MANAMA: Drivers take the start of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit in Manama yesterday. – AFP

SAKHIR: Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel held off a tremendous late charge from Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton to win the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday and take the overall lead in the Formula One title race.

Hamilton was catching Vettel on every lap but ultimately ran out of time and finished about seven seconds behind.

Vettel and Hamilton were level with a win each heading into this race, but Vettel's second victory of the season and 44th of his career puts him in command.Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas finished third after starting from pole position for the first time in his career. It was his 11th podium. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fourth.  Bottas made a clean start but Hamilton was beaten for pace by Vettel, who overtook him heading into the first corner.

Hamilton's hopes were also hit when he was given a five-second time penalty early into the race for driving too slowly in the pit lane and holding up Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who was fifth.

Earlier, Stoffel Vandoorne failed to start the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday, a year on from his Formula One debut at the desert track, as engine woes continued to plague former champions McLaren.

McLaren said the Belgian rookie, who had qualified 17th, had been ruled out by a power unit problem similar to those he suffered in Friday practice.

McLaren are last in the standings, without a point from two races and hampered by woeful reliability and a lack of power from their Honda engine.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso, who also had an engine failure in qualifying, started 15th but with little optimism.

Honda's motorsport head Yusuke Hasegawa said on Saturday that the Japanese manufacturer was not sure of the exact cause of the failures.

"It is something around the bearings, it was sticking.  It happened (three) times here, which is very unfortunate," he told reporters.

Alonso, asked about the driveability of the engine, was withering in response: "I don't care too much about the driveability if I can't finish a race or a lap in qualifying now."

Vandoorne finished 10th on his debut in Bahrain last year as a one-off replacement for Alonso, who had been ruled out by a big accident in the opening race in Australia.

McLaren, who have not won a grand prix since 2012, were sixth overall in 2016 after ending the previous season in ninth place. --    Agencies