2015 Bahrain Grand Prix: A Short Review and Championship Standings

Lewis Hamilton took another step towards his third Championship with victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the fourth race of the 2015 season. He didn’t have it all his own way though – there was a credible threat once again from Ferrari after Sebastian Vettel’s shock victory in Malaysia.

Mercedes showed a little bit of fragility as Nico Rosberg lost his second place to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen due to a brake issue. In fact, Hamilton might have given Raikkonen the victory had it struck his car sooner.

Straight away, as the lights went out, the red cars went on the attack. Vettel defended his position firmly from Rosberg, leaving Raikkonen able to pass Nico in the first corner. A lovely bit of team work from the Scuderia drivers. So far this season, Rosberg has felt very lacklustre, but here he seemed to have a bit of fight in him. On lap four, he regained his third place, passing Raikkonen in the DRS zone.

While Hamilton build up a slim lead over the first few laps, Rosberg now had the Ferrari of Vettel in his sights. On lap eight, Vettel ran deep into turn one and the next time around Rosberg completed another DRS assisted pass to take that place. Vettel’s mistake, also meant that Raikkonen was close behind and felt his race was being compromised, discussing his overtaking options on the team radio. Vettel didn’t give him the chance though, as he pitted on lap 13 to try and put pressure on Mercedes. It worked too, as when Rosberg came in on the next lap, he dropped back behind Vettel, for a while at least. As lap 16 began, Rosberg repassed for second as Hamilton exited the pits.

Raikkonen used the harder tyre in his middle stint, putting in some fast lap times, and lost just half a second to Hamilton on the softer rubber during this time. This would create put him in a decent position for the final section of the race, ready to pounce if needed…

In the other Ferrari, Vettel got ahead of Rosberg once again at the pit stops but lost that place again as Rosberg took advantage when the four-time World Champion went off at the final corner on lap 36. This damaged his front wing, which needed replacing. The resulting additional pit stop meant that Williams’ Valtteri Bottas could move ahead of him and Vettel would make no more progress up the positions. Had things been different, he might have been able to take advantage of Rosberg’s overheating brake system on the penultimate lap.

There was little else of interest in the race.

The season does seem to be turning into less of a one-horse race this year, with Ferrari certainly showing at least a partial challenge to Mercedes. Vettel, in particular, seems to be the key here. Raikkonen’s qualifying pace, or lack of it, appears to be hurting him on a Sunday.

2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Result