MotoGP 2017: Grand Prix of America

Marc Marquez has handed a championship lifeline in MotoGP Grand Prix of Americas, with his fifth consecutive victory in Texas made all the more sweeter by the fact that the winner of first two races of the season in Maverick Vinales crashed out.

After victories in Qatar and Argentina, hopes were high that Yamaha rider Vinales could challenge Marquez, the only man to win around the Circuit of the Americas in MotoGP having won all four previous races since the track was added to the calendar in 2013.

Marquez himself was coming off crashing out of the lead in Termas de Rio Hondo two weeks’ ago, leaving himself with a 37-point deficit in the process to Vinales, but the reigning world champion has clawed back vital ground ahead of the start of the European season after Vinales crashed out in America on the second lap of the race.

Marquez has cut the gap to Vinales to just 12 points as a result, but finds veteran Valentino Rossi out in front on 56 points after bagging his third consecutive podium finish, despite being handed a bizarre time penalty for a clash with Johann Zarco. Marquez got off the line well but it was his Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, who led into turn one from Marquez and Rossi, with Vinales dropping to fifth before overtaking Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo.

Sebastian Vettel wins Bahrain Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel leads the drivers’ championship after winning a tense 2017 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton. A late charge from Hamilton wasn’t quite enough to prevent a Ferrari victory, as his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas took third.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth for Ferrari, with Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull’s only finisher in fifth, team mate Max Verstappen having retired early with brake failure. Felipe Massa secured sixth for Williams, from Force India’s Sergio Perez and Haas’s Romain Grosjean. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Force India’s Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.

Polesitter Bottas led from Vettel at the start, as Hamilton dropped to third, but the complexion of the race was altered on Lap 13 when Williams’ Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz collided as the latter exited the pits. It ended both men’s evenings and brought out the safety car, prompting a flurry of pit stops. Hamilton had to queue behind Bottas and delayed Ricciardo behind him in the process, leading to a 5-second time penalty from the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane.

With the safety car shuffle complete, it was Vettel who led from Bottas at the restart on Lap 17, while Hamilton immediately reclaimed P3 from Ricciardo. The final showdown began after Hamilton pitted for the last time on Lap 41 to take his penalty, rejoining in third. He quickly caught Bottas, who dutifully moved aside, leaving the Briton with 10 laps to hunt down Vettel, who was 13s up the road. He gave it his all but it ultimately proved too big an ask, and the gap was 6.6s at the flag.

MotoGP 2017: Grand Prix of Argentina

MotoGP has a tendency to keep making history of late, and the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina was no different – as Maverick Vinales became the first Yamaha rider since Wayne Rainey in 1990 to win the first two races of the year, taking a stunning win as drama hit the grid behind. Teammate Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) created another miracle in P2, with LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow completing the podium in style as top Independent Team rider.

It was reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) who leapt into the lead from pole, with Rossi another electric starter from seventh on the grid. In the rush for Turn 1, it was Marquez leading Crutchlow as the pack shuffled behind, with the reigning Champion then making a stunning break for it as the Brit backed up the chasing Movistar Yamaha MotoGP pairing of Vinales and Rossi. Vinales soon attacked Crutchlow to take P2, before the first of the high drama hit up ahead and Marquez suddenly hit the floor at Turn 2 – having been almost two seconds clear.

There was all-out war for P4 as Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) battled to get past Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), with Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Alvaro Bautista (Pull&Bear Aspar Team) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) getting in the mix. After a short and spectacular duel between Pedrosa and Zarco, the Spaniard broke free to set the fastest lap – before disaster struck for the ‘Baby Samurai’ as he crashed out of the race in the same place as teammate Marquez had done a handful of laps earlier.

After a great start from a difficult grid position, it was disaster for Ducati Team’s Jorge Lorenzo on the first lap as the five-time World Champion crashed out early after contact with old nemesis Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – the ‘Spartan’ thankfully escaping unhurt, and Iannone continuing. The ‘Maniac’ was also given a ride through penalty soon after for a jump start, dropping him down the order and out of contention to cross the line as the final finisher. Austin, Texas now awaits – a chance for Marquez to strike back at a venue he has always ruled, and a chance for Vinales to change that statistic as we head into round three.

Lewis Hamilton won Chinese Grand Prix

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari Sebastian Vettel share the world championship points after a tense battle in Sunday 2017 Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix. It left both smiling broadly as they finished first and second, 6.2s apart, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third having fought his way up from 16^th on the grid.

Hamilton 54th F1 triumph came as he led from pole position from start to finish – the third grand slam of his career – but it was no walkover. The race began on a damp but rapidly drying track, with everyone bar Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz on intermediate tyres. Sainz quickly rued that gamble, spinning off on Lap 1 and then needlessly brushing the wall as he made his way back onto the circuit. It quickly became clear though that slicks were in fact the right choice and others, including Vettel, pitted for dry rubber under a virtual safety car on the second lap, triggered when Force India’s Sergio Perez had collided with Williams’ Lance Stroll on the first, leaving the Canadian rookie beached in the gravel.

Leaders Hamilton, team mate Valtteri Bottas, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Verstappen - already up to fifth - stayed out until the fourth lap, when a real safety car deployment came as Antonio Giovinazzi crashed his Sauber exiting the final corner, the Italian appearing to aquaplane off into the pit wall. That enabled all five to keep their positions as they pitted, leaving Vettel to drop from an initial second to sixth, and set up the thriller.

Initially it was Verstappen who proved to be Hamilton’s main challenger. He and Ricciardo had gone for the supersoft Pirellis, as all the others went for softs in the hope of going all the way. But gradually, the Dutchman fell back, and after Vettel had finally passed team mate Raikkonen on the 20th lap, then Ricciardo in a bold and forceful move in Turn 6 on the 22nd, he closed in on the remaining Red Bull and overtook it when Verstappen had a big lock-up in the Turn 14 hairpin on the 28th. From that half-distance point, Hamilton and Vettel were in a world of their own as they traded times and the gap between them ebbed and flowed. They have 43 points apiece in the drivers’ table as Mercedes eased ahead of Ferrari by one in the constructors’, and the prospects of a super-close title fight look very strong.