By Simon Baggus
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| From start to finish the Bahrain GP was a thrill to watch |
So all free practices had been led by the Silver Arrows and Lewis Hamilton, no change their from Malaysia then.
Qualifying was much of the same with a Mercedes leading Q1, Q2 and Q3. Rosberg landed pole with Hamilton just behind him on the front row, giving Mercedes their first front row start since rejoining the sport. Ricciardo was blistering again qualifying third but a penalty from last time out meant he started P13 with Vettel in P11 missing out on Q3 by one place, complaining about his downshifts not working properly. One other surprise was the absence of Hulkenberg from Q3. The norm had been eliminated in Q1, consisting of the Caterham and Marussia teams, along with Sutil and Maldonado.
The rest of the top ten qualified like this;
4, Bottas, 5, Perez 6, Raikkonen, 7, Button, 8, Massa, 9, Magnussen and 10, Alonso.
This was going to shape the race very nicely indeed. Not a Red Bull in the top ten and a track that suited the Mercedes engine, what was Sunday going to bring. Well lets find out.
The Race
As one set of lights illuminated the Bahrain circuit, another set of lights went out.
Hamilton put the hammer down, immediately pulling level with Rosberg and more importantly taking the lead around the first corner. Some heavy defending and amazing skills kept Rosberg at bay around the first lap, which set the scene for an enthralling team battle. From then on, action packed it was, for the entire race.
Massa getting a superb start, Magnussen getting tangled with Raikkonen again, Vergne getting a puncture and the Hulk turning the heat on Alonso once more, opened an incident packed couple of laps.
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| Perez gets passed Massa early on |
After a number of overtakes by various drivers, Sergio Perez, who has been poor since the season opener, had a turn of fortune, passing Massa for third, which would shape his race until the chequered flag.
What Bahrain were witnessing was something special. Where did all this overtaking come from? are we not at a different circuit? what was going on?. Spectacular scenes. O and Mercedes and Mercedes powered teams opening a can of woop-ass around this track.
Bianchi and Sutil clash on lap 14, twice. Both carry on.
Then.....
Lap 15. Lets reminisce again. Ahhh, team orders to let Ricciardo through on Vettel, extraordinary. This made me smile, Ricciardo has been my driver of the season so far and has given Vettel a sound hiding from the opening GP, be it not for retirements and disqualifications, would be ahead of Vettel in the championship.
Lap 18 onwards and the arrows at it again. The pair not giving an inch and with no team orders in sight, must of had every single individual on the edge of their seat, watching this battle go on for the next two laps. Rosberg certainly wasn't happy, Hamilton was. Exciting stuff.
Hamilton pits. Rosberg leads the Bahrain GP, only for two laps though, as he pop in the pits, puts fresh boots on and powers back out, this time 8 seconds behind Hamilton. After their pits, the lead pair over 30 seconds ahead of the field.
Vergne and Sutil hang up their boots for the weekend and are out of the Bahrain GP, just as Massa puts Bottas under pressure. WOW, team orders? Massa complaining, Force india hot on their heels. No such thing develops as Bottas dives in the pits.
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| Mercedes powered trio made for exciting racing |
The Hulk slip streams Massa, Massa defends, Hulk under attack from Perez, Perez does it. Exciting stuff again from the trio out on track.
The next couple of laps see places third down to tenth battle it out for position on track, with some brilliant racing, from teams including Force India, McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams. The pack could not get any tighter. Who was going to maximise their chance the most??
Erricson in his Caterham pull up as the final pitstops take place.
In with a shout at the final podium position at this point of the race was Hulkenberg, Perez, Button, Massa and Bottas but what happened next was incredible, yet scary.
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| Maldonado was stupid, Gutierrez was lucky |
Maldonado T-bones Gutierrez coming out of the pits. Gutierrez gets spun upside down, yes UPSIDE DOWN, bounces on the air box and lands on all for wheels. shaken up is an understatement. Some say It was a racing incident, i see it as stupidity from Maldonado, not paying respect to any of his fellow peers. Maldonado has had a 5 place grid penalty next time out in China and 3 points on his super licence for his actions today. Not enough of a punishment i say and doesn't make sense, when Ricciardo gets a ten place penalty for an unsafe release in the pits.
Safety car then for only the second time in 10 years at the circuit in Bahrain. The field bunch up, pit stops are made, Rosberg on options, Hamilton on primes. My word, what Hamilton does for the rest of the race is incredible.
During the safety car period Kevin Magnussen pulls up and out of the Bahrain GP.
10 laps left, the safety car comes in and away they go. By the end of the race the Mercedes duo have 22 seconds on the rest of the field. How can this be possible?. Not even Red bull had been this dominant in their four year reign.
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| In a race of their own |
Still wide eyed on the edge of our seats are we, i certainly was.
Still action to been seen as Perez holds third, Button falling back rapidly, Ricciardo gets past Vettel and Hulkenberg to run fourth on the road, with Vettel complaining again about power. The Williams duo right in the hunt also, with Massa challenging Vettel, unsuccessfully, with the Ferrari pair dropping back slightly on the rest of the top ten.
Button seems to be retiring from the race with only a few laps remaining, meaning a double retirement for the McLaren team, although he was classified 17th.....
With the chequered falling,
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| Lewis Hamilton crossing the line P1 |
LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX.
Fireworks exploding everywhere, records being equalled, as Hamilton took is 24th career victory, equalling Juan-Manuel Fangio and records beaten, by the fact this circuit has not seen this many overtakes in its 10 years of running. Alonso adding some comedy, giving a fist pump as he crosses the line in 9th and a spectacular race in Bahrain made for, in my eyes, one of the very best weekends in Formula One history.
Hamilton finished on the top step for the second time in a row and has won two races back to back that he had not won before, Rosberg was second on the road, by less than a second and is leading the Drivers Championship, now only by 11 points. Perez is third on the podium this weekend, taking his fourth in his career and second for Force India.
The rest of the field finished like this;
4, Ricciardo, 5, Hulkenberg, 6, Vettel, 7, Massa, 8, Bottas, 9 Alonso 10, Raikkonen, 11, Kvyat, 12, Grosjean, 13, Chilton, 14, Maldonado, 15, Kobayashi, 16, Bianchi and classified 17, Button.
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| Hamilton equals Fangio in 24 wins |
We have two weeks until we get to China and the Shanghai circuit, with in season testing happening right at this track in Bahrain in one weeks time. Now after this race you will be silly to miss the season, so all the haters have a re think and tune in for China.
Thank you for reading,
Simon Baggus
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