The
F1 race on Sunday April 6, 2014 in Bahrain saw Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG
Petronas winning by a whisker for the first place on the podium. He beat his
teammate Nico Rosberg. For Lewis it was his 24th Formula One career victory and
his third for Mercedes AMG Petronas. For Rosberg it was his 14th Formula One
career podium, his 12th for the team.
“What
an incredible day. That was a really tough race tonight and I am absolutely
delighted to have come home with the win. It’s a long time since I had a race
like that! My weekend started off well but I didn’t really have great pace for
qualifying and the race. I knew that I needed a good start and to go into the
first corner in the lead was crucial to my race this evening. From there, it
was such a battle. Nico drove fantastically well and, in all honesty, he had
the pace on me today but I managed to hold on. I knew when the safety car came
out that Nico would be on the option tyres and that he would be quick.
“To
try and stay ahead of him was so hard and when I came across the line I was
just so relieved. When you’re racing
your team-mate, the pressure is really intense and we both knew that we had to
bring the cars home for the team and for the championship. All credit to the
team for allowing us to race and I hope the fans loved the show that we were
able to put on tonight. A big thank you to the team, especially to my engineers
for all the information they were giving me during the race, and to everyone
here and back at the factories for all their hard work. Another one-two is just
fantastic for us. I’m also very proud to have joined Fangio with 24 Grand Prix
wins today, he’s one of the great racers of all time so that’s a real honour,”
Lewis said after the race, according to a press statement.
“It
was a great battle out there this evening with Lewis and this kind of race is
exactly why I am in Formula One; I love to race like today. Of course, it’s
very disappointing to have finished second in the end but I gave it everything
and it just didn't quite come off for me. Lewis did a great job defending his
position and, so often when I did manage to get past, I then couldn't see him
in the blind spot in my mirrors.
“Our
strategy was good and to change it after the first stint was a decision that I
made with the team. It was a slightly slower strategy but it gave me the best
chance of catching Lewis at the end on the option tyres. The difference between
the prime and the option was not as big as we expected however and that's why I
didn’t quite manage to get by. The positive must be that this was a great day
for Formula One. The race was a fantastic show and hopefully it proves that the
critics of our new technology are wrong. I can't wait for China now and I want
to end up on the top step there,” said Rosberg after the race.
Picture courtesy Daimler