Lewis Hamilton wins in Bahrain – Kimi Raikkonen takes 2nd place for Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton took his third victory of the season in the Bahrain Grand Prix, controlling the race from start to finish. Raikkonen took second for Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton drove his own race in Bahrain to take a victory – his third this season – and extend his lead in the drivers championship. But it wasn’t quite so straightforward for Nico Rosberg.

Starting third on the grid, Rosberg ended up behind Kimi Raikkonen in fourth place after the start as Raikkonen started to show why he’s a world champion.

Bur Rosberg responded, and by lap four was back in front of Raikkonen’s Ferrari and hunting down second place Vettel, which he did on lap nine as he squeezed past the Ferrari on the inside.

But Vettel still had racing in him and managed to re-take Rosberg on lap 14, but as the pair subsequently went wheel to wheel as Hamilton emerged form a slow pit stop, it was Rosberg who secured the second place and, for a while, looked like he could push Hamilton. But he didn’t have the pace.

Behind the |Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg – and the Ferrari of Vettel – Kimi Raikkonen was running his own strategy and race, one that didn’t look like it would bear fruit until the final stint saw him on soft rubber and chasing the leaders.

Unfortunately for Rosberg, the brakes on his Mercedes were failing in the closing laps and Raikkonen succeeded in harassing him wide and taking second place, pushing Rosbereg in to third place (and a quite erratic Vettel in to fifth, despite his early promise in the race) and the Williams of Bottas in to fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo finished in sixth (but another 100 yards and he wouldn’t have finished at all – his engine gave out as he crossed the finish line) followed by Grosjean in the Lotus, Perez in the Force India and Kvyat in the Red Bull, with Felipe Massa doing a sterling job to finish in 10th place after a pit lane start following a failure to leave the grid for the parade lap.

But it was Lewis’s race from beginning to end, and leaves him securely at the top of the drivers points. He said:

I’m really happy with that. It doesn’t matter who it’s against – you always try to beat everyone. But it’s great to have a fight with Ferrari as well as Nico. Mercedes has been the best team on the grid for the last year or so but Ferrari are pushing us really hard now. It definitely wasn’t an easy win.

Away from the top ten, McLaren did manage 11th place with Alonso (although beating the Manors, a pair of Saubers, a Lotus and a Force India is not what you’d normally think of as a result for a McLaren) but couldn’t even get Jenson Button’s car to work this weekend.