Bahrain Grand Prix: Vettel holds off Bottas, Hamilton in third

Sebastian Vettel might have started in pole, but it wasn't a straightforward hold to the finish. The Ferrari fended off the challenge of Valtteri Bottas by fractions of a second, despite being held up by the backmarkers, and even lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton for a bit after a pit stop.

Kimi Raikkonen retired halfway through after a disastrous pit stop in which his car was released before the wheels were on safely, and in which he hit one of the mechanics on the way out.

Three stars out of five. Bearing in mind his grid penalty and his comparatively poor qualifying, finishing on the podium was a great result. That wasn't good enough for Hamilton by his own standards, though; he was his usual snippy self over the radio with his team as they gave him lap times to aim for. "I feel like you guys aren't really giving much of a picture," he complained with ten laps to go, 16 seconds behind Vettel.

Team-mates Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen weren't being particularly friendly or even collegial to each other this afternoon, with the Frenchman trying to keep the Dane well behind him. Both used plenty of expletives to describe the other to their garage over the radio, each entirely convinced that he was driving perfectly. It wasn't exactly edifying, but it was quite funny.

Vettel's comfortable cruise past Hamilton to reclaim the lead after his pit stop was smoothly executed.

Carlos Sainz is revelling in the opportunities offered him by Renault. With a handful of laps to go, he moved into tenth, sliding past Grosjean, and promptly got on the radio to ask, "OK, who's next?"

This race was all about strategy - tyres and stops. Vettel's initial plan was to have two stops - but without Raikkonen, who could have protected his team-mate, he was forced into a one-stopper, finishing on softs he put on during Lap 18, eking out as much of a lead over the fresher Bottas (on mediums) as he could. It made for an incredibly compelling finish - so unlike some of the processional spectacles we've become so used to seeing.

Bottas got himself into the DRS zone with two laps to go, and Vettel drove defensively and sensibly to hold off that challenge.

Applause for Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso, who enjoyed an absolutely storming qualifying session and backed that up in the race with an impressive fourth-place finish.

Red Bull! That has to be the worst ever few minutes in the team's history. Max Verstappen had a horrible qualifying session, but Daniel Ricciardo looked solid. That was until his gearbox decided to completely pack up.

The young Dutchman ended up retiring as well after an early puncture. Not a good day.

Not a glittering array of celebrities, but one or two on show.

And it was lovely to see Gerhard Berger waving the chequered flag at the end.