Bahrain – Race: Lewis Hamilton royal, Räikkönen as second man

Before the race even started, the first retirement was noted: Jenson Button, already unable to set a time in qualifying, was not able to defend his chances during the race. He did not even start.

The formation lap was also marked by the electronic problem that Felipe Massa fell victim to. Stuck on the grid, the Brazilian had to be pushed into the pit lane, from where he was able to start. But this obviously greatly compromised his race. Despite an aggressive strategy to climb back up, he couldn’t do better than 10th.

At lights out, Lewis Hamilton got off to a perfect start, giving Sebastian Vettel no chance to surprise him at the start. However, the German clearly shut the door on his compatriot Nico Rosberg. Rosberg then had to let Kimi Räikkönen’s second Ferrari pass, ideally placed on the inside of the second corner. The Finn was thus implementing the same strategy that had worked so well against the Williams in Malaysia.

The fight was thus launched between the three men. The German from Mercedes still managed to regain the lead over his two Ferrari rivals, but this allowed Lewis Hamilton to calmly control the proceedings at the front. During the first round of pit stops, Sebastian Vettel was the first to go through the pit lane. His new soft tires then allowed him to get back in front of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes, while Kimi Räikkönen tried an alternate strategy by already switching to mediums and extending his first stint as long as possible.

But the performance of the Mercedes allows Nico Rosberg to regain the advantage over his compatriot, who makes several braking maneuvers a bit too forceful, causing him to lose time. The new Ferrari protégé then chooses to stop first again on the 32nd of the 57 laps of the race. Mercedes then decides to pit Lewis Hamilton on the following lap, which forces Nico Rosberg to stop two laps later than Sebastian Vettel. Once again, Vettel manages to get ahead of the Mercedes.

The runner-up must start from scratch. Two laps later, he takes advantage of another mistake by Sebastian Vettel in the last corner before the pit straight to reclaim second place. But by going beyond the curb, the four-time world champion damaged his front wing, forcing him to make another pit stop and losing all hope of a podium. He will then fail to overtake Valterri Bottas’s Williams and will have to settle for fifth place.

But one Ferrari can hide another. Indeed, Kimi Räikkönen’s staggered strategy led the Finn to make his last tire change on the 40th lap, after Lewis Hamilton had overtaken him. He then emerged in third position, 19 seconds behind Nico Rosberg. It was then a true spectacle put on by the 2007 world champion: his new tires worked wonders as he quickly gained on the two Mercedes, which stayed four seconds apart from each other. It was not uncommon for the Finn to gain more than a second per lap.

Author of the fastest lap in the race, he catches up to Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes with two laps to go. But at the end of the straight, Nico Rosberg is let down by his brakes, causing him to run very wide. This leaves the door open for the Finn, who then grabs second position. The German will not be able to threaten his rival, causing him to lose more significant points compared to his teammate.

Behind the top five, Daniel Ricciardo managed to bring his car to the finish line… but not much further. Indeed, his Renault engine literally exploded during the final acceleration, allowing him just enough to cross the finish line in sixth position.

The Australian thus overtakes Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, who scores points for the second consecutive time. Sergio Perez managed to climb to 8th place while Daniil Kvyat managed to make up for a missed qualification and a 17th place on the grid to move up to 9th position.

Fernando Alonso, in the sole McLaren, was therefore not far from the points as he finished 11th, while the two Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson surrounded the Sahara Force India of Nico Hülkenberg. Pastor Maldonado experienced new brake problems during his pit stop. While this forced him to go straight in Malaysia, this time he simply lost a lot of time during his tire change, with a significant smoke release. He still managed to finish ahead of the two Manors, which once again managed to reach the finish.