Qualifying
In the aftermath of a collision with Esteban Gutiérrez in the Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso was ruled out of the event with broken ribs and a pneumothorax , and as a result was replaced with McLaren reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne . Gutiérrez received a new chassis after his team found that his original chassis was too damaged to be repaired, mostly caused by the crane during the recovery process and not in the accident itself. Meanwhile, Ferrari were able t... Tyre supplier Pirelli brought three compounds to Bahrain, from which drivers were allowed to choose. The three options for the event were the super-soft, soft and medium compounds, the same as for the previous round in Australia. Frontrunners Mercedes and Ferrari opted for different strategies in tyre allocation, as Mercedes took only one set of the harder medium tyres for both their drivers, while Ferrari chose three sets at the expense of soft compound tyres. As the frontrunners set their first timed laps in Q3, Hamilton made a mistake and ran wide at the last corner, leaving him behind Rosberg and both Ferrari drivers. Hülkenberg, both Williams drivers and Ricciardo were eliminated without setting another time, while the four fastest cars came out again. Hamilton set the fastest ever lap at the Bahrain Circuit, at 1:29.493, to achieve pole position ahead of Rosberg, who was just 0.077 seconds slower. Half a second behind, Vettel grabbed third place ...
Free practice
Per the regulations for the 2016 season, three practice sessions were held, two ninety-minute sessions on Friday and another one-hour session before qualifying on Saturday. During the first practice session on Friday, Mercedes set times well clear of their closest rivals. Nico Rosberg was fastest on a time of 1:32.292, more than half a second quicker than his teammate Lewis Hamilton in second place. Kimi Räikkönen was third-fastest, albeit almost two seconds slower than Rosberg. Newcomers... Rosberg was again fastest in the second practice session on Friday evening. His time of 1:31.001 was more than one and a half seconds faster than the pole position time in the previous year's event . Lewis Hamilton finished second-fastest, 0.241 seconds adrift of Rosberg. Jenson Button set the third-fastest time for McLaren, although he was more than a second off the fastest time. Several drivers voiced surprise over McLaren's pace during Friday's practice sessions, described by Button as... Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari 1–2 in third practice ahead of Räikkönen, setting a time of 1:31.683. The two Mercedes drivers of Rosberg and Hamilton followed, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean. On the soft compound tyres, both Mercedes drivers had set identical times, before Rosberg edged out Hamilton on the super-softs. Higher temperatures in the afternoon sun meant that the times dropped from second practice. Felipe Massa ran a new, shorter nase for Williams , but managed only the ...
Race
Kimi Räikkönen was the first of the front runners to pit, doing so on lap twelve, with Rosberg and Hamilton following suit in the following laps. Hamilton emerged sixth behind Kvyat and Massa, moving ahead of both into fourth before going past Ricciardo for third place on lap 17. A lap later, Grosjean moved ahead of Massa into fifth position. Meanwhile, Rosberg pulled clear at the head of the race, leading Räikkönen by twelve seconds on lap 22. Further back the order, Kevin Magnussen trailed Pas... By lap 38, Nico Rosberg led Räikkönen by nine seconds, with Hamilton a further five seconds behind. Räikkönen made a pit stop on the same lap and both Mercedes drivers did the same in the two following laps. Grosjean made a pit stop on lap 41, being stationary for 25 seconds, losing ground on his competitors. He emerged eighth and moved ahead of Kvyat into seventh as the latter made a pit stop on lap 45, before overtaking Massa one lap later. With ten laps to go, Rosberg extended his lead on Räi... Romain Grosjean received particular praise for his drive to fifth place, collecting a second Driver of the Day award in a row. His race was saved by an attentive mechanic who replaced a loose wheel nut on his left-rear wheel, which would otherwise have caused Grosjean to retire. Valtteri Bottas was further penalised for his collision with Hamilton at the start of the race by having two penalty points added to his licence. Jenson Button expressed frustration at his retirement...
Race Result
| Pos. | Car no. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times / Q1 | Qualifying times / Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:31.391 | 1:30.039 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:31.325 | 1:30.535 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:31.636 | 1:30.409 |
| 4 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:31.685 | 1:30.559 |
| 5 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | 1:31.403 | 1:31.122 |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:31.672 | 1:30.931 |
| 7 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:32.045 | 1:31.374 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:31.987 | 1:31.604 |
| 9 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1:32.005 | 1:31.756 |
| 10 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:31.888 | 1:31.772 |
Championship Standings After This Race
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
The air hung thick with the scent of burning rubber and anticipation – a familiar, almost comforting, aroma for those who'd chased this beast across continents. Rosberg, a man sculpted by relentless discipline, wrestled the Mercedes W06 – a chassis boasting a 1. 6-liter V6 turbo-hybrid engine producing a staggering 608 horsepower at its peak – into the first corner, a calculated aggression against Hamilton's fluid, almost meditative, approach. The Ferrari team, however, were visibly frustrated; Vettel's tire pressure data, meticulously monitored through the pit wall, indicated a persistent 1. 2 PSI deficit compared to Räikkönen, a discrepancy that hinted at a subtle, perhaps deliberate, strategic misstep. A curious detail emerged: the Red Bull's TAG Heuer engine, despite a slightly smaller displacement, consistently delivered 595 horsepower, a testament to the team's obsessive refinement of the internal combustion process.
The desert air hung thick with anticipation, a palpable tension clinging to the Sakhir circuit. Hamilton, a ghost of his Sao Paulo surge, wrestled with a car that seemed to punish aggression, a cruel irony given his relentless pursuit of dominance. Rosberg, sculpted by the pressure of leadership, drove with a granite precision, a masterclass in controlled execution. Observe, if you will, that this victory, the second for Rosberg, mirrored a recurring pattern – a win from pole achieved with a margin of just under a second, a statistical echo of his Monaco triumph, a testament to the subtle art of neutralizing the opposition.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The rain hadn't relented, a grey curtain drawn across Sakhir. Hamilton's helmet, slick with spray, reflected the fractured light of the pit lane. Rosberg, a glacial expression etched onto his face, wrestled with the steering wheel, a desperate surge of adrenaline battling the programmed precision. Victory here, in this chaotic ballet of wet conditions, would have been more than just a points haul; it would have shattered the fragile truce, exposed the simmering ambition beneath the team's carefully constructed façade. Räikkönen, a quiet force, was closing the gap, a testament to his instinctive understanding of the track's treacherous nuances. This wasn't just a race; it was a pressure test, a brutal examination of character played out on a rain-soaked circuit.
The rain in Sakhir wasn't merely dampening the tarmac; it seemed to be washing away the carefully constructed facades of ambition. Rosberg, a man sculpted by relentless discipline, stood motionless in the pit box, a single bead of water tracing a path down his cheek. He hadn't celebrated, hadn't even exhaled. A quiet calculation, perhaps, weighing the shifting grip, the relentless drizzle, and the subtle advantage he'd wrested from Hamilton. You could almost hear the gears turning within him, a machine meticulously adjusting its trajectory. The victory, he understood, wasn't a gift, but a brutal, earned consequence of unwavering focus. A stark contrast to the younger Hamilton, still prone to flashes of impulsive brilliance.