Bahrain Grand Prix 2019
The new Formula 1 season began with quite a bang in Australia as Valtteri Bottas upstaged Mercedes teammate and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton to grab the impressive win.
We sort of had a sense that Bottas would fare well in Melbourne, but he exceeded the podium expectation we had as he went on a brilliant drive.
It’s now off to the Bahrain Grand Prix, where Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari have historically been the dominant team in the desert. However, the Scuderia should still expect a stiff challenge from the two Mercedes drivers, as well as others on the grid.
Let’s take a quick look at the latest Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 updates ahead of the second race of the young F1 season.
Talking Points
Vettel and Ferrari look to bounce back
Vettel didn’t have the start to the season that he was looking for in Melbourne. The German could not match the pace of either Mercedes driver; he couldn’t even crack a podium finish after he was passed for third by Max Verstappen.
But the Scuderia are eager to bounce back in Bahrain, a track where they’ve tasted a lot of success over the years. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto says the team has made “corrections” to the problems which led to their disappointing showing in Australia, which sounds encouraging.
Moreover, Vettel is simply a master when it comes to Bahrain. No driver on the grid has more career victories in Bahrain than Vettel’s four, which includes back-to-back wins for Ferrari in each of the past two years. Of course, he was also a back-to-back winner in Australia heading into this year’s race and wasn’t close to making it a hat-trick.
Still, things look to be set up well for Vettel and Ferrari to have a much better time of it in Bahrain than they did in Melbourne. But if they don’t improve their results soon, the pressure will only continue to pile on the Prancing Horse.
Hamilton facing competition
After all of Hamilton’s hard work to claim pole position in Melbourne, it took all of one turn for his teammate Bottas to overtake the world champion and run away with the race.
Hamilton was unable to mount a serious challenge on Bottas, but it wasn’t necessarily his fault. It was later revealed that the floor of Hamilton’s car was damaged, which was the cause of his struggles.
Chances are that that bad luck won’t strike twice for the champ in back-to-back weeks. And if Hamilton’s car is in fine shape, he’s got as good a shot as any to end Vettel’s recent dominance in Bahrain.
Hamilton hasn’t been quite as dominant in Bahrain as he has been in other tracks. But does hold two career victories at the track, and after last week’s disappointment, he will be fully motivated to add a third.
As for Bottas, he has an impressive record in Bahrain; he’s finished in the podium in each of his first two races there for Mercedes. He showed in Australia just how capable he is of crashing the Hamilton-Vettel party, so a repeat performance shouldn’t be completely ruled out.
History
As mentioned earlier, Vettel has been simply dominant in Sakhir. He’s won four times in all, including the last two years for Ferrari. Bottas made a strong push to chase Vettel down in the last few laps of last year’s race, but the German was able to hold on for the win.
However, history is not on Vettel’s side heading into this year’s race since no one has ever won in Bahrain three years in a row. Four drivers — Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton, and Vettel (twice) — have gone back-to-back in Bahrain, but all four have fallen short of the hat-trick.
What are the odds?
Despite his impressive track record in Bahrain, Vettel is surprisingly not among the top favourites to take the checkered flag according to SBOBET odds. Vettel is only priced at 3.70 to win his third race in a row in Bahrain.
Leading the pack are the two Mercedes drivers in Hamilton at 2.20 and Bottas at 3.20. Despite failing to win in Australia, the Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 betting odds are still high on the defending champ’s chances. And based on his track record, there’s every reason to keep faith in the Brit.
Meanwhile, don’t sleep on the Red Bull pair of Verstappen and Pierre Gasly in Bahrain. Verstappen made a surprise trip to the podium in Melbourne last time out and is priced at 1.80 to grab a top-three finish again. Meanwhile, Gasly had his best result of last season in Bahrain as he finished fourth with Toro Rosso. He’s priced at 1.30 to go one place closer and finish in the podium.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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