kimi! Kimi was immediately told on the team radio to stop, and his promising race was over. The mechanic was seriously injured, as he got a shinbone and fibula fracture and was taken to the hospital for surgery. What a disappointing and frightening turn in the race! I felt so sorry for Kimi, who would probably have finished on the podium. The team needs to investigate thoroughly, what went wrong in the pit stop, as an incident like this mustn´t happen again! I hope the mechanic has a speedy recovery!

Kimi´s second pit stop proved, that Ferrari had planned a two-stop strategy. Would Sebastian stop for the second time or would he try to go till the end? With 15 laps to go, it seemed, that Bottas was unable to match the German´s pace. But in Formula 1 things can change rapidly... With ten laps to go, Bottas was significantly faster than Sebastian and started to decrease the gap frighteningly fast. Sebastian´s tyres were clearly done, but a second pit stop would have dropped the German down to P3. With three laps to go, the Finn was already within DRS distance from Sebastian. My heart was pounding and I crossed my fingers, that Sebastian would be able to defend his lead! Valtteri got one chance to try a move but luckily it didn´t prove successful. Sebastian crossed the finish line as the race winner! Bottas finished the runner-up, with teammate Hamilton completing the podium. But what really caught my eye, was Pierre Gasly, who finished the race in P4. What a superb result for the Frenchman! It was heart-warming to see the Toro Rosso team members celebrate like they would have won the race. Haas, too showed their performance, as Magnussen finished excellent 5th. Hulkenberg finished 6th for Renault, and both McLarens scored valuable points as well, as Alonso finished 7th and Vandoorne 8th. Worth mentioning is definitely Sauber´s Ericsson, who finished the race in P9 and scored the first points for the Swiss team.

Sebastian has had the most perfect start to the season, as he has won both GPs and scored the maximum 50 points! Hamilton is second in the standings with 33 points and Bottas third with 22 points. But who would have predicted, that Alonso would be fourth after two races? The next race is already around the corner, as the F1 circus will move to China this week already. I hope Sebastian will be able to keep up the momentum, but Ferrari definitely has some home work to do in terms of the pit stops. In my opinion, Verstappen needs to take a good look in the mirror to get his focus back on the basics again. There´s only a very thin line separating on-track courage from stupid and arrogant manoeuvres. Red Bull have some serious reliability issues to solve as well.

Everything is looking very promising for the red team at the moment. In Bahrain Sebastian won purely by driving, not by luck. Hopefully Ferrari will be the team to beat also at Shanghai!

Bahrain GP / Qualifying: A sensational front row lock-out for Ferrari!

It was a dream come true to see Ferrari dominate qualifying under the floodlights in Bahrain! The red team set the pace right from the first session. The Ferrari aces Kimi and Sebastian opted for the yellow-marked middle compound, and Kimi was top of the charts, with teammate Sebastian only a tenth of a second off the pace. Mercedes´ Bottas was the quicker one of the Mercedes drivers, although the Finn ran the middle compound as well, whilst teammate Hamilton opted for the red-marked super soft Pirellis. Red Bull´s Verstappen was 4th on his first run, which turned out to be the Dutchman´s last as well. On his second flyer, Max lost control of his his RB14 coming out of Turn 2 and hit the barrier nose first. The flying Dutchman´s qualifying was over, and the session was red-flagged. It seemed like a mistake of his own (which he doesn´t usually make!) but in his post-qualifying comments Max accused a horsepower spike for causing the crash. However, the crash meant a very modest P15 on the grid for Max. On resumption, the top six (Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull) sat out the second runs. Magnussen in his Haas was the best of the rest, as the Dane made it 7th in the opening phase. Teammate Grosjean faced bittersweet fortunes, as the Frenchman was the first driver to be knocked out of Q2 after making a small mistake on his last flyer and setting an identical time to McLaren´s Alonso. Both Sauber drivers and the Williams teammates were out of Q2. However, it caught my eye, that the Russian rookie Sirotkin was the faster of the Williams teammates (P18), as Stroll turned out to be the slowest driver on the grid.

The shocking news before qualifying had been, that Hamilton had been handed a five-place grid penalty for the race due to a gearbox change on Friday. With the Briton hampered by the grid penalty, he and Mercedes opted to run the softs in Q2, giving the reigning world champion an alternative strategy as he will start the race on that tyre. Sebastian went fastest on the super softs, but actually Hamilton´s pace looked more convincing on the middle compound, as the Briton was second, only a tenth of a second down on the pace-setting Sebastian. In spite of the tyre choice, the Briton was the fastest man on the second sector! The Ferrari duo´s pace was so impressive, that no second run was required. The star of the session was Gasley, who put the Honda-powered Toro Rosso into Q3 for the first time this year in ninth! Teammate Hartley, who damaged his front wing when he hit a bird early in the session, just missed out in 11th. Force India´s Perez and the McLaren duo of Alonso and Vandoorne were eliminated from the final segment as well.

In the past six years the Sakhir Circuit has suited the Silver Arrows perfectly, but this time Ferrari seemed to have the upper hand. The shootout for pole was absolutely hair-raising. Kimi took provisional pole, as teammate Sebastian made a mistake at the final turn. There were only 95 thousandths of a second separating the red warriors! Hamilton was third, only a tenth off the pace. Bottas was also close, two tenths off pace in 4th. The Finn managed to improve his lap time on his second flyer, jumping second. But his joy was premature. Sebastian put together a staggering lap and took his 51st career pole in the darkening night of Bahrain! Kimi made it a sensational front row lock-out for Ferrari. The Iceman´s track position had left a little to hope for, and the Iceman was 0.143s down on his teammate. Bottas was the leading Mercedes in third, only two hundredths of a second down on his compatriot. Hamilton had to settle for P4, which will turn into P9 on the grid due to his penalty. Ricciardo qualified 5th for Red Bull, and the sister team´s Gasley made it a sensational P6. Haas´ Magnussen, Renault´s Hulkenberg, Force India´s Ocon and Renault´s Sainz rounded out the top ten. Sebastian´s driving was very close to perfection; this was the sensational first non-Mercedes pole in Bahrain in six years!

I can´t wait for today´s race! I don´t know what has happened to the Silver Arrows after Australia, but they are definitely struggling with their performance at Sakhir. I´m cautiously optimistic and hopeful in terms of a Ferrari 1-2. The Sakhir Circuit certainly offers more chances for overtaking than Melbourne did, but I don´t know if Hamilton still has realistic chances to make it on the podium. At least without Ferrari hitting trouble... I can´t wait, what Max Verstappen will be capable of from P15. He has had a trouble-filled start to the season, as he spun in Australia and crashed out in yesterday´s qualifying. But I´m quite convinced that he´ll offer quite an overtaking show today. It´s interesting to see, how the top teams manage to save the super soft tyres in the hot conditions. Hamilton´s different tyre choice may be an advantage, especially because Mercedes have proved their pace on the middle compound. But to be honest, I would be very very disappointed not to see Sebastian or Kimi on the top step of the podium today!