Hamilton defeats Verstappen amid late drama to win Bahrain F1 GP – as it happened | sport

And here is our report – all from me. Thanks for reading!

The last 10:
11 Raikkonen
12 Giovinazzi
13 Ocon
14 Russell
15 Vettel
16 Schumacher
17 Gasly
18 Latifi
19 Alonso
20 Mazepin

“Disappointing for sure,” mope Valtteri Bottas, third, whose chances were reduced by a pit stop of 10 seconds. Alas.

Max Verstappen, through clenched teeth: “I can see the positives, we really put the fight on them. We scored some good points.

Lewis Hamilton speaks: “What a difficult race it was. Pitting early, we knew it would be difficult, it was going to take something really special. I just managed to hold it back – it was one of the toughest races I’ve had in a while.

The final top 10:

1 Hamilton
2 Verstappen
3 Bottas
4 Norris
5 Perez
6 Leclerc
7 Ricciardo
8 Sainz
9 Tsunoda
10 Walk

It appears that Red Bull’s decision to retire from first place was an instruction from race control.

And after an extremely intense last lap, Hamilton is keeping his elbows open to take first place until the finish line. But what an odd moment was when Verstappen passed Hamilton before letting him return. Red Bull clearly thought he had it in him to do it again, but it wasn’t.

Round 56: Verstappen is not close enough to pass at the first corner, and Hamilton keeps his nose ahead in the second DRS zone. It’s up to him to lose now …

Round 55: So after these remarkable pieces of sportsmanship, Verstappen still has a chance to win this Grand Prix.

Round 54: But the Dutchman took the position off the race track! So he stops and lets Hamilton pass, so it’s back to where we were. Three laps to go and Hamilton still leads – and Verstappen refuses to attack at the first corner. The difference is 0.6 seconds.

Round 53: Verstappen makes his move on the outside at the first corner, no joy. But he sets off again in the next bend and, after a few wheel-to-wheel duels, he races in front of his rival to take first place. He just had his hand on Hamilton.

Round 52: Verstappen looms in Hamilton’s rearview mirror. Hamilton’s grip looks shaky. No DRS for the Dutch yet. Perez chooses Leclerc for fifth place.

Round 51: Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo needs a break-in from the two leaders – the gap between them of 1.4 seconds, 1.3 seconds… Hamilton goes on turn 10 and it’s an unnecessary mistake. Just 1sec now!

Round 49: The Ocon-Vettel episode slowed Verstappen’s rise, he needs to clear the return markers, but he reduced Hamilton’s lead to 2.4 seconds.

Round 48: Verstappen brought Hamilton back in under 2.9 seconds. He should be level with five laps to go – but needs to make sure his tires are ready for the big attack.

Round 47: The top 10: Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Norris, Leclerc, Perez, Ricciardo, Sainz, Stroll, Tsunoda.

Tour 46: Perez roared past Ricciardo’s McLaren for sixth place. “Damage to the front fender. Why did you have to change lines? I lock myself, he changes lines? Vettel moaned.

Round 45: Perez saw Ricciardo with DRS. Ocon and Vettel collided! Vettel hits the Frenchman – poor himself. The two do it again, but they are their demolished races. Meanwhile, Hamilton achieves his best lap. Eleven laps to go and a gap of 4 seconds.

Round 43: Bottas is still third, Norris fourth and Perez watches Ricciardo sixth. Russell heads to the pits for new tires. Verstappen completes the fastest intermediate section of the GP – 4.7 seconds is the gap.

Round 42: Verstappen is screaming on the course with his new tires, which makes this 10-lap prediction look cautious. Hamilton’s tough guys have already completed 12 laps – he’s in trouble.

Round 41: “Verstappen planned to catch up with us in about 10 laps,” said Hamilton. There are 15 to do.

Round 39: Verstappen moved away from the tracks – midrange off, hards on – and emerged less than 2 seconds later just behind Hamilton. The gap is eight seconds: game on.

Round 38: Sainz tries to switch to hard compound tires and comes back to ninth position. Perez went from tough to medium, coming out behind Norris, Leclerc and Ricciardo, and just ahead of Stroll.

Round 37: Raikonnen snuck into the top 10, knocking out Tsunoda and Vettel. A point in his 20th year in F1?

Round 35: “If my pace is right, just keep me out of the way,” Verstappen says. Bottas is third, a nose ahead of Perez.

Round 34: Mercedes tells Hamilton to put his foot down. “If I do this, I won’t go through with it,” comes the response. These are real neck and neck things between him and Verstappen, who is 17 seconds ahead but will probably have to stop again. Hamilton might not be.

Round 33: Alonso’s race is over. His rear brakes seem to have given up, and he’s finished. Welcome to F1 Fernando!

Round 32: Ricciardo is passed by Perez for sixth place. Verstappen with his type advantage now appears to be the favorite, with Hamilton 18 seconds behind after his second save and 24 laps to go.

Round 31: Bottas pits and it’s a horrible stop. The right front tire won’t come off… and he came out 10 seconds later, fifth. It’s him out of the race at the top.

Round 29: Hamilton says to Mercedes: “I could have gone on a little longer, I think.” Mercedes to Bottas: “Lewis is in the pits, Verstappen could have broken him, so we’re going a long time.”

Round 28: Hamilton therefore reappears in third, with Verstappen back in the lead and Bottas, ready to follow the Dutchman’s strategy, in second. Alonso reports a deployment problem on his radio.

Round 27: And the Hamilton pits. Everything is done in a tidy 2.2 seconds, and in a new set of tough guys. What will Red Bull do?

Round 26: Verstappen steps on the accelerator – or maybe Hamilton takes his foot off it – and suddenly the gap is only 2 seconds. “I can’t go any faster!” Hamilton said.

Round 25: Tsunoda ran past Vettel and is now 12th, and smelling the scent of a first point.

Round 25: The gap up front stabilized at about 3.8 seconds. But Verstappen will have to stop again and Hamilton has already done 11 laps on his tires… Watch this space.

Round 24: Raikonnen overtakes Alonso, who found himself in a rut after a great early start. He’s back in 11th place now, but stays ahead of his teammate Ocon in 14th. The top 10: Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Norris, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Stroll, Sainz, Perez, Raikonnen.

Round 22: Verstappen continues to move closer, catching a second per lap over Hamilton. The gap is now less than four seconds.

Round 21: A nice fall as Sainz gained two places, leaving Vettel ninth and Alonso 10th.

Round 20: Verstappen made a game of it and gnawed at Hamilton’s head, a second faster on that final lap. Sergio Perez is back in the pits, go tough.