Bahrain GP: Ferrari’s woes are Mercedes’ gain.

Lewis Hamilton took an unexpected victory ahead of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas after Ferrari had it all go wrong.

With Ferrari looking to put the woes of round 1 in Australia behind them, it all fell to pieces with ten laps to go.

A front row lock out after Saturday’s qualifying, put new charger Charles Leclerc on pole position and it looked like Ferrari were going to have it all their own way in the desert of Bahrain on Sunday.

That’s how the race started.

Four-time World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, took the lead from his new Ferrari team-mate, Leclerc, as the race began, Leclerc struggling to get heat into his tyres.

The 21-year old wasn’t going the let the dream of his maiden F1 victory vanish that easily and on lap three, he retook the lead from his elder team-mate with ease.

Ferrari looked comfortable, managing the race from the front, leaving their rivals, Mercedes, for dust. The first pit-stops came around and the Italian team kept their cool, getting their two cars in and out trouble free.

When the race settled down, the status quo resumed, with the two Ferrari’s taking their place at the front of the pack.

As the laps counted down, Mercedes showed their hand and came in for a second pit-stop. Ferrari reacted soon after and pitted their two cars for fresh tyres; covering off this brave strategic move from Mercedes.

Leclerc held onto his lead, but Vettel was not so lucky, losing his second place to Lewis Hamilton. The German fought back immediately, chasing down Hamilton and taking back the second place he felt he deserved.

Hamilton had other ideas however. Finding pace in his Mercedes that seemed to be absent all weekend, he fought back at Vettel, attempting some brave manoeuvres. Vettel held off Hamilton’s first lunge, the next lap however, things started to unravel.

Hamilton again fought aggressively, but fairly, to try get passed Vettel. As the two cars went wheel-to-wheel, we saw an all too familiar sight, Vettel lost control of his Ferrari defending against Hamilton and spun off the track.

He managed to rejoin the race, but the flat-spots he put on his tyres caused violent vibrations which resulted in the Ferrari’s front wing breaking away in violent fashion.

Coming into the pits to repair the damage, Vettel dropped to eighth. The only solace now for Ferrari was their new superstar Leclerc, who was still comfortably leading the Grand Prix.

Vettel gave it his all to make up lost ground and fought his way back to fifth position. Ferrari could breathe some relief, or so they thought.

With ten laps remaining, Leclerc came on the radio to tell his team that his engine felt strange. The stop-watch agreed. Leclerc’s lap times were tumbling and Lewis Hamilton, now in second position, was closing in on him at a rate of knots.

Within a couple of laps, Hamilton had caught up with Leclerc, and there was nothing the Ferrari driver could do, his car limping at a vastly reduced pace. Hamilton snatched the lead.

To add salt to his wounds, just another couple of laps later, the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas (winner in round 1 in Australia) overtook Leclerc, dropping the youngster to third.

At this rate it looked like Lecelrc was not only going to lose his maiden win, but he might not even finish on the podium, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in fourth was now reeling him in.

It was not to be Leclerc’s day

Finally however, Leclerc managed to catch a break. Further down the pack, in a turn of fate you couldn’t script, both the Renault cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo had mechanical failures at the exact same moment with just three laps of the race remaining.

These failures brought out the safety car to recover the two stricken Renaults, meaning the race was neutralised and no one was allowed to overtake. If the safety car came in before the race’s end however, Lecelrc would be a sitting duck. Was his day about to get worse?

He lucked out, the race ended under safety car conditions and he held onto the final podium position. A small consolation on what was set to be a fairly-tale maiden win for the up and coming young star. He also managed to grab the race’s fastest lap, awarding him a bonus point to add to his tally.

The Mercedes team reaped the rewards of Ferrari’s mishaps and took another 1-2 finish. With Lewis Hamilton taking his first victory of 2019 ahead of his Finnish team-mate, Bottas.

Bottas’ second place allows him to just hang on to the lead of the championship by a single point.

Charles Leclerc was robbed of victory, but that is the cruel world of Formula 1. He’s young and his career is set to be long.  His day will come. His more experienced team-mate, Vettel, now needs to watch his back.

The Formula 1 circus moves on to China in two weeks time, for the landmark 1000th Grand Prix. Will Ferrari be able to join the celebrations and kick start their season with some better luck? Only time will tell.