Hamilton cruises to Bahrain GP triumph

Lewis Hamilton continued his charge towards another Formula 1 world championship after claiming a relatively comfortable third victory from four races in Bahrain.

Hamilton was rarely threatened throughout the race despite having to see off challenges from team-mate Nico Rosberg and the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

In a frantic finish Raikkonen managed to snatch second from the sister Mercedes of Nico Rosberg in the closing stages.

“I’m gunning for a third title,” said Hamilton.

“The Ferraris gave us a run for our money, and it was difficult to look after the tyres out there.

“I was able to pull it through, and we need to keep pushing, as I know we will.”

While Hamilton enjoyed a straight forward drive to the chequered flag, team-mate Rosberg endured an eventful grand prix which saw him lose second spot to a hard charging Raikkonen due to a brake issue on the penultimate lap.

Rosberg spent the majority of the race battling Vettel for second before the Ferrari driver’s charge was brought to an end after being forced to undergo a nose change following an off track excursion while battling the Mercedes.

The four-time world champion had to settle for fifth behind the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, who crossed the finish line with plumes of smoke emerging from his engine for sixth position.

“I don’t know (if it is an engine failure),” said Ricciardo.

“It didn’t look great but let’s wait and see.”

Romain Grosjean secured seventh spot ahead of the Force India of Sergio Perez, while Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat produced an impressive drive from the rear of the grid to finish ninth.

Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10 to salvage a point from a race ruined by an electrical fault on the grid, which forced him to relinquish his sixth place grid slot.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso managed to bring his MP4-30 home in 11th but the problems continued to plague team-mate Jenson Button, who was unable to make the start due to an ERS failure.

Both Toro Rosso’s encountered problems which saw Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jnr suffer retirements.

Result: Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix

Position	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	57 Laps
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	+3.380s
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+6.033s
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	+42.957s
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+43.989s
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Renault	+1:01.751s
7	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Mercedes	+1:24.763s
8	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	+1 lap
9	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Renault	+1 lap
10	Felipe Massa	Williams Mercedes	+1 lap
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	+1 lap
12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber Ferrari	+1 lap
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India Mercedes	+1 lap
14	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	+1 lap
15	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus Mercedes	+1 lap
16	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	+2 laps
17	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	+3 laps
DNF	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso Renault	Mechanical
DNF	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso Renault	Mechanical
DNS	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	ERS Failure

Championship Standings

Position	Driver	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	93
2	Nico Rosberg	66
3	Sebastian Vettel	65
4	Kimi Raikkonen	42
5	Felipe Massa	31
6	Valtteri Bottas	30
7	Daniel Ricciardo	19
8	Felipe Nasr	14
9	Romain Grosjean	12
10	Nico Hulkenberg	6
11	Max Verstappen	6
12	Carlos Sainz Jnr	6
13	Sergio Perez	5
14	Marcus Ericsson	5
15	Daniil Kvyat	4
16	Fernando Alonso	0
17	Jenson Button	0
18	Roberto Merhi	0
19	Will Stevens	0
20	Pastor Maldonado	0