2014 Bahrain Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

6th April 2014, 22:089th April 2014, 23:49 | Written by Keith Collantine

In the first two races of the season Mercedes were far enough ahead of their rivals that they didn’t need to reveal the full capabilities of their car.

But the circumstances of the late-race Safety Car period in Bahrain meant the team had to show their hand. Once the race resumed Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg scorched away from their pursuers at over two-and-a-half seconds per lap.

In Melbourne they set the fastest lap by less than a tenth of a second but it looked like they were as much as a full second quicker. In Sepang they realised that advantage.

But in Bahrain no one else lapped within 1.7 seconds of the Mercedes. That’s the kind of performance advantage we haven’t seen in a long time. If they were capable of sustaining that over a race distance they could have lapped the field.

Bahrain Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2014drivercolours.csv

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57
Nico Rosberg	103.487	100.938	100.566	100.872	100.978	100.985	100.888	100.823	100.989	100.994	101.306	101.336	101.398	101.851	101.671	101.494	101.455	102.587	103.965	101.442	104.439	121.019	99.886	100.178	100.227	100.367	100.285	100.325	100.443	100.262	100.412	100.487	100.17	100.367	100.288	100.536	100.356	100.446	100.12	100.535	107.842	152.295	146.05	153.717	141.868	141.446	98.104	97.808	97.02	97.374	97.808	99.494	99.526	98.125	97.898	97.822	98.458
Lewis Hamilton	102.467	100.928	100.627	100.544	100.78	101.025	100.839	100.945	100.842	101.182	101.174	101.377	101.421	101.751	102.002	101.775	101.802	102.621	106.545	119.311	99.765	99.666	100.357	99.743	99.809	100.042	100.045	100.098	100.25	100.141	100.176	99.793	100.25	99.93	99.915	100.267	100.185	100.341	100.12	100.796	103.783	164.955	145.687	153.582	142.046	142.278	98.037	97.306	97.108	97.656	97.855	99.481	99.277	97.941	97.923	97.794	98.387
Valtteri Bottas	106.24	101.493	101.676	101.538	101.738	102.197	102.543	102.847	102.835	108.066	121.274	100.421	101.039	100.831	101.984	101.172	101.256	100.679	101.138	101.32	101.145	101.409	101.611	101.918	105.469	121.154	100.343	100.035	100.323	100.03	102.82	101.713	101.598	100.653	101.014	101.347	100.713	100.569	100.759	103.949	140.344	122.601	112.206	143.091	141.455	137.76	101.287	100.394	100.001	99.762	100.221	101.187	100.096	100.578	100.773	101.294	100.71
Sergio Perez	105.657	101.131	101.549	101.512	101.43	102.072	102.452	102.255	102.432	102.61	102.789	103.598	103.53	103.018	102.953	106.155	121.025	100.186	100.292	100.105	100.4	100.582	100.734	101.548	102.253	102.401	101.915	101.796	101.321	101.138	101.203	101.491	101.448	104.586	119.773	99.32	99.597	99.894	99.82	100.484	118.32	125.145	118.486	152.962	140.454	141.864	100.741	100.06	99.8	99.809	100.035	100.112	100.032	99.927	100.097	100.166	100.345
Kimi Raikkonen	108.461	102.267	102.272	102.249	102.105	102.285	102.681	102.965	102.733	103.061	103.203	103.171	106.504	121.948	100.145	101.788	100.982	102.383	101.613	101.333	101.977	101.123	101.21	102.551	102.682	102.059	102.249	102.18	102.654	101.974	102.246	104.443	106.576	121.554	99.438	99.836	101.545	101.748	100.913	100.509	122.12	140.885	115.925	118.875	141.769	136.286	101.22	101.296	101.366	101.273	100.038	100.001	99.881	100.148	100.004	100.559	100.943
