Bahrain GP: Hamilton wins and beats Rosberg, Ferrari in crisis

Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain GP beating his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. It was a real fight between the two with a good duel that lasted several laps after a safety car, which came onto the track due to a scary accident, without consequences, between Gutierrez and Maldonado. Also on the podium was Sergio Perez (Force India). Fourth place for an excellent Daniel Ricciardo who showed no awe towards Sebastian Vettel, sixth, behind the other Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. Seventh and eighth place for the Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari increasingly in crisis: Fernando Alonso is ninth, never in the race, Kimi Raikkonen tenth.

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Everyone chose to start on soft tires apart from Vettel and Sutil with the mediums. At the start Hamilton immediately overtook Rosberg to take the lead of the race. The German tried in vain to respond but the Englishman defended himself. Great start for Massa, who jumped to third place. Behind him Perez, Button, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Raikkonen and Magnussen. The Ferrari Finn reported via radio that he had suffered another rear-end collision from Magnussen. At the rear, a contact caused a puncture for Vergne, who was forced to return to the pits to change tyres.

On the second lap Alonso overtook Hulkenberg but the German regained the position on the fifth lap.

On the tenth lap Bottas had trouble with his tires and was overtaken twice by Button and Hulkenberg and thus dropped to seventh position. Shortly afterwards the Williams Finn returned to the pits to put on soft tires while Ricciardo overtook Magnussen in tenth place.

On lap 12 Massa also found himself in trouble on the soft tires and suffered an attack from Perez who took third place from him. Alonso returned on lap 13 from ninth position for his first stop, still using soft tyres.

Massa and Raikkonen returned on lap 14 while a contact between Bianchi and Sutil forced the Frenchman and the German to make an extra stop.

On lap 16 after the stop, Hulkenberg returned to the track and found himself behind Raikkonen but immediately overtook him in 12th position. Alonso overtook Maldonado in seventh place while Hulkenberg also overtook Kvyat. Shortly afterwards the Finn also overtook the Russian. On lap 18 there was a big fight at Mercedes and a stop for Button. Rosberg attacked Hamilton, wheels smoking at the first corner. Hamilton responded, wheel-to-wheel duel with Hamilton retaking the lead!

On lap 20 Hamilton stopped to put on soft tires while Perez overtook Alonso in sixth place and shortly afterwards Button overtook Raikkonen in eighth place.

After the first stop the top 10 saw Hamilton in the lead on lap 22 ahead of Rosberg, Bottas, Massa, Hulkenberg, Perez, Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Vettel.

On lap 22 Rosberg put on medium tyres, differentiating his strategy from Hamilton. On lap 25 Vettel attacked and overtook Raikkonen in ninth position while Massa attacked Bottas. The Finn, having trouble with his tyres, returned on lap 26. Hulkenberg attacked Massa but Perez took the opportunity to overtake his teammate.

On lap 28 Perez also overtook Massa with the Brazilian also overtaken by Hulkenberg. Alonso returned on lap 29 to fit medium tyres, returning to the track in 11th position.

On lap 31 Bottas arrived at full speed behind Ricciardo and overtook him on the straight but made a mistake braking and to avoid Raikkonen he ended up on the escape road. Bottas then resumed the track behind Ricciardo. On lap 32 Ricciardo overtook Raikkonen and shortly afterwards Bottas also overtook the Ferrari driver. On lap 34 Massa also overtook Raikkonen with the Finn who then returned to the pits to fit medium tyres.

On lap 35 stops for Perez and Vettel. The Mexican, returning to the track behind Alonso, immediately overtook the Ferrari driver. On the following lap, Hulkenberg and Button stopped, both returned to the track behind Alonso while Vettel overtook Maldonado in tenth position. On lap 38, after the stop, Ricciardo overtook Raikkonen again while Hulkenberg overtook Alonso in sixth position.

On lap 41, bad accident between Maldonado and Gutierrez. The Mexican remained inside the car for a few minutes after taking off! The Sauber rotated through the air and landed on all four wheels. Luckily Gutierrez then got out of the car on his own two feet. Safety car on track to remove the car and clean the track of debris. In the pits Bottas, the two Mercedes, Alonso and Raikkonen.

The top 10 on lap 44, under the safety car, saw Hamilton ahead of Rosberg, Perez, Hulkenberg, Button, Vettel, Ricciardo, Massa, Bottas, Alonso. 11th Raikkonen.

The race restarted on lap 47. Rosberg immediately attacked Hamilton who defended himself. Back there was a great fight between the two Force Indias and between the two Red Bulls and Button. Ricciardo and Vettel successively overtook the Englishman, who was in crisis, and also overtook Massa and Bottas. On lap 50 Ricciardo overtook Vettel on the straight while Alonso overtook Button. On lap 52 Rosberg attacked Hamilton in a nice wheel-to-wheel duel but the Englishman prevailed. The German tried again on lap 53 with a smoking brake at the end of the straight but Hamilton maintained the lead by taking a second over the German while Ricciardo overtook Hulkenberg in fourth place. On lap 56 Button was forced to retire while Massa tried unsuccessfully to overtake Vettel.

Hamilton then went on to win ahead of Rosberg and Perez who defended himself from a comeback Ricciardo at the end. Hulkenberg is fifth ahead of the Williams of Massa and Bottas. Ferrari back: Alonso ninth, Raikkonen tenth.