Vettel wins, Hamilton 2nd, Bottas 3rd
Hamilton given time penalty for obstructing Ricciardo
Verstappen suffers brake failure
Vandoorne, Magnussen, Verstappen, Sainz, Stroll, Ericsson out
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Mark Gallagher
BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 analyst
That was the absolute perfect getaway from Sebastian Vettel!
That is exactly what he wanted to do - he has split the two Mercedes and has left Lewis Hamilton to be challenged by none other than Max Verstappen!
Sebastian Vettel gets the jump on Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari is into second place but Max Verstappen - who else? - is the big mover. He's picked off Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo to get into fourth on the first lap.
LIGHTS OUT.
Valtteri Bottas gets away smoothly and closes the door on Lewis Hamilton to hold onto first place into Turn One.
Great start for the Finn!
Image source, Rex FeaturesEveryone is in place on the grid. Just the 17th position - Stoffel Vandoorne's - is empty.
All set?
Reece Young: Start is so important today. @LewisHamilton, external need a mega start and needs to get Bottas off the line
David Milner: Hamilton to win from Vettel. Simple
Valtteri Bottas leads the field away on the formation lap. It's super-soft boots for everyone apart from Marcus Ericsson, who has softs bolted on his Sauber.
Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator
A one-pit-stop-strategy is quicker but two is not out of the question - that's what I've been told by the engineers.
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Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Bahrain
Strategy is something of an unknown heading into this race. Theoretically, it’s a one-stop, running the super-softs until lap 24 or so and then going to the end on the softs. But it depends on the degradation of the super-soft. If this is high, it would push it towards a two-stop with two stints on the super-soft of about 19 laps each and one on the soft. It has been a good 10C cooler through Sunday, so that could well have an effect on degradation.
Another point to bear in mind is that it is very windy, which will blow sand on to the track. Usually, it is a significant advantage to start on the pole side of the grid because it is the racing line and is cleaner. But the wind might reduce that a little.
There's a job for everything in Formula 1!
That falcon was in demand earlier in the paddock.
Image source, Getty ImagesAndrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Bahrain
A word for Pascal Wehrlein, who took a lot of criticism for choosing to miss the first two races after saying he was not fit enough to drive the car, because the back injury he suffered during the winter meant he lacked physical preparation.
That criticism would almost certainly have been lessened had he, Mercedes and Sauber chosen to reveal earlier that he had suffered fractures in three thoracic vertebrae when he rolled in the Race of Champions in January. Whatever, that's in the past, and Wehrlein was impressive in his first full weekend, out-qualifying team-mate Marcus Ericsson by 0.6secs in Q1, and making it into Q2.
The German will start 13th. Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: “Another one who proved his critics wrong after the things he had to take - people saying he should gave been tougher. He bounced back in a spectacular way with a solid performance.” Wehrlein said he was “really happy”.
BBC Radio 5 live
Bernie Ecclestone, speaks about his new role in the sport.
BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner on Radio 5 live sports extra: "Max Verstappen has got a chance today. You know Max is going to go for it. Anything can happen into turn one. I think there's a good chance of us racing Kimi Raikkonen today. We are closer to the Ferraris than we thought we would be.
"We have no idea how the windy weather will affect us but it's the same for everybody".
Image source, EPAStoffel Vandoorne will NOT start the race because of a power unit issue with his McLaren.
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Bahrain
McLaren’s post-qualifying news conference was a depressing place to be. An unusually short six minutes of awkward questions and answers eliciting little information other than that Honda does not know the cause of the three MGU-H failures suffered so far through the weekend - two for Stoffel Vandoorne and one for Fernando Alonso - although F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said it was “possibly” related to the circuit and conditions. All three MGU-Hs are destroyed - and each driver only has four for the season before taking a grid penalty. It took a bit of digging afterwards to discover that Alonso’s failure on his first flying lap in second qualifying also trashed his internal combustion engine.
Someone asked Alonso whether the driveability of the Honda engine was any good (we already know it’s way down on power). It produced a withering response: “I don’t care too much about the driveability if I can’t finish a race or a lap in qualifying now.” The news conference was brought to an end shortly after that.
Straight afterwards, Hasegawa went to see Alonso. A mistake. Alonso directed him into an office and proceeded to have a largely one-sided, animated conversation, in which he was very obviously making his feelings clear. “I see you had a bit of a chat with Hasegawa-san,” I said to him afterwards. “Yes,” Alonso replied. “Always calm. You know me.”