Race – Bahrain – Rosberg scores, Grosjean impresses!

It was crucial not to miss the formation lap in this Bahrain Grand Prix! The unfortunate Sebastian Vettel watched in dismay as his engine literally went up in smoke at low speed… The disappointment was immense for the German champion. The reliability of the Ferrari engine, which had already failed Kimi Räikkönen in Melbourne, is seriously concerning. These are points slipping away from the German as the Mercedes team continued to dominate the front row… Jolyon Palmer also wouldn’t see the start: he returned immediately to the pits, from which his teammate Kevin Magnussen started, and the Englishman abandoned without a fight.

Missing the start was out of the question as well! Kimi Räikkönen was left trailing and was overtaken by the two Williams cars. But above all, Nico Rosberg easily passed Lewis Hamilton thanks to a very good start. The Englishman then saw Valtteri Bottas closing in on him, also having had a remarkable start… The Finn then tried his luck on the inside, even though he was coming from far behind… And touched Hamilton! Disaster for the triple world champion, who found himself in 8th place. As in Melbourne—and the situation was even worse here—Hamilton would have to spend his race making up for his start… Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg had a clear track ahead. Guilty of an overly aggressive maneuver according to the stewards, Valtteri Bottas would be penalized with a drive-through.

The wing tips flew during the opening laps. Carlos Sainz, amidst zigzags, punctured his tire and saw his race already ruined. Sergio Perez damaged his front wing in the middle of the melee and also returned to the pits. The Spaniard would never manage to make up his considerable delay and gave up the fight on the 33rd lap.

Survivors of the tumult, the two Haas cars were parading in 7th and 8th after a few laps, confirming their very good impressions from Melbourne. Unfortunately, after 12 laps, Esteban Gutierrez experienced Haas’s very first reliability issue in Formula 1, leaving Romain Grosjean alone on track. The excellent start by Pascal Wehrlein, surprisingly in 13th on his Manor, was also noteworthy.

LAP 1/57: Contact between Hamilton and Bottas at the first corner and the Mercedes driver is down in P7 pic.twitter.com/k1kOCJTbHX

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 avril 2016

After 5 laps, the top 10 was as follows: Rosberg, Massa, Bottas, Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Grosjean, Guttiérez, Verstappen, Button.

Alone as the remaining Ferrari driver on track, Kimi Räikkönen, only in 5th place, overtook Daniel Ricciardo, whose front wing was noticeably damaged – the Australian then returned to his pit without changing his wing.

Classified in the points at that time, Jenson Button experienced his usual Honda engine failure and, at the end of the 8th lap, left Stoffel Vandoorne to defend alone, for his first Grand Prix, the Woking flag.

When you see your buddy grinding to a halt on lap eight#Alonso #Button #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/ucG9H7MeuA

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 avril 2016

While his teammate was stringing together the fastest laps alone at the head of the race, Lewis Hamilton continued his comeback on his side, trying his best to preserve his super-soft tires during maneuvers. The Englishman managed to easily get rid of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo to return to the virtual podium.

The dance of the first pit stops began as early as the 10th lap. In this little game, Ferrari hadn’t been the smartest by pitting Kimi Räikkönen too late. The Finn rejoined the race behind Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo. He managed to overtake them fairly quickly but lost a few seconds in the process.

Relegated to about twenty seconds behind his teammate, Lewis Hamilton then decided to change strategy and switch to medium tires. With the hope of going to the end, like in Melbourne? Romain Grosjean was one of the few to stay on super-softs after the first stop and adopt an aggressive strategy—he subsequently recorded the fastest lap of the race. Against Felipe Massa and his medium tires, the Haas driver could thus afford the luxury of overtaking a Williams to find himself in 5th place. A spectacular debut with his new team!

LAP 18/57: Grosjean storms past Massa to claim P5 for Haas #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/VHoRQTDiJd

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 avril 2016

After 20 laps, the top 10 was as follows: Rosberg, Räikkönen, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Massa, Verstappen, Vandoorne, Bottas, Ericsson. Also notable was the surprising 12th place of the very impressive rookie Pascal Wehrlein, who was closely following the two Saubers. At the back of the pack, the Force Indias, 16th and 17th, seemed completely out of the game.

