Nico Rosberg builds on perfect start to F1 season while Lewis Hamilton fights for podium finish

The Mercedes-GP man capitalises on another slow getaway from his world champion teammate at Bahrain Grand Prix to make it two wins out of two, writes Graham Caygill. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished runner-up.

Formula One driver Nico Rosberg of Mercedes-GP in action during the Formula One Grand Prix of Bahrain at the Sakhir circuit near Manama, Bahrain, 03 April 2016. EPA/SRDJAN SUKI

Lewis Hamilton is often quoted in the Formula One paddock as saying he lives his life for the challenge of winning races and championships.

Well, he certainly has an uphill task ahead of him now as he faces a duel with history if he wants to win his fourth drivers’ title and a third in a row.

You have to go back to 1982 for the last time a driver won the opening two races of a season and did not go on to be top of the standings at the end of the season.

Nico Rosberg, Hamilton's Mercedes-GP teammate, followed up his win in Australia two weeks ago with a lights-to-flag victory on Sunday at the Bahrain Grand Prix to make it a perfect start to the season for the German.

It is now five triumphs on the trot for Rosberg, stretching back to the final three races of the season, and although there are still 19 races of the year to go, his winning run is certainly giving Hamilton food for thought.

It is unlikely that Hamilton will be too distraught with only finishing third, given that it could have been a whole lot worse at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The world champion was the master of his own downfall to an extent as his poor start from pole position, just like in Australia, saw him fall behind Rosberg going into Turn 1.

The Briton was strangely tentative as he entered the corner, going wide as he turned in.

That left a gap for a brief momentum that Valtteri Bottas attempted to slip his Williams through.

The pair collided as Hamilton closed the door, and both cars picked up substantial damage to their bodywork as a consequence, with the Mercedes dropping down to seventh as a consequence.

A mixture of good fortune that his car was not wounded severely enough to substantially slow his speed, good overtaking, and clever tyre management allowed Hamilton to recover to finish third.

He could do nothing about Rosberg, who had a lonely race at the front, or about the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who showed impressive speed to recover from his own slow start to be runner-up.

It could have been a lot worse.

He gave up 10 points to Rosberg to fall 17 behind in the drivers’ standings, when it easily could have 25 if he had been forced to retire following the coming together with Bottas.

Hamilton also had the consolation of gaining 18 points on Sebastian Vettel, the driver most likely to bring the fight to the Mercedes cars this season.

The German’s Ferrari did not even make the race start as plumes of smoke came from the back of the car on the parade lap, and he was forced to park the car on the side of the track as the rest of the field lined up for the race start.

This is Ferrari’s second retirement through a mechanical failure in two races, coming after Raikkonen stopped while running third at Melbourne, and it is a cause for concern.

While not, on the evidence of the first two races, a clear match on raw speed of the Mercedes, the Ferrari is close enough to be able to pressurise the German marque and exploit any errors.

But that is no good if they are not making it to the chequered flag, and an urgent solution needs to be found at Maranello before further points are frittered away.

Hamilton conceded there was nothing he could do about Raikkonen in the second half of the race, and he said: “We still managed to get the car up there and get some points.

“So, again, damage limitation. Congratulations to Nico, an easy race for him I would assume, but I’m glad it wasn’t more points.”

Rosberg’s pace will encourage Hamilton as the German was often more than a second a lap faster than anyone else during the first stint.

For the second race in a row Hamilton took himself out of race victory contention at the start and we are still yet to see a straight fight between the two Mercedes teammates.

Given that Hamilton has been the quicker man in qualifying at both races, he will fancy himself, just as he did in 2014 and 2015, to be the better man when the duo to inevitably duke it out on the same piece of track in the near future.

Rosberg has two weeks until China on April 17 to worry about that though, and the German said of the 16th win of his career: “It’s been an awesome weekend. The key was really at the start, I made a great getaway and from then on I was trying to control the pace.”

Daniel Ricciardo was a distant fourth in his Red Bull Racing car with Romain Grosjean in the top six again in his Haas as he took fifth.

* With agency

Bahrain Grand Prix report card

Star performer Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) – Not quick enough to fight with Nico Rosberg, the Ferrari man pulled off some great passes in the opening laps to get to second, and then had the speed to hold off the Mercedes-GP of Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps.

Underperformer Williams – Given the British team's cars were running second and third after the first lap, to have Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finish eighth and ninth, a lap off the pace, on a track that should have suited their package, is very worrying signs for the season ahead.

Key moment The start defined the race as it created the environment for Rosberg to dominate while ruining any hope his teammate Hamilton had of challenging for victory at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Our verdict While Rosberg cruised to the win, there was lots of great racing and overtaking in the midfield, and while Mercedes and Ferrari are a class apart, the rest of the pack are evenly matched and should produce plenty more entertainment in the races ahead in 2016.

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport