Pace and stealth zig-zagged their way through this race, each vying for the primary route to victory. Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari ultimately had both covered – but Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas and a confusing tyre picture made them work oh-so hard for it.
Mercedes were not the quickest in Bahrain – but they believed there was still a way they might beat Ferrari: by cunning and stealth. That plan got off to a great start as Bottas went around Kimi Räikkönen’s outside to slot straight into second as Vettel ran off into the floodlit night.
All looked routine as Vettel made his first stop to prevent Bottas getting within undercut range. But as soon as Mercedes fitted Bottas with the white-walled medium tyres, implying a one-stop strategy, the trap seemed set. Ferrari, in pitting first, had given Mercedes the chance of throwing the dice, helped by the fact there were no Red Bulls around to complicate matters, with Max Verstappen having damaged his car after a niggly collision with Lewis Hamilton, this just seconds before Daniel Ricciardo pulled over with no electrical power.
