Hamilton extended his championship lead with a second victory of the season. Mercedes had a strong performance, with Rosberg finishing in 2nd. After a win last race, Ferrari were hoping to challenge Mercedes again but they didn’t have enough pace to fight for the win. But a strong performance from Vettel and Raikkonen gave them 3rd and 4th.
A good start from Hamilton meant he kept in the led for the majority of the race and only briefly lost the lead to Raikkonen after pitting. He pulled out a 10 second lead on Rosberg, despite Rosberg complaining he was holding him up.
The Williams were unable to challenge Ferrari but got a good result with 5th and 6th. Grosjean got 7th which gave Lotus their first points of the season. Verstappen had some amazing overtakes during the race and was running in 8th until he was forced to retire with a locked rear axle just 3 laps before the end of the race. This brought out a safety car for the final laps of the race.
With Verstappen out Nasr moved up to 8th, with teammate Ericsson 10th. Ricciardo only managed to get 9th after a poor start dropping him to near the back of the field.
An encouraging race for McLaren saw both drivers finish, despite Button’s collision with Maldonado which resulted in him receiving 2 points on his licence and a 5-second penalty.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton P1, Nico Rosberg P2
Another strong result for Mercedes allows them to pull out a good lead (40 points) in the constructors championship. They kept in control all race although Ferrari were a threat in the opening stages of the race. Rosberg has accused Hamilton of purposely going slowly, allowing Vettel to catch him. However, Hamilton has denied these accusations saying: “I wasn’t trying to back him up into Sebastian because ultimately we do need a one-two and that is a priority to the team. If he wanted to get close to overtake he could have done. I’m not really quite sure what his problem is.”
Rosberg said it did compromise his race and that Hamilton was just thinking about himself. However, Toto Wolff said that: “There wasn’t any intention from Lewis to slow Nico down in order to make him finish third or worse, 100%.”
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel P3, Kimi Raikkonen P4
Ferrari were pleased with the result today, despite Mercedes getting a 1-2 finish. They knew Mercedes would be stronger than in Malaysia so were not expecting another victory. Despite not being able to challenge Mercedes as much as they may have liked, they kept all other teams behind and Raikkonen had a good race from 6th on the grid.
Williams
Felipe Massa P5, Valtteri Bottas P6
A fairly uneventful race for Williams saw them finish in strong points finishes. Although they are not a strong as they would have liked, they believe they managed to “maximise the performance of the car” and had good strategy and good pit stops. They stayed ahead of the teams such as Sauber and Red Bull, fighting for points further down the field.
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo P9, Daniil Kvyat, Retired – engine failure
A disappointing race for Red Bull with a retirement of Kvyat and a poor start for Ricciardo. His car went into anti-stall meaning he was almost at the back of the pack by the first corner. He fought his way through the pack up to 9th getting just 2 points for that result. An even worse race for Kvyat as he struggled for pace and then was forced to retire due to an engine failure.
Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz P14, Max Verstappen Retired
A tough race for Toro Rosso, with reliability issues preventing them finishing in the top ten. Verstappen was running in 8th when his rear axle locked just 3 laps before the end. He had made some great overtakes on Ericsson and Perez but unfortunately was unable to finish the race. Sainz had an issue with the gearbox, losing him a lot of time and without that he could have finished in the points.
Force India
Sergio Perez P11, Nico Hulkenberg Retired
Hulkenberg lost drive early in the race, meaning he had to park the car and retire. This was disappointing for him as he believed that the car did have the pace to keep up with the Toro Rossos and Saubers and may have finished in the points. Perez finished in 11th, just one place from a point.
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson P10, Felipe Nasr P8
After Verstappen retired with an engine failure, Nasr moved into 8th place which was a great result for the team. to add to this, Ericsson made it into 10th which was also in the points. Overall a good day for Sauber who are currently in 4th in the constructors, a contrast to last year when they failed to score all season.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean P7, Pastor Maldonado Retired – Brakes
Scoring the first points of the year for Lotus, Grosjean had a good race to finish in 7th. Compared to last year, their car is much more competitive and they are able to fight for points which is a big improvement. Unfortunately for Maldonado, he had braking issues throughout the race and had two spins which cost him a lot of time. He was then hit by Button when fighting for position and then retired because of a brake failure.
McLaren
Fernando Alonso P12, Jenson Button P14
Both McLaren cars finished for the first time this season and their pace seems to have improved. Unfortunately, Button collided with Maldonado whilst overtaking which meant he got damage to the front wing. Alonso passed Button to finish in 12th. Despite finishing 13th, Button dropped to 14th after the race with a 5-second penalty for his crash with Maldonado. He also received 2 points on his licence.
Marussia
Will Stevens P15, Roberto Merhi P16
Both cars took part in and finished the race today, which is a great achievement for the team. They were unable to challenge the other teams but believe that the pace is improving and they hope to see further improvements in Bahrain next weekend.
See full race results here.