Sunday 6 April 2014

Hamilton holds off Rosberg in night time thriller


The Bahrain Grand Prix was one of the most intense races we've seen for quite some time and a fitting 900th world championship Grand Prix. There were fierce battles throughout the field under the flood lights for the first Bahrain night race and with the added safety car towards the end it combined to make the race a thrilling spectacle that should make those who claim this new formula is boring reconsider their words.

Ok, the Mercedes cars were still ultimately dominant but Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg gave us quite the show. We also saw just how fast they are as after the safety car with 10 laps to go they simply took off, leaving the rest of the field behind at up to three seconds a lap. No managing the cars here, just pure speed, it was extremely impressive but perhaps slightly overwhelming for the rest of the teams as they realise the extent of the task in front of them.

But that took nothing away as Hamilton held off the faster Rosberg throughout the race. Lewis grabbed the initiative at the start, just squeezing past his team mate who had started in pole position. But Nico didn’t let Lewis swan off into the distance, he kept him honest and produced some incredible wheel to wheel action as they battled for supremacy.

Hamilton was simply superb with his defensive driving, and combined that 
with some great re-overtaking when once Nico did get by, but he was only leading for half a lap before Lewis swept back past. It was crucial Lewis got ahead again, giving him the advantage of first pit stop  so he’d be on fresher tyres sooner.

Nico changed his strategy to get the slower medium compound tyre out of the way in the middle stint. Lewis built a gap while he was still on the soft compound, he needed to as he’d be on those mediums in the final stint with Rosberg on the softs. When the safety car came out for a stupid accident involving Pastor Maldonado flipping Esteban Gutierrez over, it looked like Rosberg was in the best position as both made pit stops under yellow.

When racing resumed Rosberg was all over Hamilton but could not find a way by, the number 44 Mercedes placed his car perfectly to keep Rosberg at bay and claim his second straight victory.

This was a statement of intent from both drivers and you have to commend Mercedes for letting them go at it even in the final laps when they had a 1-2 at stakes. Lewis is one of the most aggressive drivers out there but mostly he is fair but he squeezed Rosberg close to edge on a few occasions, something that despite post-race interviews saying he enjoyed the battle I don’t think Nico liked at all.

Rosberg was the faster driver today but still he could not beat Hamilton and that will have disappointed him. He made a comment that he hated finishing behind Hamilton and it showed, it was a forced smile that greeted the team photograph. This is a fascinating battle and I have a feeling it’s going to get more intense as the season goes on.

At the moment these two drivers are the only ones who can challenge for the championship and already Lewis has stamped his authority twice; once leading from the front and today when he was the slower driver.

This race was all about team mates laying down markers, showing the driver next door what he could do. There were intra-team battles all the way down particularly between the Force India, Red Bull and Williams drivers.

Sergio Perez put one over on Nico Hulkenberg for the first time this year. He made an outstanding move around the outside of Hulkenberg as the German was baulked by Felipe Massa. It put him in a prime position to claim the teams first podium since 2009.

Perez was fantastic all weekend while Hulkenberg continued his brilliant form leaving Force India with a third and fifth to give them a current second in the constructors championship.

After a terrible qualifying Red Bull roared back in the race. Daniel Ricciardo finally got some points on the board. He suffered a 10 place grid drop to start 13th after the unsafe release in Malaysia but drove through the field to claim fourth during which the team told Sebastian Vettel to move over, before later in the race he made a move on the world champion all by himself.

Ricciardo has been very impressive in his opening races for Red Bull and it was great to see him get some points on the board. Vettel said he had some problems with his car, but let’s not take anything away from Daniel, he already seems more of a threat than Mark Webber was the last few year. 

It’s going to be very interesting to see how Vettel handles this. He’s been out-qualified twice and now out-raced. It’s not something he’ll be enjoying at all. However, if I had to pick a team and driver to be the most likely to beat the Mercedes this year it would be Red Bull and Vettel.

If the safety car hadn’t come out could Williams have got one of their drivers on the podium? I think it’s doubtful actually but the safety car intervention certainly stymied their attack. Felipe Massa will be particularly disappointed after such a great start from seventh catapulted him into third on the opening lap.

He resumed his battle with Valtteri Bottas from Malaysia but there was no team interference this time and they were allowed to just get on with it, although there was a justifiable cause for telling Bottas to get out of the way when he was holding up Massa with the Force India’s snapping at their heels. They came away with seventh and eighth in the end but it should have been more.

It occurs to me that William isn’t making best use of the opportunity they have at the moment. This race amply demonstrated just how good the Mercedes engines are as they ran first to sixth at one point, but other teams will get on track soon, so Williams should be capitalising while they can.

Fernando Alonso will leave Ferrari at the end of this year. He wants a third title and again they have not provided him with a car to get it. He finished ninth with Kimi Raikkonen tenth, a paltry three points for the Scuderia.
It seemed like every time you saw a Ferrari they were being passed and passed easily on a number of occasions. Kimi Raikkonen looks like he is getting quicker but again finished behind Alonso despite qualifying four places in front.

As I’ve said before even if Kimi starts beating Alonso I don’t think the fireworks will come from that, but from between the Spaniard and the team. Of course the question is where would he go?

McLaren suffered a double retirement after a generally positive start to the season, Jenson Button was in a good position until the safety car came out before he faded then his car failed. Kevin Magnussen had apparently been suffering from clutch trouble since qualifying so it was no surprise to see him retire after an uninspired race where he nearly hit Kimi again as he did in Malaysia a week earlier.

A mention to Daniil Kvyat who again had a strong race. No points this time but he was mixing it with Kimi Raikkonen and he has a confidence that makes me think he'll be a star of the future. Romain Grosjean drove a sensible race as Lotus got both cars to the finish while Pastor Maldonado needs another head check after he took out the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez with a pretty dumb move. 

Max Chilton got the Marussia home in 13th to give them back 10th in the constructors. Finally Marcus Ericsson caught the eye before he retired his Caterham with some assured racing. 


It was a fantastic show today, the sport need more races like this. But importantly even though we have a dominant team, it’s between two close drivers who have been friends for ages, but you can feel the battle will push them apart already. They’ve not had to race so close for wins before and it won’t be long before the garage is divided into Nico and Lewis camps. This championship is taking shape nicely, and after a race like this it looks like it’s going to be a thriller.

Result:

1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
4. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull-Renault
5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
6. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull-Renault
7. Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
8. Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
9. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
10. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
11. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso-Renault
12. Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Renault
13. Max Chilton - Marussia-Ferrari
14. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Renault
15. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham-Renault
16. Jules Bianchi - Marussia-Ferrari
17. Jenson Button - McLaren-Mercedes - Clutch
R. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren-Mercedes - Clutch
R. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber-Ferrari - Accident
R. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham-Renault - Oil leak
R. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso-Renault - Accident damage
R. Adrian Sutil - Sauber-Ferrari - Accident

all photo's taken from autosport.com

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