Hamilton hangs on despite late Raikkonen charge

Lewis Hamilton took his third victory of the season in the Bahrain Grand Prix despite a late charge from Kimi Raikkonen.

Having led from the line, Hamilton was rarely threatened by team-mate Nico Rosberg as the second Mercedes had to fight his way through from fourth place after losing out at the start of the race. However, Raikkonen was able to run a different strategy to the two Mercedes' and team-mate Sebastian Vettel, leaving him on soft tyres at the end.

Raikkonen had to close a gap of over 20 seconds to the leaders in the final stint and managed to reel in Rosberg, taking second place on the penultimate lap as Rosberg ran wide at Turn 1 just when it looked like he could be able to hold off the Ferrari.

While Raikkonen had been over six seconds behind Hamilton starting the final lap, the lead Mercedes then reported a brake-by-wire failure which left him slow, and Raikkonen cut the gap to 3.3s at the chequered flag as the Finn took his first podium finish since Korea 2013.

Vettel had been the main threat to Mercedes early on but was hit by a front wing problem after his second pit stop and ran wide at the final corner, handing Rosberg a position and having to pit for a new front wing. The problem dropped him to fifth place behind Valtteri Bottas and he was unable to find a way past the Williams as the two finished over 40s adrift of the leading trio.

Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth for Red Bull but was lucky to cross the line as his engine failed exiting the final corner, covering the track in smoke as he stopped on the pit straight. Romain Grosjean finished a solid seventh for Lotus ahead of Sergio Perez, Daniil Kvyat and Felipe Massa.

Fernando Alonso missed out on a point for McLaren by just 3.9s as he finished 11th, closing down Massa in the final laps after the Williams had been forced to start from the pit lane when it failed to get off the grid. Massa was at least able to race, however, unlike Jenson Button who was ruled out due to electrical problems with his McLaren.

When the lights went out the start was an eventful one, with second-placed Vettel defending from Rosberg in to Turn 1, which allowed Raikkonen to jump the Mercedes. However, Rosberg was in a robust mood as he pulled a strong move on Raikkonen in to Turn 1 two laps later to regain third place and did the same to Vettel on lap nine after the Ferrari had gone wide a lap before.

With the Mercedes pair pulling out a gap at the front, Ferrari opted to pit first and Vettel was able to jump Rosberg, but again lost out in to the first corner as the two Germans went wheel-to-wheel in to Turn 1 in a shower of sparks directly behind Hamilton.

Once through, Rosberg was unable to close in on Hamilton but it was Raikkonen who led for a few laps as he ran longer in each stint. Switching to the medium tyre at the first stop, Raikkonen was a long way adrift but managed to set strong lap times to stay in contention as the leading cars all opted for two-stop strategies.

After the top three ran close for a spell in the middle stint, Vettel again was first top it of the leaders and Mercedes had to react by pitting Hamilton, leaving Rosberg to do an extra lap which meant he dropped behind the Ferrari. However, Vettel had a slow lap and ran wide at the final corner as he reported a front wing issue, allowing Rosberg through and forcing him to pit which dropped him to fifth.

Raikkonen was passed on track by Hamilton before he took his second stop as Ferrari opted to switch to the soft tyres for the final stint, and despite a 20s deficit Raikkonen took three seconds out of the two leaders on his first lap out of the pits to signal himself as a threat, eventually passing Rosberg on the penultimate lap as both Mercedes cars hit brake trouble.

Rosberg ran straight on at Turn 1 with his issue, and Hamilton soon radioed in to complain of a similar problem which saw him nurse the car home, but a lead of over six seconds was sufficient to keep the Ferrari at bay.

Behind the leaders, Bottas had been enduring a lonely race following Massa's problem on the grid but he managed to withstand pressure from Vettel for an impressive fourth place finish as he kept the Ferrari behind for the final stint.

Perez delivered a strong drive on the circuit where he finished third in 2014 to score his first points of the season for Force India, but it was another difficult day for Renault as Ricciardo's late engine failure followed a double retirement for Toro Rosso.