Lewis Hamilton took victory on Sunday by the narrowest of margins in the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix after an enthralling race-long battle with teammate Nico Rosberg.
A second consecutive one-two finish for the Silver Arrows saw the team extend its lead at the top of the Constructors’ Championship. Hamilton claimed his 24th Formula One career victory at the Sakhir circuit’s first race under floodlights and his third for Mercedes AMG Petronas. “What an incredible day,” he said. “That was a really tough race and I’m absolutely delighted to have come home with the win. “It’s a long time since I had a race like that. I knew that I needed a good start and to go into the first corner in the lead was crucial. From there, it was such a battle. “Nico drove fantastically well and, in all honesty, he had the pace on me but I managed to hold on. “To try and stay ahead of him was so hard and when I came across the line I was just so relieved. When you’re racing your teammate, the pressure is really intense and we both knew that we had to bring the cars home for the team and for the championship. “All credit to the team for allowing us to race and I hope the fans loved the show that we were able to put on. “Another one-two is just fantastic for us.” Hamilton said he was also ‘very proud’ to have joined one of the great racers of all time, Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing, winning the world drivers’ championship five times, and also recorded 24 Grand Prix wins. Before the race his best memory of Bahrain was winning the F3 Grand Prix here in 2004 and coming second driving for McLaren Mercedes in 2007 behind Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. He loves the BIC and once told GulfWeekly ‘the organisation at the track is by far the best probably out of all the Grand Prix circuits’. “I love the Bahrain circuit, it is one of the ones I really look forward to, like Monaco and Spa. It is not so much for the track itself, but because of the facilities; the way the place is organised; the people. It is just such a great trip. It is one of the few places you go to without stress or hassle and you just feel so relaxed.” BIC chairman Zayed Alzayani described it as the ‘most exciting race ever seen’ at the circuit bringing a fitting end to a momentous 10th anniversary weekend attracting a record crowd of 31,000, the highest ever attendance for a single day. “I am delighted that the crowd was suitably rewarded with a phenomenal display of racing,” he said. Hamilton crossed the finish line the winner as BIC chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa waved the chequered flag, with teammate Rosberg trailing by a mere 1.085 seconds following a heated battle for the lead over the final 10 laps. An impressive display of fireworks then brightened up the night sky over the spectacularly lit desert circuit as Hamilton stepped out of his racing car cheered on by the thousands of fans in attendance. Force India’s Sergio Perez joined Hamilton and Rosberg on the podium, leading the rest of the pack who were nearly half-a-minute behind the Mercedes pair. At the podium ceremony in front of a packed Main Grandstand, Hamilton was presented his trophy by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister. Full report: See Pages 11, 12, 13 & 14
