Lewis Hamilton picks up third win of the season at Bahrain Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton took his third win of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, with a confident and assured run that he managed to perfection, one in which he was largely untroubled by his team-mate Nico Rosberg who will be disappointed to only finish third.

The expected strong threat from Ferrari did not quite materialise, although Kimi Raikkonen ran an extraordinarily clever and quick race to take second at the death from Rosberg. But several unforced errors from Sebastian Vettel saw the German, having mixed it brilliantly with Rosberg, relegated to fifth after a fine run from Valtteri Bottas in the Williams.

Hamilton drove another relaxed, controlled race. It is his second in a row here and now makes it nine wins from the last 11 races and 10 from 11 in which he has beaten his team-mate. Starting from pole and having squeezed through the first corner in front of his rivals, Hamilton was only really challenged after a slow pit stop saw both Rosberg and Vettel barrelling up behind him into turn one.

Vettel’s squeeze

Rosberg had come back strongly to repass Raikkonen on lap four and having caught Vettel began diving around the back of him on lap eight at turn four and a lap later made it stick, squeezing the Ferrari wide going up the inside of turn one. Vettel took the place back with the undercut on lap 14, but as Hamilton exited from his first stop, a slow 3.7sec after difficulty with a wheel nut, he exited to find his mirrors filled with Rosberg and Vettel, side by side braking in to turn one, where again Rosberg squeezed up the inside of Vettel.

The combination of Hamilton’s slow stop and Rosberg coming in a lap earlier put the latter within several car lengths of the leader. He was on a charge but that was as close as anyone was to come to the world champion.

Meanwhile Raikonnen was in a race of his own and performing it pretty much to perfection, making it to his first podium for 26 races and the first time this season that the top steps have not been solely occupied by Hamilton, Vettel or Rosberg.

Raikkonen had opted unlike the other leaders to take the harder medium tyre for the middle stint and using it aggressively put in some very quick times and as he entered the final stint on the quicker soft rubber he went chasing after Rosberg in second, finally picking him off on lap 56. It was a superlative drive especially in not losing time on the slower tyre.

But the result is another blow to Rosberg’s battle to reassert himself in the championship fight.

Guardian service