Jenson Button	106.612	101.953	101.754	101.585	101.797	102.017	102.371	102.677	102.752	102.6	102.569	103.2	103.402	103.482	103.507	103.846	105.97	120.999	100.69	100.614	100.689	101.063	101.023	101.124	100.91	101.71	100.767	101.38	101.275	101.242	101.08	101.336	101.408	101.518	104.279	120.104	99.565	100.035	99.97	100.569	118.573	123.447	115.919	152.57	140.098	140.524	102.323	102.354	101.175	101.766	101.73	100.709	100.131	100.27	140.85
Felipe Massa	104.407	101.241	101.384	101.507	101.902	102.071	102.334	102.322	102.446	102.653	103.089	105.072	106.713	120.788	100.86	101.191	101.074	100.656	100.643	101.018	100.81	101.159	101.673	101.827	102.668	102.477	102.118	106.906	120.775	99.665	100.211	99.857	100.118	100.695	100.471	100.845	100.41	103.376	119.057	99.272	119.661	123.726	114.117	143.308	141.023	138.299	101.248	99.897	100.04	100.136	100.384	100.891	100.367	100.513	100.54	101.527	100.57
Kevin Magnussen	109.266	102.533	102.391	102.465	102.213	102.475	103.052	103.017	103.376	103.378	104.985	104.676	104.501	107.608	122.298	101.624	101.527	101.543	101.387	101.003	100.774	100.954	101.391	102.31	104.566	120.521	100.298	100.578	100.757	101.115	100.806	101.013	102.322	101.075	101.329	102.589	102.019	104.917	120.414	100.108
Fernando Alonso	107.396	102.061	101.917	101.994	103.054	102.533	102.639	102.328	102.667	103.047	102.879	105.825	121.597	100.599	100.655	101.283	101.5	101.565	102.78	101.719	101.356	101.478	101.824	101.916	101.949	102.017	102.444	104.754	120.203	99.923	100.326	100.368	100.503	100.602	100.96	100.951	100.99	100.608	101.084	100.736	121.327	142.95	108.283	142.407	141.656	137.185	101.28	101.531	101.188	100.006	99.76	99.875	99.732	100.762	100.553	101.125	100.688
Sebastian Vettel	108.847	102.34	102.498	102.353	102.127	102.234	102.594	102.777	102.991	103.008	103.059	103.212	103.45	103.183	104.129	106.407	120.896	99.312	101.006	99.952	100.225	101.078	101.336	101.783	101.27	101.242	101.103	101.619	101.198	101.853	102.057	102.205	102.931	105.842	123.224	100.264	99.866	99.815	99.949	99.784	119.026	123.421	112.832	146.529	140.413	139.844	100.817	99.858	100.289	100.406	100.563	100.861	100.517	100.476	100.662	101.065	100.024
Nico Hulkenberg	107.757	102.12	102.081	101.92	101.449	101.993	101.97	102.415	102.657	102.712	102.545	103.045	103.403	103.554	106.353	119.745	99.468	100.59	100.28	99.84	100.416	100.54	100.727	101.86	102.332	103.312	102.066	102.326	101.046	101.173	101.139	101.869	101.833	101.703	104.978	119.617	98.785	99.516	99.552	99.924	116.666	125.655	118.99	152.717	140.402	140.924	101.05	100.35	99.92	100.302	100.529	100.79	101.042	100.222	100.368	100.545	100.314
Daniil Kvyat	110.277	102.624	102.381	102.711	102.445	102.634	102.929	102.857	103.797	106.071	121.863	100.16	101.191	101.806	101.718	101.976	103.083	102.384	104.254	102.595	102.877	102.489	102.768	104.998	123.019	101.648	101.716	101.57	102.103	101.691	101.915	102.39	102.089	101.902	101.569	101.26	101.409	101.777	104.2	127.457	124.016	115.083	108.29	114.236	141.598	136.01	101.472	101.112	101.306	101.764	101.119	101.026	101.085	101.349	101.221	101.19	101.605
Daniel Ricciardo	109.767	102.582	102.421	102.567	102.252	102.386	103.049	102.933	103.655	103.147	102.986	101.971	102.568	102.888	103.058	102.544	102.589	105.627	121.606	100.383	100.604	100.448	100.65	100.661	101.163	101.616	102.402	102.218	102.688	102.093	102.032	102.126	101.948	102.615	105.047	119.885	99.294	99.269	99.566	99.316	118.526	123.061	116.187	143.46	141.132	138.54	100.657	100.189	99.872	99.809	100.448	100.855	99.735	99.43	99.709	99.299	99.703
