Bahrain GP Result & Race Report
Lewis Hamilton claimed his second straight victory in one of the closest fought Grand Prix in recent memory from his Mercedes team mate who finished 2nd.
Lewis started 2nd on the grid but stole the advantage into the first corner. Some close racing followed unitl the first pit stops where they took on different tyres and adopted different strategies. Lewis went on to make a near 10 second lead on the faster tyre before a safety car period eroded his advantage. After the following stops it was Rosberg’s turn to take on the faster tyre however a close run to the finish, the German could not pass the British driver for the top step of the podium.
Third place went to another Mercedes engined car with Perez climbing on the podium for the first time since his Sauber days. The Force india’s fought together and had a great race with Hulkenberg finishing in 5th.
Red Bull benefited from the double McLaren retirements to finish 4th and 6th with Ricciardo showing Vettel up with a fine race and a great overtaking move on the 4 time world champ.
The two Williams drivers also claimed points finishing together in 7th and 8th and were fighting throughout the whole grand prix. In a further team-mate battle the two Ferrari’s finished 9th & 10th claiming the last few points but it was advantage to Alonso after a tough qualifying yesterday in which he lost out to Raikkonen.
Just finishing outside the points were Kvyat. Grosjean and Chilton.
The Safety car was deployed after an accident on lap 39 between Pastor Maldonado and Esteban Gutierrez. Maldonado was exiting the pits and seemingly wasn’t looking where he was going, drove straight into the side of the Mexican’s Sauber flipping him over and ending his race. As I write this he has been sent to hospital for precautionary checks but looks to be ok. Maldonado continued to finish 14th. However has now received a 5 place grid penalty for the Chinese Grand Prix and has received some penalty points on his super license.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Pts |
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 57 | Winner | 25 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 57 | +1.0 secs | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 57 | +24.0 secs | 15 |
| 4 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 57 | +24.4 secs | 12 |
| 5 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 57 | +28.6 secs | 10 |
| 6 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 57 | +29.8 secs | 8 |
| 7 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 57 | +31.2 secs | 6 |
| 8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 57 | +31.8 secs | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 57 | +32.5 secs | 2 |
| 10 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 57 | +33.4 secs | 1 |
| 11 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 57 | +41.3 secs | |
| 12 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 57 | +43.1 secs | |
| 13 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 57 | +59.9 secs | |
| 14 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 57 | +62.8 secs | |
| 15 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 57 | +87.9 secs | |
| 16 | 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 56 | +1 Lap | |
| 17 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 55 | +2 Laps | |
| Ret | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 40 | +17 Laps | |
| Ret | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 39 | Accident | |
| Ret | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 33 | +24 Laps | |
| Ret | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 18 | +39 Laps | |
| Ret | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 17 | +40 Laps |
One of the best races I've seen recently, great to see teams allowing their drivers to race against each other. The Mercedes works cars were in a class of their own which, isn't a bad thing. I'm certain there have been seasons past where teams had advantages due to previous years R&D choices. This season so far seems to favour the Mercedes engines, but there is always a winning team in F1.
Ferrari and Red Bull were fairly dominant over recent years so It's great to see the pack mixed up again, Ricciardo is really showing his mettle from race to race and you can be sure other teams will catch up through the season.
All the talks of rule changes mid-season seem to stink of the old guard becoming corrupted. Ferrarri in particular. The team have gone through fallow periods in the early 90's prior to the Schumacher years but are still here. Some teams will advanced and some will fall behind when rules are changed. At least give this new format a chance, for a straight season. Bahrain proved lap after lap that it delivered an enthralling sport and I'm sure future races will prove the same.