Nico Rosberg won Bahrain Grand Prix 2016

Mercedes Nico Rosberg made it five wins on the trot with a dominant victory in 2016 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. Rosberg took the flag 10 seconds clear of Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen after an incident filled Sakhir Race. Rosberg team mate Lewis Hamilton dropped to ninth on the opening lap after Turn 1 contact with William Valtteri Bottas but in a damaged car fought his way back to secure a lonely final podium place.

The second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel failed to start after a suspected engine failure on the formation lap. As Hamilton and Kimi made poor starts, he sped into a lead that was never seriously contested, thus increasing his championship lead. Kimi and Rosberg switched back to supersofts in their second stops, as did Hamilton, but it was clear the race lay between Kimi and Rosberg. They shadowed each other yet again in their final stops, back to softs, but in the end the Mercedes driver was 10.2s ahead.

Rosberg thus leads the world Championship with 50 points to his team mate 33, with fourth place Daniel Ricciardo, now third overall for Red Bull, on 24 after another fast and fighting race. Romain Grosjean and Haas again proved stars. As a result, he is ahead of Vettel in the championship, and equal with Kimi on 18 points. In 10^th place Stoffel Vandoorne fulfilled all his promise on a day when team mate Jenson Button McLaren let him down, to score the final point on his debut for the Working team after a swift and intelligent performance.

Felipe Nasr brought the second Sauber home 14^th as Force India had a horrible race which yielded only 16^th and 17^th places for Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, the latter making four stops and the former suffering debris damage early on. Rio Haryanto was the final finisher in the second manor, as Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz, Haas Esteban Gutierrez, Button and Renault Jolyon Palmer joined Vettel on the side lines.

Lewis Hamilton cruises to Bahrain GP Win

Lewis Hamilton took a controlled win in the Bahrain Grand Prix as team mate Nico Rosberg was beaten to second by Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton led from the start and was always in control as he took his third victory in four races this season. Rosberg battled the Ferraris throughout and lost second to Raikkonen with a braking problem with laps to go.

Ferrari Sebastian Vettel wrecked his podium chances by going off the track and damaging his car while racing Rosberg. Raikkonen, who nipped past Rosberg at the start of the lap when the German ran too deep into Turn One, put in an impressive drive on an alternative tyre strategy to move up from fourth place on the grid. But Hamilton was out of reach at the front under the lights at the Sakhir track on a windy desert night.

Mercedes had expected a challenge from Ferrari during the race but Hamilton after converting Pole position into a lead at the first corner was always in control as he set about building a lead while also protecting his tyres. Rosberg dropped to fourth at the start from third place on the grid but set about quickly disappointing the Ferraris, passing Raikkonen on lap four and Vettel four laps later.

Behind the top three, Bottas managed to hold off Vettel for fourth despite heavy pressure in the closing laps. Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo took sixth place despite his engine exploding as he headed for the finish line, ahead of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and Force India Sergio Perez. The final two point’s places were taken Red Bull Daniil Kvyat, who drove well to rise up from 17^th on the grid. Fernando Alonso just missed out on McLaren Honda first points with 11^th place, fending off Felipe Nasr’s Sauber in the closing gaps.