Sebastian Vettel held off Valtteri Bottas during a thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix as he made it back-to-back wins, Ferrari’s first since 2010, to continue his perfect start to the new season.
Vettel and Bottas – who jumped Kimi Raikkonen at the start – both ran one-stop strategies, but went in a different direction with their choice of compounds.
Vettel had been expected to run a two-stop strategy and fitted Softs on lap 18 of 57, while Bottas was equipped with Mediums, his stop coming two laps later, and the gap between the pair sat around the six-second barrier.
As the race wore on Vettel ostensibly switched strategies and stayed out, holding track position, potentially fuelled by an incident during Raikkonen’s second stop, when a mechanic was struck as the Finn left the box.
Ferrari had not been able to remove Raikkonen's left-rear tyre but he was sent on his way, and the mechanic was struck by his SF71-H; Raikkonen halted a few metres later and retired, with the condition of the mechanic not yet known.
Vettel still held a five-second advantage as the race entered its final 10 laps but Bottas began closing in, and got within DRS range on the penultimate lap, setting up a grandstand finish.
Bottas had a half-hearted attempt into Turn 1 on the final lap but Vettel held his line – with Bottas consequently compromising his own exit from the corner, denying him a shot into Turn 4.
Vettel duly retained position across the rest of the lap to record victory by 0.699s, marking the first time since 2004 that Ferrari has started the year with successive wins.
Lewis Hamilton rose from a penalised ninth on the grid to take third, aided by Raikkonen’s exit, with the bulk of his gains coming during the early stages of the race.
Fourth place, meanwhile, went to Pierre Gasly, as he capped his weekend-long fine display with a stellar drive.
Running a two-stop strategy, Gasly remained out of trouble and easily pulled clear of his midfield opponents to record his best Formula 1 finish – and with it take his maiden points, having started from fifth on the grid.
It marked the best result for a Honda-powered car since the operation returned to Formula 1 in 2015.
Kevin Magnussen survived a close scare with off-strategy Haas team-mate Romain Grosjean to take fifth, somewhat making up for the squad’s Australia woes, while Nico Hulkenberg was sixth for Renault.
McLaren took seventh and eighth, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, while Marcus Ericsson ran a one-stop strategy to claim ninth – his first points since 2015, and Sauber's first top 10 finish in almost a year.
Esteban Ocon got Force India onto the 2018 scoreboard as he rounded out the top 10, in front of Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sergio Perez was tipped into a spin by Brendon Hartley on the opening lap and came home 12th – with Hartley 13th after he was handed a 10-second penalty for causing the clash.
Charles Leclerc took 14th, in front of Grosjean, while Williams pair Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll were the final classified runners on a torrid weekend for the team.
Williams is now the only squad yet to score a point this season.
Red Bull, meanwhile, suffered a disastrous race as it suffered its first double retirement since 2010, with both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen dropping out early.
Ricciardo ran fourth but pulled off on only the second lap of the race when his car shut down due to a suspected electrical engine issue – mere moments after Verstappen sustained a puncture when he brushed wheels with Hamilton at Turn 1.
Verstappen crawled around for repairs but lasted only a couple more laps before he was instructed to halt his RB14, due to the damage his car sustained after the puncture.
As a result of his back-to-back wins, Vettel heads to China with a 17-point lead over Hamilton in the standings.