Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes ace makes big Ferrari revelation after Bahrain Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen joins Vettel at the sharp end as Ferrari secured a front-row lockout with the Italian team laying down the championship gauntlet to Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton profited from Ferrari’s mishap to finish third behind his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

To set the milestone, Vettel, 30, had to fend off a late fierce attack from Mercedes’ Finnish driver – Valtteri Bottas – who had to settle for the second spot.

Vettel was trailing Raikkonen following the opening runs in the desert, but the championship leader, who beat Hamilton at the opening race in Australia, delivered the goods when it mattered most.

Hamilton, who started ninth after being given a five-place penalty for a gearbox change, said he was satisfied. Also, how soon it will be before Red Bull Racing fight for wins, or will this be a myth in 2018?

The biggest shock of the race was the twin retirement of the Red Bull Racing drivers on the same lap (No 2).

Raikkonen was immediately told to slow his auto to a halt, ending his race. Both Mercedes were now gradually whittling away the gap to the race leader, but Hamilton was audibly fretting over the team radio about what he needed to do to gain the upper hand.

Bottas first angled for a pass for the lead at Turn 1 on the final lap, only for Vettel to cut him off and just retain his advantage. While Bottas pitted two laps after Vettel, for Medium tyres, Hamilton held the lead briefly.

Raikkonen had entered the pits in an attempt to put pressure on Mercedes.

Cigarini was knocked over when Raikkonen was released before his rear-left tire had been fitted at the Sakhir circuit. The Finn pulled away, hitting one of the mechanics. By the time I did get past them the guys were 15 seconds ahead, so really the race was lost in those opening laps.

“The last five laps were really hard”, Vettel said.

“I think I came on the radio with ten laps to go saying I had everything under control but that was a lie”.

“Valtteri had a bit of a sniff but he ran out of laps”. The chance of the win disappeared and Vettel held on to clinch victory.

Behind the top three of Vettel, Bottas and Hamilton, it was a stunning fourth place for the Honda-powered Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, three places ahead of multi-world champion Fernando Alonso in the McLaren which dumped Honda power for 2018.

Ocon was rewarded for his relentless attack of Sainz, snatching 10th and the final point.

Raikkonen was given the green light to exit the box, but the back left tyre had not been removed. “Anyway, there’s not much I can do now but wait for the next race, where we’ll try to do our best”.

It was the four-time F1 champion’s 49th career win on his 200th race start.

Red Bull suffered their first double DNF since Korea 2010. Everyone worked perfectly today and we got both cars into the points.