Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Vettel fails to start Bahrain Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel failed to start the Bahrain Grand Prix after an engine failure on the formation lap.

The Ferrari driver was set to start from third on the grid in Bahrain on Sunday but suffered an engine failure during the formation lap. With smoke pouring out of the back of his car from the straight before Turn 11, Vettel eventually stopped before Turn 14 and climbed out of his car before the race had even started.

Vettel found a gap with allowed marshals to clear the car quickly, ensuring the race start went ahead without delay. Nico Rosberg took the lead off the line as pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton was hit by Valtteri Bottas and dropped down to seventh place.

The failure followed a turn problem for Kimi Raikkonen in the opening race of the season which forced him to retire from the Australian Grand Prix.

LIVE: Bahrain Grand Prix

REPORT: Hamilton pips Rosberg to Bahrain pole by 0.077s

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.