Jean-Eric Vergne	150.538	132.49	102.541	103.507	103.624	103.405	104.07	103.759	104.061	106.436	104.12	104.256	104.368	107.361	124.286	101.65	103.061	105.282
Esteban Gutierrez	110.522	103.23	102.893	102.889	103.249	104.414	103.461	103.319	103.553	103.825	104.28	108.755	122.167	100.99	102.033	101.762	101.959	102.083	103.342	102.339	102.48	102.756	102.847	103.424	103.308	104.147	106.65	122.52	101.014	103.156	101.124	100.698	101.203	101.431	103.696	101.283	101.488	101.828	102.682
Romain Grosjean	113.64	104.332	102.079	102.627	102.465	103.282	103.003	104.173	103.289	103.579	103.655	103.926	106.395	123.202	101.294	101.494	101.626	101.868	101.718	102.104	101.956	102.042	102.033	102.081	102.441	102.286	102.563	105.789	121.653	100.943	100.413	100.467	100.881	101.114	101.244	101.497	104.529	121.611	99.443	106.778	123.297	115.627	109.071	113.522	141.779	135.41	101.898	101.302	101.351	101.346	101.164	100.76	101.182	101.789	101.142	101.56	102.171
Pastor Maldonado	111.296	103.605	102.853	102.946	102.661	103.179	103.182	103.465	103.104	103.348	103.374	103.619	103.649	103.672	104.035	104.078	104.95	104.68	107.299	121.556	100.17	101.122	101.326	101.101	102.034	101.77	101.796	101.813	101.609	101.758	101.71	101.754	102.024	101.77	101.995	102.358	102.358	102.182	105.975	140.719	153.398	136.97	111.18	100.678	101.614	128.919	104.445	129.088	100.956	100.27	99.725	99.666	100.661	99.894	100.145	100.197	99.845
Kamui Kobayashi	113.503	105.236	103.724	103.833	103.191	103.261	103.407	103.553	103.94	104.057	104.277	104.843	105.069	105.998	108.056	125.956	101.246	102.003	102.575	102.375	102.495	102.722	102.677	103.418	103.186	103.441	103.419	103.487	104.305	103.879	103.623	103.979	103.776	104.13	107.179	126.166	101.844	102.417	102.376	116.262	127.597	126.723	114.946	106.376	104.706	115.964	104.077	103.444	106.384	105.769	104.268	105.331	104.877	104.624	106.054	106.725	107.894
Jules Bianchi	112.355	103.78	103.286	104.009	103.861	103.504	103.972	103.73	104.349	108.048	124.368	103.01	140.817	131.812	103.617	110.207	105.803	111.326	120.569	104.563	104.424	104.572	106.132	104.735	104.875	104.711	105.855	105.438	106.566	106.587	108.9	126.212	102.661	103.148	103.463	105.631	104.902	103.262	120.018	126.736	126.8	109.012	102.727	102.175	106.393	103.804	103.926	103.486	103.859	103.72	103.423	103.268	104.671	106.089	105.454	104.944
Marcus Ericsson	113.491	104.431	104.076	103.874	104.745	103.922	104.02	104.524	104.406	105.021	108.497	124.562	102.476	102.326	102.661	102.707	103.044	103.487	105.073	104.434	104.369	104.13	104.378	105.258	105.428	108.398	123.869	101.134	101.697	101.718	102.235	102.26	102.195
Max Chilton	114.381	105.549	104.414	103.675	103.988	105.005	104.776	103.906	104.116	104.385	107.946	123.837	102.627	102.305	102.63	102.806	103.008	103.402	103.362	103.489	104.586	103.786	103.886	103.974	104.422	104.567	104.449	108.259	125.439	101.831	102.13	103.075	102.882	102.926	103.015	103.922	102.506	102.549	103.01	119.645	144.624	109.686	109.945	107.474	104.377	115.246	102.169	101.825	102.168	102.38	102.257	102.579	102.237	102.829	102.582	101.945	107.863
Adrian Sutil	114.175	105.388	103.936	103.944	104.074	104.71	107.797	123.813	101.791	102.068	102.741	103.368	237.745	139.565	107.011	105.573	105.641

