Lewis Hamilton beat out Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg to claim the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
The pair continued their domination of the 2014 season, winning a third straight GP to further extend the Mercedes advantage atop the Formula 1 team leader board.
Without team orders to determine the winner, the pair combined for a thrilling battle that almost resulted in a couple of near collisions.
“It was very, very fair and it was very hard to keep him behind,” Hamilton said after Rosberg eclipsed a 10-second lead with his faster soft tyres.
“He was very fast on the option tires and I was on the knife-edge the whole time. … Me and Nico haven’t had a race like that since back in our karting days. In our first (karting) race, he led all day and I overtook him on the last lap and won, and I thought for sure he is going to do that to me today.”
Rosberg’s decision to hold out on the soft tyres until the final stages paid dividends as the German closed Hamilton’s lead down to a half second in the 51st and 52nd laps.
But in his 900th GP, Hamilton was able to hold on for the win and cut Rosberg’s lead in the world championship standings down to 11 points while Mercedes holds a 67-point lead over Force India-Mercedes on the team table.
A 0.4 second advantage saw Force India’s Sergio Perez collected third ahead of Australian rookie Daniel Ricciardo, however the result remained another memorable GP for the 24-year-old, who continues to look like a future No.1 driver.
Ricciardo once again beat teammate and defending four-time world champ Sebastian Vettel and edged further closer to his first podium finish after being disqualified in the Melbourne season opener.
2014 Formula 1 Grand Prix
1-Lewis Hamilton-Mercedes-1:39:42.743 (57 laps)
2-Nico Rosberg-Mercedes-+1.0 secs (57)
3-Sergio Pere-Force India Mercedes-+24.0 secs
4-Daniel Ricciardo-Red Bull Racing-Renault-+24.4 secs
5-Nico Hulkenberg-Force India Mercedes-+28.6 secs
6-Sebastian Vettel-Red Bull Racing-Renault-+29.8 secs
7-Felipe Massa-Williams-Mercedes-+31.2 secs
8-Valtterri Botas-Williams-Mercedes-+31.8 secs
9-Fernardo Alonso-Ferrar-+32.5 secs
10-Kimi Raikkonen-Ferrari-+33.4 secs
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Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
