Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton scored his third victory in four races with a commanding drive in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver was always in control at the front and yet the battle behind was thrilling. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen came out on top to take his first podium of the season.
Nico Rosberg finished third, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel. The latter experiencing a tricky race – running off track and damaging his front wing.
Hamilton made a clean start from pole position, with Vettel going defensive and successfully holding on to second. That backed Rosberg up, allowing Raikkonen to snatch third place.
However, Rosberg battled his way back past Raikkonen and then took advantage of Vettel running wide at Turn 1 to close and then pass at the same corner next time around.
Ferrari successfully used the undercut to jump Rosberg at the first round of pit-stops, but Vettel was then distracted by Hamilton exiting the pit lane and Rosberg took advantage – diving down the inside of Turn 1 to retake second place.
The Scuderia repeated the undercut trick at the second round of pit-stops and yet again it worked, with Vettel jumping Rosberg. But another mistake by Vettel, this time running wide at the final corner, allowed Rosberg back through.
That error also caused front wing damage for the Malaysian Grand Prix winner and Sebastian was forced to pit for repairs.
Raikkonen then started catching Rosberg in the final stint of the race, as he was running the softer of the two compound tyres.
And The Iceman capitalised when Rosberg – who also had brake problems – ran wide at Turn 1 in the closing laps, allowing the Ferrari to grab second.
Vettel dropped to fifth with his extra pit-stop and could not get back past Bottas despite a long chase.
Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault power unit let go spectacularly out of the final corner of the last lap, but he managed to cross the finishing line to take sixth for Red Bull Racing.
Romain Grosjean scored points for the second successive race with seventh for Lotus, ahead of Sergio Perez.
The Force India driver recorded some points thanks to a two-stop strategy working well compared to the three-stopping rivals in the midfield.
Daniil Kvyat rescued some points with ninth in the Red Bull, having started in P17, with Felipe Massa completing the top ten and recovering well from a pit lane start after stalling on the grid.
The Williams driver ran eighth late on but his very long final stint on his two-stop strategy proved ambitious and his tyres faded.
Fernando Alonso equalled McLaren’s best finish of the season in P11, while his team-mate Jenson Button did not even make the start after a problem was detected with his energy recovery system.
Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was P12, one position ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg with Marcus Ericsson P13, having run in the points before losing at least twenty seconds during a pit-stop when his team struggled to fit the front-left tyre.
Pastor Maldonado was also in contention for points but he was delayed in the pits with smoke pouring from the front brakes of the Lotus and he ended up P15.
Manor got both cars to the finish for the second successive race, with Will Stevens P16 and Roberto Merhi P17.
But this was a disappointing race for Toro Rosso. Both Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen were forced to retire from the Bahrain Grand Prix.
So an entertaining race in the twilight and yet the the champions reign supreme. This was Hamilton’s 36th career victory in Formula 1 and is now 27 points ahead of his championship rival and team-mate.
Mercedes extends their lead in the constructors’ standings over the Scuderia. Formula 1 will return in three weeks time and the start of the European leg in the fascinating season.
Bahrain Grand Prix, 57 laps:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1h35m05.809s
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 3.380s
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 6.033s
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 42.957s
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 43.989s
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m01.751s
7 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1m24.763s
8 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1 Lap
9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1 Lap
10 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1 Lap
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1 Lap
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1 Lap
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1 Lap
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1 Lap
15 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1 Lap
16 Will Stevens Manor-Ferrari 2 Laps
17 Roberto Merhi Manor-Ferrari 3 Laps
– Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault Retirement
– Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault Retirement
– Jenson Button McLaren-Honda Not started
Drivers’ standings:
1 Lewis Hamilton 93
2 Nico Rosberg 66
3 Sebastian Vettel 65
4 Kimi Raikkonen 42
5 Felipe Massa 31
6 Valtteri Bottas 30
7 Daniel Ricciardo 19
8 Felipe Nasr 14
9 Romain Grosjean 12
10 Nico Hulkenberg 6
11 Max Verstappen 6
12 Carlos Sainz 6
13 Sergio Perez 5
14 Marcus Ericsson 5
15 Daniil Kvyat 4
16 Fernando Alonso 0
17 Jenson Button 0
18 Roberto Merhi 0
19 Will Stevens 0
20 Pastor Maldonado 0
Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 159
2 Ferrari 107
3 Williams-Mercedes 61
4 Red Bull-Renault 23
5 Sauber-Ferrari 19
6 Lotus-Mercedes 12
7 Toro Rosso-Renault 12
8 Force India-Mercedes 11
9 McLaren-Honda 0
10 Manor-Ferrari 0
Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona. May 8-10
Mercedes Formula 1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both struggled with brake problems in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Just moments after Rosberg ran off the track at Turn 1 in his battle with Kimi Raikkonen for second spot, Hamilton came on the radio to report a brake-by-wire fault that had emerged.
