Usually, the most memorable and exciting races require variable weather conditions, but Bahrain 2014 showed that sometimes all you need is the leaders racing wheel to wheel, team and driver battles throughout the field… and Pastor Maldonado.
2014 was the first time the Bahrain GP would be held at night. The desert environment immediately more exciting at night.
All eyes were on the Mercedes team-mates. Lewis had retired from Melbourne but had closed the gap back to 18 points in Malaysia. The German outfit were dominating the early races, Luca Di Montezemolo said the sport was now “boring”. He was in for a surprise.
Rosberg took pole position but as the red lights went out, it was Hamilton who out-dragged him to turn 1. Massa made one of the best starts of the season going from 7th to 3rd in the same time.
Rosberg was looking feisty, trying a move round the outside of Hamilton a couple of corners later at turn 4. The Mercedes were pushing each other for the first time in the 2014 season. By lap 9 they had a ten second gap to the cars behind, and the race was 57 laps long…
Rosberg decided to preserve his tyres by keeping a couple of seconds gap to Hamilton ahead until lap 18. Nico closed the gap right up using DRS along the pit straight. Lewis moves to cover the inside but Nico steers into the pit lane exit and makes a late braking move up the inside. Lewis brakes earlier to take the later apex for a good exit. In the process he runs very close to his teammate who has to quickly dodge Lewis’ rear left tyre. “Warn him that was NOT ON!” shouts Nico on team radio.
Lap 19 and Nico tries another late braking move into turn 1. Lewis takes a blocking line, making Nico brake at an angle towards the apex. Lewis brakes and steers simultaneously back to the racing line, white smoke coming from the tyres of both cars. Nico takes the lead, but Lewis had a plan. He straightened up his line through turn 3 and uphill to turn 4. On entry the Mercedes’ were side-by-side. “This is amazing racing!” – a certain BBC commentator squeals with delight. Lewis was on the outside but took a later apex and undercut his team mate. The two are side by side again, refusing to give each other space. Hamilton retakes the lead going into the next complex and pits for option tyres at the end of the lap. Nico takes an alternative strategy by pitting for prime tyres at his stop.
Meanwhile with Ferrari and Red Bull both struggling, it was a fight between the Mercedes-powered Williams and Force India for the final podium place. As the race progressed it became clear that Bottas and Massa were using their tyres too fast and had to revert to a 3 stop strategy as opposed to the preferred 2.
Lap 40/57 and the Mercedes different tyre strategies were playing out. Hamilton and Rosberg driving to a metronome, gapped to 10 seconds. Hamilton leading.
Then on lap 41, the TV lap count turned yellow and a picture of a crippled Sauber appeared on screen. A replay shows the car rolling over. “Woah, what was that?” asks Gutierrez. It was Maldonado, Esteban. Safety car deployed.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1xaUJ8v-5I&w=560&h=315]
The Mercedes cars both pit. Hamilton must use the prime and Rosberg is free to use a set of options. The 10 second buffer that Lewis had was reduced to a few car lengths by the safety car. “Nico its Paddy. With ten laps left to race, can we just make sure we bring both cars home.” – The same message was read to Lewis.
Bunched up in the safety car order, Force India lined up 3rd and 4th, with Perez leading the team battle. Button was 5th ahead of the two Red Bulls.
Rosberg behind was all over Hamilton’s gearbox once the race started, his option tyre’s performance around six tenths of a seconds faster a lap than Hamilton’s primes. “I’ve got no power!” Hamilton says over team radio – his ERS harvesting up to turn 4 where Nico was closing in fast. Meanwhile Button retires and Ricciardo overtakes his team-mate to go 5th. It was now Hulkenberg’s job to hold up the surging Ricciardo from catching Perez, who was on course for a podium.
Hamilton and Rosberg driving as if the championship was decided ‘there and then’ at the front. The two pulling away from the rest at a rate of 2.5 seconds per lap at times. It was the first time we, the audience, saw what the Mercedes W05 was capable of when driven to the edge. Rosberg tried a few late braking moves into turn 1 only to out-brake himself and Hamilton cut back into the lead on the exit of the corner. Rosberg tried again and again at turn 4 only to be hung out to dry around the ouside. Lewis Hamilton put up a remarkable defence to win the race – Nico’s softer tyres degrading towards the end of the 10 qualifying-lap-like sprint to the flag.
Ricciardo overtook Hulkenberg and started hunting down Perez. The Mexican held of the formidable attack to finish on the podium – something that was not reached in 2013 with McLaren.
Mercedes had pulled out a 25 second lead after the safety car. It should have been disappointing for the fans. An utterly dominant season lay ahead, but the fact that Mercedes let their teammates race so close… for so long… the fans wanted more.
Images courtesy of Mercedes AMG Petronas
