Hamilton shines brightest in Bahrain night

Lewis Hamilton racked up his third win of the season as he powered unhindered, from pole position to victory, in the Bahrain Grand Prix and with it stamping his authority on the championship, but perhaps more importantly delivering another telling blow to his Mercedes teammate and arch-rival for the title Nico Rosberg.

With Hamilton controlling the pace from the minute the red lights went dark, Rosberg found himself slugging it out with the Ferrari duo, first Sebastian Vettel and later in the race with Kimi Raikkonen. The first duel he won, but in the final duel Raikkonen got the better of him.

For the sullen Finn it was a big night as he returned to the podium for the first time since his comeback to Ferrari last year, and his first appearance in the top three since Singapore 2013 when he drove for Lotus.

But in the end the night belonged to Hamilton who just goes from strength to strength with each race this year, after a scintillating performance in qualifying he was again masterful in controlling the race while staying in charge unperturbed.

His celebration atop his mighty Silver Arrow - where he threw an imaginary ball into the air and slammed it out the imaginary park with an imaginary bat - aptly summed up what he did under Sakhir floodlights. Full on home run!

"Ferrari gave us a really good run for our money and we will need to keep pushing as a team. It was difficult to look after my tyres in the conditions. My brakes got a bit warm when I went behind a few back markers, there was no cool air coming in but it wasn't a problem," Hamilton told Sir Jackie Stewart during the podium interview.

The Briton leaves Bahrain with a 27 point lead over Rosberg.

Sebastian Vettel was expected to take the fight to Mercedes, but the Ferrari driver committed two errors which cost him track position to Rosberg, and also damaged his front wing which required a stop to replace.

This compromised his race, and Raikkonen took over the Ferrari challenge. His strategy differed to the early pace setters, as he ran the yellow band Pirelli soft tyre for the first stint, then bolted on the medium (harder) white band set and ended the race with another set of softs. The others went soft, soft, medium.

As a result the Iceman was way faster than Rosberg towards the end of the race and gulped up the gap before pouncing with a couple of laps to go, when the Mercedes driver ran out of brakes at the end of the main straight.

And that was that, job done for Raikkonen who said afterwards, "I am never happy when I finish second. After a difficult start of the year it as a good place to get some results and we came though very quickly in the end but unfortunately we ran out of laps."

"We have to be happy after the way we qualified and way we finished but we will be looking for better results. Very happy with team to where we were last year, we have taken a big step and are working together in a good direction, we are improving as a tam and will be fighting for wins," added Raikkonen with no hint of a smile.

Rosberg managed to salvage third, but it was clear that his post-China tantrum took its toll and he was simply no match for his pace setting teammate all weekend. His brakes did appear go off at the end, but the damage was already done and it is evident that the balance of power within Mercedes is now well entrenched on Hamilton's side of the garage.

Rosberg said, "I enjoyed overtaking the red car, I liked that a lot. I couldn't catch Lewis as were were pretty similar as he pulled away and then I lost my brakes and went straight on two laps from the end and it cost me second place."

Vettel's mistakes cost him track time, but he recovered up until he got on to the tail of Valtteri Bottas' Williams, which proved to a be a brick wall with the Ferrari unable to find a way past despite a number of stabs and big braking moments. Bottas finished fourth with Vettel having to settle for fifth.

Bottas said, "It felt really good to keep Vettel behind me. Ferrari have a quicker car and he was closing quickly but I knew a few tricks to defend and that worked."

"We have plenty of work to do. If we want to fight with Ferrari then we need more pace in the car. We need to push really hard and may be able to squeeze a few extra points.," concluded the Finn.

Vettel reflected, "I went wide on the last corner and damaged my front wing. I felt like I had less front grip and decided to pit which was the right call. It was a shame as I got stuck and could not get in front."

"I feel like I let the team down a little when it was in reach. Kimi proved with second it is possible and he drove a good race. It would have been difficult to catch Nico and overtake as we were both on the same tyre and I had some damage to my front wing but I recovered well and got some decent points," added Vettel.

Red Bull emerged from another tough weekend with perhaps more than they would have expected, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing sixth and Daniil Kvyat ninth. Ricciardo's Renault engine blew up as he crossed the finish line, a huge cloud of smoke reminding everyone what the former world champion team is having to endure.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that both Toro Rosso drivers failed to finish on the night, thanks to what appeared to be engine issues once again.

Romain Grosjean enjoyed a good evening, finishing seventh in the Lotus ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa rounding out the top ten.

From the outside it looked like another walk in the park for Mercedes, particularly Hamilton, but not quite so according to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, "It was a huge relief as both cars lost brake power. It was a shame for Nico he was having a great race and did some great overtaking."

"We need to analyse the overheating problem. Looking at the result we were not dominant and Ferrari are catching up. We need to do everything we can to continue to beat them," admitted Wolff.

Music to Ferrari ears?

[highlight ]Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir - Race Results, Sunday 19 April 2015[/highlight]

Fastest lap - Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 36.311s (lap 42)