Bahrain Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

Rank	Driver	Car	Fastest lap	Gap	On lap
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’37.020		49
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’37.108	0.088	49
3	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1’38.785	1.765	37
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1’39.269	2.249	38
5	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1’39.272	2.252	40
6	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’39.312	2.292	18
7	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1’39.320	2.300	36
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1’39.438	2.418	35
9	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1’39.443	2.423	39
10	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’39.565	2.545	37
11	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1’39.666	2.646	52
12	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’39.732	2.712	53
13	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1’39.762	2.742	50
14	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1’40.108	3.088	40
15	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’40.160	3.140	12
16	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1’40.698	3.678	32
17	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1’41.134	4.114	28
18	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1’41.246	4.226	17
19	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’41.650	4.630	16
20	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1’41.791	4.771	9
21	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1’41.825	4.805	48
22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1’42.175	5.155	44

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine

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56 comments on “2014 Bahrain Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps”

Gino Van Den Broecke (@crekkan)
6th April 2014, 22:12

Jesus… that’s like Ferrari 2002/2004 pace advantage right there…

Except this time around both drivers have equal status.
1. DaveD (@daved)
  7th April 2014, 21:47
  
  I can’t believe nobody has noticed yet that Rosberg’s fastest lap of 1:37.020 is almost identical to Vettel’s fastest lap in 2013 of 1:36.961. That is only a difference of 0.059 seconds!
  
  Everyone keeps saying that the cars are 3-4 seconds a lap slower than last year….But that is no longer the case. At least on the power dominated tracks like Bahrain.
  
  Can’t wait to see what happens at Monza after they’ve had time to truly tune the cars. Even Monaco where the short bursts of acceleration with low speed corners….will be interesting to see.
  1. m30
    8th April 2014, 1:38
    
    Softer tyres and cooler temps this year explains the closeness.
    1. DaveD (@daved)
      8th April 2014, 14:13
      
      The cooler temps helped, but I believe they had the same soft/med tyre selection in 2013. And the 2014 tires are not as fast as the 2013 tires…but they last more than 10 laps before exploding! :)
  2. Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
    8th April 2014, 7:59
    
    Monza should be faster than last year, i would think anyway. I expect Monaco to be a fair bit slower though as the weight increase and aero reductions will make more of a difference than the engines. They also might struggle to use all that torque in the tight, twisty stuff, could lead to some barrier bashing too ;)
    1. DaveD (@daved)
      8th April 2014, 14:17
      
      @keiththedin Yeah, I think it will be fascinating to see the speed difference at Monaco this year. It’s such a low speed track with so many accelerations that the new power units will shine, but the heavier weight and the loss of traction will probably out weigh those advantages. Of course, they will get a LOT of regen through the KERS which will help reduce fuel consumption. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the teams start the race with only 80-85kg of fuel so that somewhat helps offset the weight…at least in the early part of the race.
      
