Lewis Hamilton Wins Bahrain GP, but Ferrari's Pace Ominous for Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg was prepared for another wheel-to-wheel battle at Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix—he just expected it to be with his Mercedes team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, rather than the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

Instead, Hamilton was able to maintain a steady gap in front of the chasers and never really seemed threatened as he cruised to his third victory in four Formula One races this season.

At the same race last year, Hamilton and Rosberg had waged a thrilling back-and-forth fight, with the Brit ultimately taking the chequered flag. In preparation for Sunday's race, Rosberg watched that video again, looking for an edge over Hamilton, per ESPN.com's Laurence Edmondson. If he did pick up any tricks, he never got to use them, ending the race third and behind Raikkonen.

Starting from third on the grid, behind Hamilton and Vettel, Rosberg made an aggressive move into Turn 1 but got stuck behind Vettel, allowing Raikkonen to pass him on the outside. That first corner set the tone for the race, as Hamilton quickly pulled away and Rosberg spent most of the evening at the Sakhir circuit fighting off the scarlet Italian cars.

Hassan Ammar/Associated Press

Rosberg did show off his race craft, executing decisive passes on both Ferraris, including a spectacular-looking (but DRS-assisted) manoeuvre on Vettel as Hamilton rejoined the track following his first pit stop. With sparks flying in the Bahraini night, Rosberg used every inch of the track as he moved to the inside for Turn 1. As the two drivers braked, they almost touched wheels, but Rosberg managed to slide through.

The mere fact that he was racing the Ferraris on equal terms, though, must be worrying for the Mercedes brass. All weekend—and ever since Vettel's surprise win in Malaysia—Mercedes have been touting them as a legitimate threat.

"Yes, they've caught us by surprise—but I hope not with our pants down," Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff told the official F1 website on Saturday. "They have strongly and impressively developed their 2015 car. This is where Ferrari should be. A big battle with them is a challenge we are very keen to take on." 

Mark Baker/Associated Press

Hamilton and Rosberg were comfortably in first and second when Raikkonen emerged from a late pit stop with 17 laps remaining and began reeling in Rosberg. 

Television viewers heard Rosberg's race engineer, Tony Ross, tell his driver that Raikkonen was coming and provide updates on the Finn's progress until Rosberg cut him off, saying, "Please don't tell me the gap anymore." At that point, Rosberg was perhaps regretting his wish from the Australian Grand Prix post-race press conference for Ferrari to offer a stiffer challenge to Mercedes.

With two laps remaining, Rosberg ran too deep into Turn 1, allowing Raikkonen to get past and into second place. Rosberg's mistake was reminiscent of errors he made under pressure in Italy and Russia last year, although on the podium he said it was a brake problem—something Hamilton seemed to suffer from at the end of the race, as well.

Brake problem or not, though, Rosberg cannot spend his races battling with the Ferraris if he hopes to pry the drivers' title away from Hamilton. The season is just over one-fifth complete, but it already feels like Hamilton—now 27 points clear of his team-mate—has one hand clenched around the championship trophy.

Dating back to last season, he has now won nine of the last 11 grands prix and finished ahead of Rosberg in all but one of those races. Even Rosberg's one advantage last year—qualifying—has now been usurped by Hamilton, who has been on pole for all four races this season.

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Meanwhile, Ferrari continue to improve. Had Vettel not made a mistake while fighting with Rosberg, necessitating an extra pit stop for a new front wing, he likely would have finished on the podium as well, bumping Rosberg down to fourth.

Once again, Ferrari's ability to manage their tyres, along with a different strategy choice, paid off. While Mercedes opted to save their harder medium tyres for the final pit stop, Raikkonen did a fantastic, long middle stint on medium tyres, allowing him to sprint to the finish on the quicker soft-compound tyres and pass Rosberg in the process.

In the post-race press conference, Hamilton was uncomfortable with a question about whether he was pleased that Raikkonen had taken points away from Rosberg. Although he wouldn't admit it, Hamilton must be happy to have a race victory (and then some) in his pocket. Now, even a DNF combined with a Rosberg win would not bump Hamilton from the top spot in the drivers' championship.

If Ferrari keep closing the gap, Mercedes may be forced to try splitting their race strategies to give them the best chance to continue winning. At that point, as NBC's Will Buxton wrote on his blog, "one of their drivers might have to bite the bullet and accept de facto No. 2 status. And that won’t be Lewis Hamilton."

That is the future Rosberg faces if he cannot take the fight to Hamilton. And, so far this year, he has shown no indication he can.

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