10 Amazing Moments From The Action-Packed Bahrain Grand Prix

1. Vettel had a really bad day

Sebastian Vettel was set to line up third on the grid but his spot was vacant. That’s because his Ferrari power unit failed on the formation lap in style, with smoke pouring from his SF16-H. His day couldn’t have gone any worse! Here’s how be probably felt:

2. Turn 1 chaos

The Bahrain International circuit’s first complex of corners is made up of a tight right-left section, which often throws up drama on lap one. This proved to be the case this weekend too. Lewis Hamilton had a sluggish start and lost the lead to Nico Rosberg, but as he moved into turn one, Valtteri Bottas dived up the inside.

The two collided and Hamilton suffered a half-spin, damaging his front wing and dropping him to ninth. Daniel Ricciardo lost an endplate in all the mayhem and there was plenty of wheel-barging as the pack bunched up.

Sergio Perez found himself overtaking two cars at once on lap two but that didn’t end very well. He hit the back of Carlos Sainz Jr’s Toro Rosso, damaging his front wing and giving his rival a puncture. Nice work…

4. McLaren DNF

Jenson Button pulled off with an issue on lap eight, maybe it was a return of 2015-spec McLaren Honda? Who knows. It prompted this brilliant reaction from Fernando Alonso though. He wasn’t racing due to an injury sustained in his huge Australian GP crash.

5. Sparks, sparks, sparks

F1 not only looks good under floodlights, it also looks good with sparks! There were plenty of them being kicked up during the race, which made the frantic battles look even more awesome.

6. Not bad for a rookie

Stoffel Vandoorne replaced Alonso for the Bahrain GP and made his F1 debut. He put in some brilliant overtakes during the race, definitely proving his worth despite a lack of experience. Top job!

7. Battles, battles everywhere!

We really were treated to some epic overtakes during the Bahrain Grand Prix. There were so many going on, that at times it was hard to keep up with all of the position changes.

8. Grosjean on the move

Romain Grosjean was arguably the driver of the day for his aggressive passes and overtakes during the race, eventually finishing in fifth place for the new Haas team. Quite a start to 2016 for the American outfit!

Rosberg really was unchallenged out front and put in a controlled drive to win his second race of the 2016 season, with Raikkonen and Hamilton next up. Ricciardo was fourth for Red Bull and Grosjean as fifth, ahead of the fast-charging Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat. Vandoorne was 10th on his debut.

I think the above screen grab says it all, right? F1 at night, under floodlights, with fireworks at the finish. It makes for one pretty spectacular aerial view!