      I’m betting that it will be overall slower at Monaco, but maybe the acceleration will close the gap??? Monza should be remarkable. I’m betting top speeds of 270kph.
      1. DaveD (@daved)
        8th April 2014, 20:02
        
        Sigh, I meant 370kph in Monza.
    2. DaveD (@daved)
      9th April 2014, 16:23
      
      @keithedin Wow, I was on a role yesterday…I couldn’t even spell your name right to respond LOL
      1. Peterrr
        10th April 2014, 14:23
        
        *roll ;)
sdtaylor91 (@sdtaylor91)
6th April 2014, 22:15

I watched the whole grand prix with the timing screens, and make no bones about it … the w05 is just a rocket ship. Before the safety car they were a minute ahead of the entire field. After the safety car, they pulled out 24 seconds in 10 laps, wow.
1. 72defender (@72defender)
  6th April 2014, 22:28
  
  That w05 is a beast. Guess most if the grid is already working in their 2015 cars.
  1. atta
    7th April 2014, 9:55
    
    Think all teams should skip 2015 and start working on 2016 instead. Submit that this year and next year trophies all belong to Merc.
2. TMF (@)
  7th April 2014, 7:26
  
  Yeah it’s a rocket. I thought people were exaggerating when they said that Merc is 20-30 HPs ahead of Ferrari and 50-60 ahead of Renault – but seems the gaps are really that large.
3. Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
  7th April 2014, 9:34
  
  Yeah it was amazing to watch after the safety car restart, the two Mercs just blitzed the field and even after 2-3 corners you could see the gap stretching out. Strangely i actually found this cool to watch, even though usually you want to see close racing between evenly matched cars – i guess it matters less if the two drivers of those cars are evenly matched too.
  
  It makes you wonder what it is that gives them this huge advantage though, because it looks like it is a sheer power advantage even over the other Mercedes engineed teams. No doubt the car is good aerodynamically and well balanced with good traction and all that, but it looked like a big part of their advantage was in the early part of acceleration. Newey mentioned something about different fuels showing significant performance differences, could that be their main ‘secret’?
  1. DaveW (@dmw)
    7th April 2014, 16:39
    
    I think the secret is that their software better maximizes the relationship between harvesting, boosting torque, and boosting the turbo speed. Thus, they use less fuel and they can pour on some battery boost when necessary. Recall that after the SC, when Rosberg was on his back, the team told him he could start to use “overtake” at corner exits every single time. This was a telling sign to me as it meant that the car had a surfeit of harvested power and was not reliant on fuel to produce torque at the crankshaft or to spin the turbo to opitmal speed. I think both of them had the same message. This is why they left the field for dead after the SC. After every corner its like they were on nitrous.
  2. tim
    7th April 2014, 17:54
    
    Their advantage is their power unit. They have separated the compressor from the turbine on the turbo using a shaft running through the V of the engine. This keeps the intake charge cooler (it isn’t beside the hot-hot-hot exhaust) which creates huge knock-on effects. The engine makes more power, doesn’t knock as easily under boost and doesn’t require as large an intercooler, which allows for smaller sidepods and huge aerodynamic benefits. The Mercedes chassis was developed around this engine packaging, where the customer teams were given the engine later in their development. This really is a car built with near limitless resources and a game-changing innovation.
    
    My question: Honda will now be able to copy Mercedes’ idea on the turbo while Ferrari and Renault’s engines are homologated. Does this effectively mean only Mercedes or Honda-powered cars have any chance in the coming seasons? Will we lose Ferrari from F1 as a result of this?
    1. DaveW (@dmw)
      7th April 2014, 20:02
      
      Important points. Your last question is what deMontezemolo is going to threaten. But I think it’s too early to judge what will happen. Renault have only just begun running their cars in anger and are still working out software. Ferrari has more running but they can improve. But if Spain and Monaco are also Mercedes beat downs I think all bets are off. Luca will be moaning louder than the new engines.
      
      If I were Paddy Lowe I might be making sure that the true pace of the cars is not shown again. If HAM and ROS have another all-out pedal to the metal fight and lap up to the podium in China people will converge at the Mercedes garage with pitchforks and Luca himself will strap Paddy to a Catherine Wheel.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
6th April 2014, 22:26

Mercedes is magic, Ferrari is tragic.

