Bahrain Grand Prix

Hamilton edges Rosberg in Bahrain thriller

06-04-2014

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Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix after an enthralling race-long duel with team-mate Nico Rosberg, providing tactical and wheel-to-wheel thrills that will go some way to silencing Formula One's critics.

The pair were engaged in battle from the first lap when Hamilton took the lead at Turn 1 and was then forced to hold off Rosberg at Turn 4. It set the tone for the rest of the race as Mercedes let their two drivers engage in a high-speed duel that came within inches of disaster at times and was reset by a safety car 15 laps from the end for a sprint to the finish. The two Mercedes were well clear of the rest of the field, but an impressive drive by Sergio Perez secured Force India its first podium since 2009, albeit by just 0.4s from Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull.

After the first-lap duelling, Hamilton held a marginal lead over Rosberg but up until lap 18 the second Mercedes kept a respectable distance. However, ahead of the first scheduled pit stop, the gloves came off and Rosberg attempted a move into Turn 1. Hamilton saw him coming and defended well, but Rosberg was back for more on the following lap and held the lead briefly on the run down to Turn 4 when Hamilton muscled his way back past.

Hamilton pitted first and stuck to a conventional strategy by sticking a second set of softs on the car, leading Rosberg's side of the Mercedes pit wall to opt for mediums. The result was a multiple second gap between the two, but the promise that things would close up at the end when Rosberg could switch to softs and Hamilton would have to move to the mediums.

However, the battle took another turn on lap 41 when Pastor Maldonado left the pits in a hurry and launched Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber into a flip at Turn 1. Maldonado's actions were inexplicable as he forced his Lotus into a gap that was always closing as Gutierrez stuck to his normal line through the first corner. Gutierrez lifted himself out of the battered Sauber but a safety car was necessary to clear the wreckage.

Both Mercedes took the opportunity to pit under the caution period, putting Rosberg on soft tyres with the ability to attack Hamilton on mediums. Just before the race restarted the drivers were told to get the cars to the finish by Paddy Lowe on the Mercedes pit wall and battle was rejoined. Rosberg launched another attack on his team-mate at Turn 4 but Hamilton was able to hang him out to dry and keep him on the outside. Another opportunity emerged in the run down to Turn 1, but again Hamilton had an answer as he allowed Rosberg to outbrake himself and undercut him again to retake the lead into Turn 2. In the final laps Rosberg said his tyres were starting to fade and the two Mercedes crossed the line in formation to mark a memorable one-two.

Behind the duel at the front Perez held off a hard-charging Ricciardo for the final spot on the podium. After the safety car Ricciardo passed team-mate Sebastian Vettel for position with a bold move into the first corner with the help of DRS. He then passed Nico Hulkenberg into the fast Turn 11, making use of the visible advantage in grip and downforce his car had over the Force India.

Hulkenberg took sixth ahead of Vettel, who complained about a lack of power towards the end of the race, with the two Williams in seventh and eighth. Earlier in the race Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas had been trading third and fourth position, but Williams' strategy was hit particularly hard by the safety car.

Ferrari endured one of its most gruelling races this year as both Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen found themselves defending position for most of the race. In the end they finished ninth and tenth respectively, but the lack of power from the Ferrari engine was clear to see.

Both McLarens failed to finish, with Kevin Magnuessen retiring on lap 42 and Jenson Button pulling into his garage with just two laps remaining. Marcus Ericsson was the only other driver not to finish the race because of a reliability issue.