The lights are out, and the sand dunes await the Formula One circus ahead of the third round of the 2014 Formula One season. Join The Roar for live race coverage from 1:00am (AEST) Monday April 7.
With a short turnaround from last week’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the teams will be out to improve as much as they can in the short timeframe.
Lewis Hamilton ran away with the victory, leading teammate Nico Rosberg to a Mercedes 1-2 finish, their first as a constructor since the 1951 Italian Grand Prix.
In fact, it was their first double-podium since returning as a constructor in 2010, and everyone will be out to see if they can continue their winning ways in Bahrain.
The teams will know this track very well for a variety of reasons, due to the venue hosting two of the three pre-season tests over the European winter.
However, this is also the 10th anniversary of the Bahrain Grand Prix, and this year, it has been organised as a night race, so teams will need to take note of cooler conditions, with temperatures forecast to be in the low-to-mid 20C range, compared to the usual mid-to-high 30C temperatures expected in the past.
This isn’t the only milestone of the Bahrain GP, as it will also be the 900th World Championship event.
It’s amazing to see where this category has gone in the past 64 years.
The track itself is similar to Sepang, a few long straights, fast corners that flower into each other, as well as a couple that head into tighter exits, and an opening corner sequence that slows the cars right down, and possibly presents itself with the best overtaking opportunity during the race.
Meanwhile, Pirelli have softened the tyre compounds from last year’s race, bringing in the medium (white) and soft (yellow) compound tyres, compared to last year’s selection of the hard and medium compound.
Red Bull have shown increased pace over the opening two rounds, even with Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification and retirement, to add to Sebastian Vettel’s retirement in Melbourne.
Ricciardo will start the race with a ten place grid penalty in Bahrain, due to his team’s unsafe release in the race at Malaysia.
Vettel will be looking to show that the Red Bull team is as strong as it has been perceived to be in the opening two races, which is a big step up from their pre-season form.
Williams and Ferrari are aiming to get onto the podium for the first time this season, while McLaren will also be looking to get their boys back on the rostrum.
Lotus will be looking to improve their reliability, with only one finish from both their drivers over the opening two races, as they may be fighting back the likes of Caterham and Marussia as they battle for their first points of the season.
Join The Roar from 12:30am (AEST) as we cover the build-up, before the lights go out at 1:00am (AEST).
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
The next race will be in Shanghai, with the Chinese Grand Prix falling on Easter Sunday this year, April 20, a 5pm AEST race start, which means being able to sleep next Sunday night. Thanks for following us here on the Roar, hope you enjoyed the race. I know I certainly did.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
That was a very exciting end to the race, with the Safety Car certainly spicing things up in the fight to the finish. Once Hamilton took the lead on the opening lap, he fought very well defensively to keep ahead of Rosberg to take the victory. Even Niki Lauda said that was one of the best races he had seen. In terms of the battle at the front, I'd find it very had to not agree with to some extent. The Mercedes drivers both fought hard, and fair, and Mercedes allowance to let them race definitely enthralled the fans.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Of course, with the Ricciardo appeal this week, Red Bull could jump up to second place next week.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
As for the Constructor's standings: Mercedes 111 Force India 44 McLaren 43 Red Bull 35 Ferrari 33 Williams 30 Toro Rosso 7
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
After the provisional results, here are the championship standings: Rosberg 61 Hamilton 50 Hulkenberg 28 Alonso 26 Button 23 Vettel 23 Magnussen 20 Bottas 18 Perez 16 Ricciardo 12 Massa 12 Raikkonen 7 Vergne 4 Kvyat 3 Of course, this could change if Ricciardo is re-instated with his 2nd place from Melbourne on his appeal next week, which would move him up to third place.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Rosberg is now just 11 points clear of Hamilton in the championship standings, as Mercedes keep their stranglehold on the Constructor's trophy, after just 3 races.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Rosberg says that he is disappointed in finishing behind Hamilton again, but that it was definitely the most exciting race during his career. Perez is very pleased to be back on the podium, in only his third race with Force India.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
While Ricciardo may have fallen just 0.4 second short, we do get an Aussie on the podium, with AC/DC's Brian Johnson interviewing the drivers on the podium. Lewis Hamilton says he is proud to be the winner of the 900th GP, and that it was very, very hard to keep Rosberg behind, as he was quicker on the option tyre, and was on knife-edge through the end of the race.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
The drivers are presented with their trophies, as they get the Rosewater out. Of course, alcohol is prohibited in Bahrain, thus no champagne on the podium.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Sergio Perez' third placed finish is Force India's second podium finish; their first since Giancarlo Fisichella's determined efforts at Spa in 2009.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Despite the tense battle, the two Mercedes drivers seem pleased with themselves. "That was so close," laughed Hamilton. "No one can tell me that this sport is boring!!" Rosberg said on the slow down lap, obviously delighted with the result, even though he did come up second best.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 57 Button, Magnussen, Gutierrez, Ericsson, Vergne and Sutil all retired from the race. With 16 cars finishing the race, all the talk of struggling to have 10 cars finish races just seems like bollocks after three races.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 57 Kvyat, Grosjean, Chilton, Maldonado, Kobayashi and Bianchi round out the rest of the finishers, as the fireworks go off above the floodlit circuit.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 57 Hulkenberg comes home in 5th, followed by Vettel, Massa, Bottas, Alonso and Raikkonen rounding out the points positions.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 57 Hamilton takes the chequered flag to seal a back-to-back Mercedes 1-2 finish! Perez hangs on to third place ahead of Ricciardo, who gets back onto the podium after failing to impress at McLaren last year. Ricciardo has put in a stellar drive to take 4th place after starting in 13th, even sending a message to Vettel with a superb move to get past him after the restart.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 57 Ricciardo is right behind Perez going into Turn 10, but looks to be too far behind to get onto the poduim.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 57 With Rosberg nowhere to be seen into the first corner for the final time, it seems that Hamilton has this race sewn up.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 56 Rosberg gets back into the 1 second gap that he needs for DRS, but is still unable to make a move on Hamilton. Massa tries to get past Vettel into Turn 4, but runs that little bit too wide to make the move stick.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 55 HAM ROS PER RIC HUL VET BOT MAS ALO RAI Hamilton gets himself out of the DRS gap, but only just. Ricciardo is half a second quicker than Perez, but Perez is told that Ricciardo won't catch him at that rate. Button is seen slowing down, and seems to be out of his 250th GP.
Nicholas Belardo
Roar Guru
Lap 54 Hamilton has a better exit through the final corner, meaning Rosberg cannot make the move into Turn 1. Ricciardo takes 4th position from Hulkenberg through Turns 11 and 12, as Hulkenberg runs wide.