Without the safety car, both FIAT’s would have been lapped by the WO5’s.
1. 72defender (@72defender)
  6th April 2014, 22:29
  
  +1
2. Ian Wilkins (@capt-wilko)
  6th April 2014, 23:40
  
  I would love to have seen luca di montezemolo’s face if that happened!
  1. David BR2
    6th April 2014, 23:47
    
    Or hear Alonso’s radio when it does! Because if Mercedes start to get pushed by some of the other teams and open up their full potential, Ferrari just now look like they’re going to get swept away.
    
    A serious waste of Alonso’s talent.
3. atta
  7th April 2014, 9:56
  
  Heh and to think we all thought Red Bull were going to kill the sport with their domination!
  1. Jonathan189 (@jonathan189)
    7th April 2014, 10:17
    
    It was widely known that Mercedes was putting together an awesome power unit for 2014. That’s why Hamilton signed for them at the end of 2012, when (on results alone) the team seemed to be going nowhere.
JKorz
6th April 2014, 22:38

Does anyone know if Rosberg got fastest lap with double DRS ?
Hamiltons fastest lap only 0.088 slower than that both set on lap 49.
I’m watching BBC highlights now currently on lap 25 .
1. Kingshark (@kingshark)
  6th April 2014, 22:54
  
  Yes, Rosberg’s fastest lap was with DRS but also in Hamilton’s turbulent air.
2. George (@george)
  7th April 2014, 0:26
  
  Yeah if anything Rosberg could probably have gone faster if he weren’t behind Hamilton.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
6th April 2014, 22:43

What an utterly fantastic car. I don’t believe anyone has held such a big advantage since McLaren at the begining of 1998.
1. Mashiat (@)
  7th April 2014, 2:25
  
  Ferrari in 2002 and 2004!
2. DeX
  7th April 2014, 16:17
  
  1988 when Senna and Prost raced.
Damonw
6th April 2014, 22:44

Obviously the ultimate performance of the Mercedes is nowhere near that much ahead as qualifying showed.
1. Kingshark (@kingshark)
  6th April 2014, 22:56
  
  Contrary to 2011-13, the WO5 is better in the race than in qualifying. They have better tyre wear + fuel management than RBR.
  1. Damonw
    6th April 2014, 23:42
    
    Yeah the race pace of the Mercedes is bigger than its ultimate pace, but don’t forget this is one of the biggest fuel saving circuits of the year.
    
    Who cares if they are this dominant anyway because I’d rather see two drivers evenly matched going at it hammer and tong than see Vettel run away with no challengers.
    1. zippyone (@zippyone)
      7th April 2014, 12:03
      
      Are they evenly matched though? Last race Lewis finished some 17 s head of Nico when Nico had the setup wrong, this race Lewis said he got the setup wrong and was slower than Nico, yet he held him off when we all thought Nico would just breeze past him.
      
      But obviously they have no real challenge so should finish 1st and 2nd barring no problems so in terms of points it should be close.
      1. DeX
        7th April 2014, 16:21
        
        I think Lewis was faster than Nico all weekend. P1,p2,p3, q1, just an error in Q3.
        Then he was ahead at both tyre changes and won the race!
Cosmas (@cosmas)
6th April 2014, 22:52

This domination is bigger than brawn in early 2009 and williams in 92-93.
In 2009 at least the double diffusers could be copied by the others to try to catch them.
I can imagine anything closing that gap other than some freeing in engine development.
In RBs (previous 4y) case the time dif was much closer, still FIA made the frong wing defflection test more strictly, banned blown diffusers and extreme engine mapings..etc which would weaken them.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
6th April 2014, 23:09

Vettel’s fastest lap was on lap 18 already, and Kvyat’s on lap 12 – how did that happen?
1. Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
  7th April 2014, 10:16
  
