14. 2014 Bahrain GP: Rosberg battles Hamilton in lights-to-flag duel in the desert
The old saying goes that you only need two cars to make a race. And that has seldom been more true than when Mercedes team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg put on an epic gloves-off duel in the desert
The best of frenemies? Hamilton and Rosberg may have grown up together, but their relationship soured at Mercedes as the two locked horns, starting with a classic in Bahrain
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April 6, Sakhir
The Silver Arrows were in a class of their own come F1’s switch to 1.6-litre V6 hybrid engines, with Hamilton and Rosberg mopping up 16 of the year’s 18 races between them, so it was a good thing the needle that gradually developed between the two became the year’s biggest talking point.
Bahrain was perhaps the race that lit the blue touch paper, as the two played out a lights-to-flag duel that threatened to get out of control. Rosberg had beaten Hamilton to pole, but places were reversed when Hamilton’s better launch allowed him space inside at turn one. However, Mercedes had a predetermined plan to mix-up its tyre strategies, with whoever was leading come the first stop being fitted with the faster option tyres, and whoever was second being allowed a second chance to attack by getting the options for the run to the flag.
Rosberg, visually quicker, made several lunges to displace Hamilton in the first stint, but the Briton doggedly fought back, including a superb pass as the pair ran wheel-to-wheel through the fast fifth turn.
Things reached a head when Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus skewered Esteban Gutiérrez’s Sauber, flipping it and calling the safety car. This set up a breathless final 10 laps with Rosberg on the quicker tyres, and Hamilton clinging on, his stern defence flaring Rosberg’s temper on the radio and making Mercedes staff shift uncomfortably on the pitwall.
Rosberg said: “I thought I had him about nine different times. We were so close, and there’s this big dead angle on the car… so many times I just did not even know where Lewis was, then he’d suddenly reappear again, but he made it work.”
Hamilton was similarly enthused: “Fantastic! I haven’t raced like that since Indianapolis 2007. To have a real racer’s race and be able to use whatever skills I’ve acquired since karting, pulling them all out of the bag again just felt great. One of the best feelings you could have.” RL
Results
1st Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 1hr 39min 42.743sec, 115.24mph
2nd Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
3rd Sergio Pérez (Force India-Mercedes)
Pole position Rosberg (Mercedes), 1min 33.185sec, 130.36mph