Leclerc wins sensational sprint race

Charles Leclerc has won a captivating sprint race in Bahrain after switching to a risky strategy during the race. The Monegasque driver pitted on lap 14 of 23 from the lead of the race while everyone stayed out on degrading tyres.

He dropped to P14 and had nine laps to get himself back up to the top of the field. Keeping calm on his much fresher tyres, Leclerc pulled back a 24-second gap to retake the lead on the final lap.

Luca Ghiotto started the race from pole and held on to take a step on the podium,  with Oliver Rowland taking third place, very much stating his intent on challenging for this year's title.

Rowland's team mate Nicholas Latifi was fourth, followed by MP Motorsport driver Jordan King. Nyck de Vries will be relatively happy finishing fifth, however the same can't be said for sixth place Alex Albon, as his heavily degraded tyres meant he slipped from second.

Taking the final point position was feature race winner Artem Markelov, as the Russian finished the race in eighth, exactly where he started.

Fergal Walsh