  @mike-dee
  
  Some of the fastest laps have happened a bit earlier in the races this year, i can think of two possible reasons. 1) They are carrying less fuel at the start, so the weight penalty is reduced and times should be more consistent between the start and the end. 2) Because of the battery storage, and turbo boost, the difference between coasting speed and maximum speed is exaggerated. So it could be that the first pit stop window is where a lot of fastest laps occur, because the cars will be saving energy for it, then temporarily sprinting to gain track position. This didn’t happen during the second round of pit stops (for some runners) because of the safety car.
2. Yoshisune (@yobo01)
  7th April 2014, 10:18
  
  @mike-dee According to Ted Kravitz Vettel had problems with the MGU-H in the second half of the race, so maybe that’s why his fastest lap was so early in the race.
Akin Aslan (@hamfanatic)
6th April 2014, 23:24

I think Lewis is a bit harsh on his self here, I strongly believe that he was also the faster guy. He was matching rosberg on what they say was six and a half tenth slower tyre. Not mentioning his 10 sec lead before the safety car. I also saw a very very very bitter (cocky) rosberg in the interviews, he was verry arrogant and was more trying to convince himself that he was faster.
1. Dan
  6th April 2014, 23:36
  
  Agree completely does Nico no why he is leading the WC? He makes me laugh saying im still in lead the only diff was maybe Nico had better life on tyres this weekend that was all.
2. JKorz
  6th April 2014, 23:43
  
  Yes what a joke..
  Rosberg thinks he was faster because he got fastest lap and qualified 1st?!
  Nico had double DRS and the better tyre and was only 0.088 quicker.
  I like to think Lewis understands the advantage of letting your teammate think he is faster than you when he isn’t, but I’m not sure..
  
  Shame Maldonaldo put his ugly stamp on another race, might have been more interesting to see if Rosberg could get anyway near Hamilton after the pit stops, and how their times in fresh air compared either way Lewis reinforced his superiority in my opinion.
  
  I wonder how far into the season and what kind of advantage is required to give one of them the nod for team orders, today was classic exciting racing but also very risky and if you consider the consequences was it worth it? They can try and pretend that Paddy Lowes message wasn’t team orders but didn’t several people in Merc confirm they both defied the order?
  1. JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
    7th April 2014, 11:23
    
    “Double DRS” – are you suggesting Nico had more DRS than anyone else trying to overtake?
3. OOliver
  7th April 2014, 6:40
  
  Lewis was kind of right, Rosberg was constrained else he would have been faster especially in the latter stages of the race. I believe Hamilton had said he had a setup issue which they tried to fix before the race but didn’t quite work.
  1. Aled Davies (@aledinho)
    7th April 2014, 9:48
    
    Rosberg was definitely the quicker during the race that’s why he was able to lap 1-1.5 secs behind Lewis in the first stint and wait to attack just before the first stops.
    
    Also there wasn’t as much a difference in lap time between the medium and soft tyres for most of the second stint Rosberg was lapping about 2-3 tenths slower than Hamilton, proving he had the quicker car.
    
    It would have been good to see how their different strategies had played out without the safety car but you have to think that if the roles had been reversed and Hamilton was behind Nico on quicker tires with 10 laps to go that Lewis would have won that one!
    
    I think therein lies the small difference between the drivers, Hamilton won a race he shouldn’t have yesterday.
    1. Akin Aslan (@hamfanatic)
      7th April 2014, 11:27
      
      Lewis was holding a 1-1.5 sec gap in the first stint untill his tyres went off. If it is as you say then rosberg should not have let Hamilton build a 10 sec gap with the soft tyre in the second stint, but Hamilton had him in the bag there and controlled degradation on the tyre which wears out quicker. The last ten laps where degradation is not any issue mere rosberg should have overtaken Hamilton but what did we see: brilliant defending and matching Rosberg s lap times. So it’s rubbish to say that he shouldn’t have won, he won for a reason
Franz
6th April 2014, 23:37

