2015 Bahrain GP: Hamilton wins, Räikkönen snatches second place

Lewis Hamilton won the 2015 Bahrain GP for Mercedes from pole position, making it three wins from the first four races of the season. Behind him, Kimi Räikkönen drove his Ferrari from grid position four to second place and also set the fastest lap. The fight for second was only settled two laps from the end: Nico Rosberg ran into problems with his brake-by-wire system, locked up at Turn 1 and had to let Räikkönen through. He ended up third.

At the Bahrain International Circuit, Räikkönen crossed the line 3.380 seconds behind Hamilton, with Rosberg 6.033 seconds adrift. It was the Finn's first podium since the 2013 Korean GP.

Hamilton kept the lead at the start. Behind him, things went badly for Rosberg: both Ferraris got past him, leaving the German only fourth at first. Sebastian Vettel, who had started from grid position two, initially ran second. Rosberg won the places back with some hard moves, first passing Räikkönen and then Vettel on lap 9.

There was trouble even before the start. Felipe Massa had his Williams in grid position six but failed to get away for the formation lap and had to start from the pit lane. After four laps, Pastor Maldonado of Lotus F1 ran into his diffuser. From then on, Massa's car suffered from heavy oversteer and wore out its rear tyres. Jenson Button didn't even make the start. His McLaren had an electrical fault in the energy recovery system (ERS), and Honda and McLaren judged the risk of further damage to be greater than the chance of repairing the car in time.

Strategy was what separated the Ferraris. Both Mercedes ran soft-soft-medium. Räikkönen, by contrast, opted for soft-medium-soft: his long middle stint was on the harder compound, and he ran the finale on the fast softs.

At the first round of pit stops, Ferrari brought Vettel in as early as lap 13, using the undercut to get ahead of Rosberg, who stopped a lap later. Hamilton pitted on lap 15, Räikkönen not until lap 17. As a result, the Finn briefly led on laps 16 and 17. Rosberg then quickly got back past Vettel.

The front-runners' second stops were again close together. Hamilton stopped on lap 33, and because his stop was slow by his own account, his challengers closed in. Rejoining from the pits got tight for him, as Rosberg was passing Vettel at Turn 1 at exactly that moment. Rosberg led for one lap, then Räikkönen was in front from lap 35 to 39. Only after Räikkönen's second stop on lap 40 did Hamilton retake the lead. According to Sky Sports, Räikkönen on the mediums was around a second a lap quicker than Rosberg on softs.

Vettel had a difficult evening. He lacked rear grip when accelerating out of the corners, so he could barely defend against Rosberg. Rosberg got past him again during the second stops. According to formula1.com, Vettel slid off the track at Turn 14 on lap 35 under pressure from Rosberg, damaging his front wing. That forced him into a third pit stop on lap 36. At 33.9 seconds in the pit lane, this stop took much longer than his two regular ones, and Vettel dropped behind Valtteri Bottas.

Over the last 20 or so laps, he attacked the Williams driver again and again but couldn't get by. Bottas finished fourth, while Vettel, in fifth, lost three places compared with his grid position. Vettel admitted afterwards that he had pushed too hard and made mistakes.

Behind the pair, Daniel Ricciardo drove a lonely race to sixth in the Red Bull. His Renault engine only failed in the final corner of the final lap, so he just managed to salvage the points.

On fresh softs, Räikkönen piled on the pressure in the closing stages. At the same time, both Mercedes ran into brake trouble. Rosberg's brakes overheated and his brake-by-wire system failed. He went straight on at Turn 1, and Räikkönen passed him for second two laps from the end.

Hamilton's brakes were also getting too hot. He backed off in the final laps and lost time to Räikkönen, but his lead was enough. Hamilton said: “I think I had it pretty much under control.”

For Toro Rosso, the evening ended without points, as both drivers retired:

• Carlos Sainz retired after 29 laps with an engine failure. He had already received a five-second penalty before the start for driving too slowly on the laps before the race.
• Max Verstappen parked his car after 34 laps with an electrical fault. His first stop on lap 6 had already cost him a lot of time.
• Jenson Button did not take part in the race because of the ERS fault.

Maldonado also received a five-second penalty for not lining up correctly in his grid box. At his third stop on lap 41, the anti-stall system kicked in and the engine cut out. He spent a total of 107.4 seconds in the pit lane and dropped to 15th. Marcus Ericsson of Sauber was within reach of the points early on, but the left front wheel stuck at his second stop (49.2 seconds in the pit lane). He eventually finished 14th.

Winner of the day was Daniil Kvyat. He went from grid position 17 to ninth, gaining eight places, more than anyone else. Romain Grosjean (Lotus F1) and Sergio Pérez (Force India) each gained three places on two-stop strategies, finishing seventh and eighth. For Grosjean, it was already his second seventh place in a row. Fernando Alonso finished eleventh, just missing out on the points. The loser was Sainz, who lost ten positions. Next came Nico Hülkenberg, who lost five places with three stops and finished 13th, and Massa, who still scored a point despite his pit lane start and damage. Felipe Nasr finished twelfth. At Manor Marussia, Will Stevens finished 16th, ahead of Roberto Merhi.

In the 2015 standings, Hamilton had 93 points after four races, giving him a 27-point lead. Rosberg moved up to second on 66 points, ahead of Vettel (65). Räikkönen climbed to fourth with 42 points, followed by Massa (31) and Bottas (30).

In the constructors' standings, Mercedes led with 159 points ahead of Ferrari (107) and Williams (61). Toro Rosso, on 12 points, dropped behind Lotus, who were level on points. McLaren and Manor Marussia had yet to score. Ferrari remained the Silver Arrows' only serious rival, but on this evening Mercedes once again proved, despite its brake problems, that it was the benchmark.