Cassidy Retirement Allows Victory for Hamilton

Qualifying:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time
1	2	Lewis Hamilton		1:23.162
2	62	Dave Cassidy		1:23.209
3	1	Sebastian Vettel		1:23.414
4	27	Nathan McKane		1:23.414
5	63	Jules Bianchi		1:23.550
6	98	Salvatore Miccoli		1:23.677
7	99	Kevin Magnussen		1:23.712
8	5	Valtteri Bottas		1:23.896
9	32	Daniel Melrose		1:24.023
10	29	Pastor Maldonado		1:24.058
11	91	Max Verstappen		1:24.265
12	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		1:24.319
13	31	Rhys Davies		1:24.401
14	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		1:24.470
15	6	Matt Solomon		1:24.573
16	30	Nico Hülkenberg		1:24.673
17	28	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		1:24.825
18	90	Daniel Ricciardo		1:25.064
19	42	Davide Valsecchi		1:25.169
20	43	Sergio Pérez		1:24.504*
21	12	Scott Dixon		1:25.399
22	55	Artem Markelov		1:25.439
23	66	Josef Newgarden		1:25.443
24	56	Bradley Dagnall		1:25.571
25	67	Pierre Gasly		1:25.781
26	11	Daniël de Jong		1:26.218

* demoted five places for changing engine/gearbox

Report:

One thing that can be said about the second Bahrain Grand Prix of 2017 is that drivers have calmed down and made less mistakes in total. However, just because someone doesn’t make mistakes, they still can provide for an entertaining sports showcase. This sure was the case in this race, as it had a good number of shocking twists and amazing moves, providing an interesting result.

Lewis Hamilton had scored his first pole of the 2018 season, using the advantage that was provided to him as a consequence of not having a large amount of success ballast with him in qualifying. At the start, however, the Brit lost out, as Dave Cassidy was able to get the better of the Caterham driver, taking the lead and building on that in the following laps.

As Jules Bianchi and Sebastian Vettel had to work their way up the order after struggling at the start, other teams were trying their best as well. DGN managed to help Miccoli to another fourth place: Sauber were able to pass Haas in the WCC standings, despite another good outing by Stoffel Vandoorne. Ferrari overcame technical issues to get both cars in the points for the first time since the season opener.

Out front, a thrilling battle between Dave Cassidy and Lewis Hamilton found a tragic end: the Precision-Mercedes had an extremely rare technical problem. Dave Cassidy had to park the #62 Precision, because his suspension had picked up race-ending damage. Lewis Hamilton took the lead and went on to smoothly control the race to score his first victory since returning to F1.

Race:

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Time/Retired	Points
1	2	Lewis Hamilton		43:32.982	17
2	63	Jules Bianchi		+6.964	12
3	1	Sebastian Vettel		+9.775	10
4	98	Salvatore Miccoli		+16.543	8
5	29	Pastor Maldonado		+34.121	6
6	21	Stoffel Vandoorne		+42.776	5
7	30	Nico Hülkenberg		+46.554	4
8	28	Marcel Agyemang-Badu		+51.005	3
9	27	Nathan McKane		+51.530	2
10	91	Max Verstappen		+53.636	1
11	22	Johnny Cecotto Jr.		+54.268	0
12	99	Kevin Magnussen		+54.871	0
13	31	Rhys Davies		+58.729	0
14	55	Artem Markelov		+61.346	0
15	67	Pierre Gasly		+63.225	0
16	56	Bradley Dagnall		+64.126	0
17	66	Josef Newgarden		+66.552	0
18	12	Scott Dixon		+68.794	0
19	42	Davide Valsecchi		+70.684	0
20	5	Valtteri Bottas		+77.459	0
21	11	Daniël de Jong		+82.894	0
DNF	90	Daniel Ricciardo		Transmission	0
DNF	43	Sergio Pérez		Transmission	0
DNF	32	Daniel Melrose		Electrical	0
DNF	62	Dave Cassidy		Suspension	0
DNF	6	Matt Solomon		Engine	0

Fastest Lap:

Dave Cassidy – 1:24.363

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Nico Hülkenberg – Got Sauber a number of important points.

Reject Of The Race:

Valtteri Bottas – The Finn made a crucial mistake and lost a lot of points.