I think the name of the game here is efficiency. The W05 obviously has good aero efficiency, and their hybrid system seems more efficient so they can crank the boost up on the V6 & still get good economy. Clever design & packaging means efficient heat management, and they’ve obviously also solved their tire munching issues & have been running some of the longest stints between pit stops. The Mercedes power unit is certainly the class of the field, but as Williams, Force India & McLaren are finding out, there’s way more to it than having the best engine. Red Bull’s form backs that up. So Luca whining about engines & noise, & Horner/Dietrich whinging about fuel sensors does little to divert my attention from the fact that Mercedes are delivering on all counts. There is no silver bullet forthcoming for their rivals. There’s some serious engineering voodoo going on under that silver paint & they’d best get to the task of development & finding performance the old fashioned way instead of constant complaining and lobbying for rule changes two races into this brand new season. Chop chop lads! We want more races like today!!!
Adney Goncalves (@adney)
7th April 2014, 8:25

I always support the underdogs and this time it paid off. Loving the HULK!!!!
Pandaslap (@pandaslap)
7th April 2014, 8:59

Yes, the W05 is remarkable but the consistency of the lap times is interesting to note – and is entirely down to the drivers. There is much greater variation lap to lap and across stints in other driver/car combinations. It seems Merc has produced a car which is both superior to those of their competitors and ideally suited to their drivers – quite an accomplishment.
timi (@timi)
7th April 2014, 12:24

Phwoar, Ricciardo faster than Vettel through every stage of the race. Nice to see the new RBR Aus is adjusting nicely :)
RL
7th April 2014, 13:54

I was expecting Mercedes to be better in 2014 than they were in 2013. It’s not like the domination is coming out of nowhere, akin to Brawn in the first half of 2009. We knew they had somewhat abandoned their 2013 challenge to focus on this year. Though now that it’s arrived, the way they have shown their hand to obliterate all other challengers is astonishing.
LexBlair (@lexblair)
7th April 2014, 16:48

I hope that people are going to check out the McLarens'(especially Button‘s) times in comparison to the Force Indias’ and the Williams’……
Yep, basically no difference at all. Sucks for Button’s technical issues.
1. Palle (@palle)
  8th April 2014, 8:50
  
  Yes, You are right.
2. MALLI (@mallikarjuna)
  13th April 2014, 5:32
  
  mclaren on an avergae 0.3 sec slower dan forceindia on softs and 0.5 sec slower on medium tyres. the forceindia cars significantly lost time following williams that allowed button to close some gap, the cooler temps saved mclaren in this race .
evered7 (@evered7)
8th April 2014, 4:56

The second fastest team behind Mercedes actually seems to be Red Bull. This is not yet evident because they haven’t had a chance at fighting from the sharp end of the field. Melbourne was a sample but Ricciardo seems faster than every other racer bar Mercedes.
Ferrari seem to be painfully slow but they have been bad at Bahrain for a few years now yet they actually mix it up with the Merc teams except for outright speed.

I am not telling that they will be able to challenge the Mercs anytime soon but the fight for second spot will be between RB and Ferrari once the dust settles. If Ferrari can fully derive all the power from their power unit, that is.
1. Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
  8th April 2014, 8:09
  
  I think Redbull were maybe more hindered than most with fuel issues in this race, which would explain why they were not making much progress until after the safety car (being on the soft tyre for last stint helped aswell ofc). It would make sense, if the Renault is less efficient (compared to the Mercedes engine anyway).
Marth308
8th April 2014, 9:56

The Mercedes engine is clearly an evolutionary change to Turbo’s and could signal a real problem for F1. If Ferrari and Renault can’t modify their engine next season due to homogulation rules, and if Honda can’t change their design in 8 months, both of which seem tall orders, what’s the point of turning up to a GP if you don’t have a Mercedes engine? Furthermore if your Alonso or the others why bother turning up to be humiliated for the next few years. Best to leave now. Might have been an exciting 10 laps, but it might have been the bell tolling for F1.