(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)
Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team’s Lewis Hamilton made it three
wins in four Grand Prix as the reigning world champion took victory in today’s
Bahrain Grand Prix.
The double champion had a near miss however as although he
won the race he suffered a brake by wire issue one and a half laps from the end
due to overheating brakes and ended the race just 3.380S ahead of Scuderia
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Speaking following the race Hamilton stated:
‘I'm really happy with
that. ?It doesn't matter who it's against - you always try to beat everyone.
But it's great to have a fight with Ferrari as well as Nico. Mercedes has been
the best team on the grid for the last year or so but Ferrari are pushing us really
hard now. It definitely wasn't an easy win. It was close when I came out of the
pits after the first stop and the battle behind me was intense. I had a bit of
a slow stop which reduced my gap and when I was braking into T1 I saw them
right there in my mirrors! From there I felt like I had it pretty much under
control. I had to back off at the end with the traffic and the brakes but
luckily for me the effect wasn't as great as for Nico. I have to say a big
thanks to everyone back at the factories and here at the track. The car was
really nice to drive this weekend and they've done a great job. ? They won't be
100% happy I'm sure as Kimi took points from us today. But it's still a good
haul of points and I know we'll work even harder to do better at the next race.
That's what motorsport is all about and that's why we go racing - to fight with
other teams.’
Hamilton’s team mate Nico Rosberg had a mixed race as he was
passed by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen into T1 only to retake third place from the
Finn a few seconds later. He had a great fight with Sebastian Vettel and was
unfortunate to suffer the same brake by wire issue that Hamilton had towards
the end of the race.
Kimi Raikkonen showed great pace to close a 9 second gap to
Rosberg in the pit-stop phase and took advantage of the faster Option to close
the gap to and then overtake Rosberg for second place. Rosberg has been
consistently on the podium this season and has picked up two 2nd
place and two third place finishes from the opening four races and is currently
in second place in the championship 27 points behind Hamilton.
Speaking following the race, Rosberg stated:
‘I felt very good in
the car today and had a really exciting race. I was able to recover from my
poor start with some overtaking manoeuvers on the red cars and I also tried to
catch Lewis. But he also had good speed today so it was impossible to get by
him. At the end it was very disappointing that Kimi got me, but I had no chance
to defend my position with a brake-by-wire problem in the last two laps. I just
went straight on at Turn One and that allowed him past, which was a shame.
Anyway, we will investigate this now and with Lewis' win we still got a strong
result for the team once again, so I look forward to the next races with this
great car.’
Mercedes Executive Director (Business) Toto Wolff commented
on the team’s performance saying:
‘That was not an easy
afternoon for us today but we must be happy with P1 and P3 after we had a
number of big challenges during the race. First of all, we saw that the changes
we made to the car after a tough Friday practice seemed to be the right ones:
we were the quickest car on both types of tyre and Nico had the performance to
battle past both Ferraris on pure pace. Out front, Lewis drove a very
controlled race: he was pushing hard but able to pull out the gaps he needed at
every point to take the win. A third win in four races and a super job. And
tonight, we saw Nico at this best: this showed any doubter what a fantastic,
aggressive driver he is. He did everything right today but it was clear that it
would be a big fight in the final laps, after Kimi ran a long and competitive
middle stint on the Prime tyre. Then just as we were getting to the decisive
moment, he suffered a brake-by-wire failure into Turn One on lap 56. That meant
he was basically a passenger as he ran wide and Kimi was able to sneak past. Without
that, I think he was driving so well that he would have kept the Ferrari behind
– but he had no weapons to defend. Overall, that is our eighth podium from the
first four races and a super job from the team. We have three weeks to the next
race and we will get our heads down, use them wisely and come to Barcelona in
even stronger shape.’
Following their fourth double podium finish of the season
the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team head to the Spanish Grand Prix, the opening
race of the European leg of the season in three weeks at the top of the
Constructors championship on 159 points, 52 ahead of Scuderia Ferrari who are
in second place.
Speaking following the race Mercedes Executive Director
(Technical) Paddy Lowe stated:
‘A great result but a
disappointing one at the same time, as the one-two was within our grasp. Lewis
had a fantastic race – pushing at all times and leaving nothing on the table.
On Nico’s side, he drove superbly with several great manoeuvers on the
Ferraris. P3 doesn’t reflect how well he drove today but unfortunately, at the
end, the traffic didn’t fall well for him and then there was a problem with the
brake-by-wire system which sent him deep into Turn One. It had been a concern
for a while in the race and it just didn’t quite hold off until the flag. It
was a shame for Nico and for the team and, of course, we’ll be looking at the
reasons behind it. Overall, though, a double podium is never an easy thing to
achieve, so a good day although not a perfect one.’
© Ben Johnston 2015
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