adminGERMANY’s Nico Rosberg romped to his fifth win in a row for Mercedes yesterday and ended Formula One champion teammate Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a third successive Bahrain Grand Prix victory. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, whose teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to start after his car’s engine let out a plume of smoke on the formation lap, finished 10.2 seconds behind to repeat last year’s second place.
Hamilton, a distant third and never in a position to challenge Rosberg, made a slow getaway from pole position and tangled with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas at the first corner as the Finn tried to go past on the inside.
Rosberg stretched his lead over Hamilton at the top of the standings to 17 points after two races. The win was the 16th of the German’s career and the eighth in a row for champions Mercedes.
RESULTS
1. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:33:34.696
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari +00:10.282
3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 00:30.148
4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull – TAG Heuer 01:02.494
5. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas – Ferrari 01:18.299
6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso – Ferrari 01:20.929
7. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Red Bull – TAG Heuer 1 lap
8. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1 lap
9. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 1 lap
10. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) McLaren 1 lap
— BBC Sport
derick.khumalo