Nico Rosberg cruises to fifth win in a row for Mercedes to claim Bahrain Grand Prix
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finishes second, ahead of Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton
Germany’s Nico Rosberg romped to his fifth win in a row for Mercedes on Sunday and ended Formula One champion teammate Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a third successive Bahrain Grand Prix victory.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, whose teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to start after his car’s engine let out a plume of smoke on the formation lap, finished 10.2 seconds behind to repeat last year’s second place.
For sure, it’s been an awesome weekend. The key was the start. I had a great getaway
Hamilton, a distant third and never in a position to challenge Rosberg, made a slow getaway from pole position and tangled with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas at the first corner as the Finn tried to go past on the inside.
“For sure, it’s been an awesome weekend,” said Rosberg. “The key was the start. I had a great getaway and from there I was just trying to control the race.”
Raikkonen said: “I had a bad start – we did what we could and tried to recover and had a pretty good result.”
Rosberg stretched his lead over Hamilton at the top of the standings to 17 points after two races. The win was the 16th of the German’s career and the eighth in a row for champions Mercedes.