Bahrain Grand Prix LIVE: Latest F1 updates as Charles Leclerc loses victory to Lewis Hamilton after late drama

Follow the latest from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Formula One: 2019 season preview

Follow the latest updates live from the Bahrain Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc starts from pole position for the first time in his career.

The Ferrari new boy stunned teammate Sebastian Vettel on Saturday with a new lap record around the Bahrain International Circuit, leading a Ferrari one-two as they locked out the front row. That left Lewis Hamilton to contend with third place at a track that he has not won at for the last three years, and with both he and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas off the pace, it could be a painful day for Mercedes.

Max Verstappen leads the best of the rest in his Red Bull, while McLaren got both their cars into Q3 for the first time since Malaysia 2017 in what could be a successful weekend for Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. Follow the live action below.

When is it?

The Bahrain Grand Prix takes place across the weekend of 29-31 March, with the race itself on Sunday 31 March.

What time does it start?

Lights out is scheduled for 4:10pm BST (6:10pm local).

Where can I watch it?

The race will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 from 2:30pm. Highlights will be shown on Channel 4 from 9pm.

Sky Sports F1 will also be showing every practice session as well as qualifying live throughout the weekend.

Times

First practice: Friday 11am-12:30pm

Second practice: Friday 3pm-4.30pm

Third practice: Saturday 12pm-1pm

Qualifying: Saturday 3pm-4pm

Race: 4:10pm-6:10pm

Grid

1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 27.866secs

2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:28.160

3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.190

4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:28.256

5 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:28.752

6 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:28.757

7 Carlos Sainz (Spa) McLaren 1:28.813

8 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:29.022

9 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:29.043

10 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault 1:29.488

11 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:29.015 + three-place grid penalty for blocking

12 Alexander Albon (Tha) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:29.513

13 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Red Bull 1:29.526

14 Sergio Perez (Mex) Racing Point 1:29.756

15 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:29.854

16 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:30.026

17 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:30.034

18 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point 1:30.217

19 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:31.759

20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams 1:31.799

Key Points

• Lewis Hamilton wins Bahrain Grand Prix
• Charles Leclerc loses eight-second lead due to engine issue
• Race finishes behind safety car to salvage third for Leclerc behind Baltteri Bottas
• Sebastian Vettell spins while fighting Hamilton and finishes fifth

[31 March 2019 16:34 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 13: Mercedes do blink first but it's Bottas who pits in order to cover off Verstappen, and the German outfit send him back out...behind Verstappen! That's a major win for the Red Bull team as the undercut works, and now both Hamilton and Leclerc are pitting. 

[31 March 2019 16:36 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 14: This could really hurt Vettel here, as Hamilton will have an extra lap on the fresh tyres. He's gone for the soft tyres, meaning he will definitely pit again, and now we look to Vettel to see if he can hold on to second.

Meanwhile, Bottas is all over Verstappen and despite not getting the pass down on the start/finish straight, he gets the job down out of three and into turn four to return to fourth.

[31 March 2019 16:37 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 15: Vettel pits from the lead. Will he be second or third...it's third and it's not even close! Vettel comes out around four seconds behind the Mercedes, and that will be a painful sight for the German.

[31 March 2019 16:41 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 17: During all of that pit-stop madness, Kvyat saw his race turned around - literally - as contact with Giovinazzi at turn 11 sent him spinning off track. The Toro Rosso driver has resumed running but he's now way down in 15th.

[31 March 2019 16:42 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 18: No further action on the collision between Sainz and Verstappen, not that the McLaren driver is happy about it.

[31 March 2019 16:43 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 19: The first retirement of the race is the Haas of Romain Grosjean, with the Frenchman never recovering from the first-lap contact with Stroll as he brings the car in to retire.

[31 March 2019 16:46 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 20: There's an error from Hamilton at the final corner as he runs deep and off the track, and that allows Vettel to take a second out of the gap. The top three are separated by just 7.3s.

[31 March 2019 16:47 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 21: Further behind, Hulkenberg sweeps past Raikkonen at turn one for seventh place, making it a strong sixth-seventh running order for the Renaults as Ricciardo has worked his way up to sixth behind his former teammate Verstappen.

[31 March 2019 16:49 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 22: Hamilton's in trouble here, so much so that he radios in to say exactly that. He says the rear tyres are struggling for grip and as a result the car is not turning in cleanly, and that's allowed Vettel to catch the back of him and he has his first look.

[31 March 2019 16:51 · Jack de Menezes]

Lap 23: Wow. That was alarmingly easy for Vettel, as Hamilton goes deep in turn one and allows Vettel to get a run on him towards turn four. The advantage with DRS is so much that Vettel is past Hamilton before the braking zone, and the Ferrari one-two is restored.