At the front of the race, the gap between Nico Rosberg and Kimi Räikkönen stabilized around a dozen seconds. The German likely intended to preserve his tire resources instead of pushing hard to counter a Ferrari that did not appear to be a serious threat. Meanwhile, on medium tires, Lewis Hamilton gradually closed the gap with Räikkönen. As for hoping to catch up to Rosberg… with about fifteen seconds separating the two men…

Still on super-soft tires, which were working remarkably well on his Haas while maintaining good durability, Romain Grosjean continued to impress the paddock. As expected with his aggressive strategy, Romain Grosjean easily caught up to Daniel Ricciardo to take fourth place. On the pit wall, Günther Steiner, the track operations director, couldn’t stop smiling. Daniel Ricciardo came in shortly after to greet his mechanics and switch to soft tires. Romain Grosjean had therefore preserved his super-softs longer than Ricciardo did his softs! On the 29th lap, Romain Grosjean switched back to soft tires and confirmed his aggressive strategy by putting on super-softs again. His relentless sprint continued with even more intensity.

LAP 26/57: Grosjean’s dream race continues as he passes Ricciardo to take P4 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/yw07s5Zc8F

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 avril 2016

Less spectacular than the French driver, Stoffel Vandoorne also delivered an admirable race. The Belgian, crowned in Bahrain in GP2 last season, proved that he was ready to make the big leap.

By the 30th lap, Lewis Hamilton abandoned his medium tires—less capable in Bahrain than in Melbourne—to switch to super-soft tires. Due to strategic wanderings, the Englishman certainly played into the hands of the calm leader, Nico Rosberg. Kimi Räikkönen, who immediately returned to the pits to cover Hamilton, also chose to go with super-softs.

The battle was actually fought more on the strategy side. Keen to avoid being trapped by Lewis Hamilton’s undercut, Ferrari called Kimi Räikkönen into the pits early, on lap 38, to fit soft tires, thereby forcing Mercedes to stop. The best defense is a good offense. For once, being ingenious and bold in strategy, Ferrari managed to gain several seconds for Räikkönen over the Mercedes cars. Räikkönen even closed the gap to four seconds behind Rosberg! The Ferrari was preparing to fight against a Mercedes, but contrary to what one might have thought, it would be Rosberg’s!

At the 40th lap, the top 10 was as follows: Robserg, Hamilton, Räikkönen (with one more stop), Ricciardo, Grosjean, Verstappen, Massa, Vandoorne, Kvyat, Magnussen.

LAP 38/57: Räikkönen pits for the third (and final?) time, and emerges in P3 running a set of softs #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/fMJ5kuHdZ1

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 avril 2016

On the 41st lap, Romain Grosjean stopped to put on soft tires, as required by Pirelli regulations. Unfortunately, his left rear wheel took five seconds longer to secure than expected… The American mechanic angrily pounded his fist on the tarmac. But not all was lost for the Frenchman, who remained, if not in the top 5, at least in the points.

Great race leader Romain Grosjean, after his setbacks in the pits, continued his comeback and successively passed Daniil Kvyat (who returned to the pits due to his staggered strategy) and Felipe Massa (who suffered from a poor Williams strategy, leaving him with clearly ineffective medium tires for numerous laps).

The next two targets for Romain Grosjean were on medium tires and in Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. However, ten laps before the finish, the Dutchman pitted to switch to super-softs, allowing Grosjean to move up to 5th. The American dream. The Sakhir circuit suits the Frenchman perfectly: in 2012 and 2013, when he was with Lotus, he managed to finish on the podium alongside his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen.

LAP 47/57: Grosjean passes Massa to take P6

“Awesome, absolutely awesome!” comes over the Haas radio #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/NLDF1riH73

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 avril 2016

A few laps before the finish, the public witnessed a spectacle that was still unthinkable last year: a Manor overtaking a Force India! It was only for 13th place, but such a performance confirmed both the progress of the underdog and the setbacks of the Indian team.

The gaps within the top 3 were not expected to change in the final kilometers. Without faltering, Nico Rosberg therefore claimed a victory that owes as much to his impeccable pace as to the mutual misfortunes of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race. The English triple world champion doesn’t have a reason to panic yet, but he will need to make amends – and finally get a decent start – in China.

If the first three didn’t make hearts skip a beat, Romain Grosjean continues his beautiful story with Haas. The Frenchman, an impressive 5th thanks to an aggressive strategy, owed nothing to race incidents as in Melbourne, and is having an ideal start with his new team. His gamble is paying off for now and highlights all his qualities – we hope that in Maranello, the message has been received.

Effective in fourth place, Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t have done better in Sakhir this Sunday. The Australian confirms his good impressions from the start of the season. The Williams, although in second and third place after the first corner, once again made strategic errors. Finally, in his very first Grand Prix, Stoffel Vandoorne delivered a particularly solid performance and scored McLaren’s first points – and to think he was supposed to race in a Super Formula event this weekend.

BREAKING: Nico Rosberg wins the #BahrainGP ahead of Kimi Räikkönen (P2) and Lewis Hamilton (P3) pic.twitter.com/LUynvDpZ04

— Formula 1 (@F1) 3 avril 2016