20 Apr 2015

Hamilton pleased with "Sunday drive"

10:49 am on 20 April 2015

The motor racing champion Lewis Hamilton has made it three wins from four races on this year's Formula One circuit with victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Hamilton came home 3.3 seconds clear of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen who stole second from Nico Rosberg when the second Mercedes driver suffered a braking problem on the penultimate lap.

It was Raikkonen's first appearance on the podium since 2013, when the Finn was at Lotus, and first for Ferrari since 2009.

Hamilton led throughout to increase his lead in the drivers championship to 27 points over Mercedes teammate Rosberg.

The defending Formula One world champion was pleased with his performance.

"It was a good weekend, a good day in the office, a good Sunday drive today hahaha. No it was pretty hard actually, the Ferrari's were really quick, Nico [Rosberg] was really quick, I wasn't able to pull the gaps as I would have hoped but generally it was under control."

Finland's Valtteri Bottas finished fourth for Williams with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel fifth after starting on the front row but suffering front wing problems.

Britain's Jenson Button did not start the race at all, due to electrical problems in the Honda power unit, while his Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso finished 11th.