Weekend round-up (April 6-8): F1, MotoGP, Maini and more

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel scored his second successive F1 win after holding off the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in the Bahrain GP.

Vettel was initially on a two-stop strategy but switched to a single one mid-race, leaving him to do 35 laps on a set of soft tyres.

Bottas, who also stopped once but changed to the more durable medium compound, started hammering down Vettel in the closing stage of the 53 lap race. He attempted a half-hearted move on the penultimate lap but couldn’t make it stick, allowing Vettel to take the win.

Lewis Hamilton, who had been hit by a five-place grid penalty for a change of gearbox, finished third, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who scored Honda’s best result in the V6 hybrid era.

Both Red Bull drivers retired early on with separate issues and so did Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn the victim of a botched pitstop that also left one of the Ferrari mechanics with injuries.

Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10, scoring first points of 2018 for Force India.

A bizarre and controversial Argentina GP was delayed when all riders but polesitter Jack Miller dived into the pits moments before the race to switch to dry-weather bikes.

All the riders eventually started from the grid, with Miller given a headstart based on a meeting between the team principals.

The Pramac Ducati rider was overtaken by a fast charging Marc Marquez but returned to the lead of the race when the Spaniard was handed a ride through penalty for reversing on the starting grid.

With six laps to go, he made a crucial mistake at turn 13, allowing Cal Crutchlow, Johann Zarco and Alex Rins through to the leading three positions.

The trio had their own battle to the finish line, but Crutchlow held it firm to score his first win since the 2016 Australian GP.

Meanwhile, Marquez charged his way through the field after serving his penalty, dispatching one rider after another. However, his block pass on old rival Valentino Rossi left the Yamaha rider on the grass - and the Spaniard was handed a post-race 30 second penalty which dropped him out of the points.

Arjun Maini failed to score points on his Formula 2 debut in Bahrain.

Maini had a wobbly moment on his qualifying lap, which left him down in 15th on the grid for the feature race. He tried to move up the pack with a strategy that involved going as late as possible on the medium tyres, but a botched pitstop cost him 20 seconds and left him 15th at the chequered flag.

Sunday’s sprint race was marginally better, but a poor grid slot meant that he could finish no higher than 14th.

Akhil Rabindra (GT4 European Series Zolder)

Akhil Rabindra made his GT4 European Series debut at Belgium’s Zolder Circuit last weekend.

He was unlucky to be hit by a rival car in the first race, but a better showing in Race 2 from him and teammate Stephane Lemeret saw them finish 14th overall.

Elsewhere, Jenson Button scored a podium finish in only his second Super GT appearance at Japan’s Okayama Circuit.

Button preserved the tyres well in the first stint, which meant the team didn’t find the need to change rubber during the race’s solitary pitstop. This allowed his teammate Naoki Yamamoto to emerge out of the pits in second place.