Vettel holds off Bottas to win in Bahrain; Ferrari driver manages 39 laps on soft tyres; German holds 17-point world championship lead
Thursday 13 December 2018 12:15, UK
Sebastian Vettel says he had "nothing under control" in his Bahrain GP victory and feared Mercedes had achieved "checkmate" when they committed to a one-stop strategy.
Vettel and Ferrari had been planning a two-stop strategy initially with the German switching onto the soft tyres when he pitted on lap 18.
But Mercedes pressured the Scuderia into a tactical change after putting both Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton on medium tyres, with Vettel being told of the decision with 20 laps remaining.
Vettel came under heavy pressure from Bottas in the final laps but the German held on by 0.699s to take his second victory of the season and take a 17-point world championship lead to the Chinese GP.
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"I came on the radio with 10 laps to go and said I had everything under control - that was a lie! There was nothing under control," Vettel admitted.
"When they told me the pace of Valtteri at that time, I said 'no way can l do that'. I did the maths in the car and thought he was going to catch me.
"I tried to keep it as clean as possible. Both Mercedes at the end of the stint were very strong, especially the first one, and by going onto the prime they saw what we did.
"Going onto the medium tyre I thought that was checkmate as we had to come in again.
"That was the original plan but we diverted again and tried to make them last and nurse them as much as I could. And it worked but only just."
The win was Vettel's second in succession at the start of 2018 but the manner of victory was in stark contrast to his somewhat fortunate success in Australia two weeks previously.
"Sebastian Vettel beats Mercedes," was Martin Brundle's reaction to the German's victory on commentary, and the Sky Sports F1 expert described Vettel's ability to nurse his tyres for 38 laps as an "extraordinary effort".
Vettel conceded he doubted the initial call to stick him on a one-stop strategy but admitted holding off the Mercedes had made the victory even sweeter.
"With 20 laps to go I was told we were changing strategy and I thought initially 'how the hell do you want me to do that' because the tyres were already starting to come off," Vettel told Sky F1.
"The last five laps was really tricky just to stay on the racing line and not make a mistake.
"We just managed to stay ahead of Valtteri so it was quite cool when we crossed the line."
He added: "If you manage to get the win under these conditions it tastes even better."