Although Hamilton held on for the win, with Rosberg claiming third, both drivers admitted things had been tricky in the closing stages.
“I tried to catch Lewis, but that was impossible,” Rosberg said. “I struggled with the brakes.
“I lost the brakes two laps from the end and went straight on.
“I had to carry the car home for the last two laps.”
Hamilton lost time to the pursuing Raikkonen on the final lap, but he insisted there was no danger of the win being lost.
“I think my brakes got a bit warm behind a few backmarkers,” he explained.
“When you are behind you don’t get cool air, so they got a bit warm. But it wasn’t really a problem.”
Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff told the BBC that the team had to monitor its brake temperatures throughout the race, and that it knew the situation was “critical” in the closing stages.
Source: Autosport.com
After finishing second in the Bahrain Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen promises much more is to come from Ferrari. Autosport.com has the details.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen believes the team will soon be an even bigger threat to Mercedes at the front of the field in Formula 1, following the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Finn took advantage of an alternative tyre strategy to finish between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Sakhir on Sunday, coming home just three seconds behind the winner as Mercedes nursed brake problems at the end.
And Raikkonen believes that it will not be long before Ferrari is a genuine threat to Mercedes at every grand prix.
“We had decent speed today, I think we just have to keep working and improving the whole package,” said the 2007 world champion.
“I’m sure we will get there and we can fight every weekend after that.
“I’m very happy with the team and I think many people didn’t expect after last year that we would be in this position this early.
“We will start winning [more] races. We have to be patient and do the same work as we have done so far and we will get there.”
Raikkonen added that Ferrari deserves credit for making gains in all areas following a disappointing 2014 season.
“The whole package has gone forward,” he said. “A big chunk of it is the engine but you cannot give all the credit to them.
“The car has improved a lot, there’s a lot more downforce, it’s handling a lot better.
“All areas have improved, that is the key. People are working more closely, which has helped us get to where we have now.”
During his strong stint on the harder medium-compound tyre, Raikkonen questioned Ferrari’s decision to revert to the soft tyre for his final stint.
However, after reeling in the Mercedes drivers after his final stop, he admitted that the team had made the right decision.
“I think we had a few different approaches of how to run the race,” Raikkonen said.
“On the medium tyre it was quite easy to catch up to them.
“In the end it was the right choice to go soft – we were much faster still.
“We did more or less the maximum we could have done, we had a pretty good race and hopefully we can have a few more.”
As for his Ferrari team-mate, Sebastian Vettel has admitted he was struggling to find a rhythm during the Bahrain race. Autosport.com provides the story.
Sebastian Vettel blamed a lack of race rhythm and ill-handling rear end on his Ferrari for the errors that cost him a Formula 1 podium in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver had been Mercedes’ main threat in the early stages of the race, but several off-track excursions proved costly in losing him ground.
His hopes of a top three finish were dashed when a trip across the gravel on the exit of the final corner during a battle with Nico Rosberg damaged his front wing and forced him to pit for a replacement.
After finishing fifth, Vettel admitted that he had never felt fully comfortable during the Sakhir event.
“I was probably pushing very hard and did some mistakes,” he said. “I think all in all, not a perfect race.
“Obviously, I did not get in to the rhythm and lost positions when it [was important] not to lose positions for the overall race.
“That lost us some time and in the end with the damage on the front wing we had to go again [in the pits] and lost a lot of track time.”
After getting stuck behind fourth place finisher Valtteri Bottas late on, Vettel said that his lack of confidence with the rear end was a big problem.
“In general today I was struggling a bit with the rear end of the car,” he said.
“Corner exits is where you need to make it stick and I was very vulnerable for Nico to get a good exit compared to me.
“Then I wasn’t very good in getting a good exit compared to Valtteri.
“Once I was in DRS it was always too late to do something.
“He did a good job defending and not doing any mistakes, I could not get close enough to do something.”
Despite his first non-podium finish of the year, Vettel said there was still every reason to be happy with the progress Ferrari was making.
“Overall it is still a very big surprise for everyone how good we are and how strong we are, that is very positive,” he explained.
“We had a very strong weekend. Obviously the target is to catch Mercedes from where we are.
“We seem to be the team right behind them, but when I say behind them, there is still a bit of a gap.
“There is plenty of stuff that we need to do and need to improve, and that is where my focus is.”