Hamilton Finishes 5th, Rosberg 9th in Bahrain GP

Sebastian Vettel won the race, followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean.

It was clear that Rosberg’s car lacked the pace to keep up with the other contenders at the Sakhir circuit. His strong driving managed to keep his pursuers at bay early, but he all but lost the race lead by the time lap 4 came around. By lap 20, he was really struggling to keep pace, losing P3 to Jenson Button and then relinquishing P4 to Grosjean. Rosberg continued to struggle with tire degradation, prompting him to take 4 pit stops just to compensate.

Hamilton got engaged in a heated battle for P5 against Mark Webber down the wire, passing on lap 53 before quickly settling back a spot down. Webber fended him off again on lap 55, before Hamilton managed to edge the Red Bull on the final lap to claim 10 points for himself and the team.

The points allow Hamilton to move past Fernando Alonso (who finished P8 for 4 points) and take third place in the drivers’ standings. Vettel still leads with 77 points, followed by 67 for Raikkonen, then 50 for Hamilton.

Mercedes AMG Petronas stays at fourth in the constructors’ standings with 74 points, but managed to trim the third-place Ferrari’s lead to 3.