Hamilton strolls to Bahrain victory

Lewis Hamilton has won his third race of the season, with a flawless performance to claim victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Englishman survived a late brake problem to hold off Kimi Raikkonen in second, and his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg, in third.

Raikkonen ran an alternative strategy to Mercedes by running the medium tyre through the middle of the race, which allowed him to catch them quickly at the end on the much faster softs.

His pressure caused Rosberg to run wide into turn one on the penultimate lap, and the Finn pounced.

His Ferrari team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, had a disappointing race as he was forced to pit for a new front wing and eventually finished fifth behind Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton controlled the race from the front, as he maintained a healthy lead over those behind and managed his tyres expertly.

He benefited from the performance of Rosberg, who jostled with the Ferrari's all afternoon. The German will be frustrated with third place, after he gave his best performance of the season.

The ex-Williams driver fell from third to fourth on the opening lap, but he pulled off two brave overtakes on Vettel and Raikkonen to sit second at the first round of stops.

Vettel managed to get ahead of him again through the pit window by executing the under-cut, but Rosberg pulled off another stunning move to regain the place.

Vettel, again, nudged ahead of him after the second round of stops but he ran wide at the final corner and damaged his front wing as Rosberg lined up another move.

Further down the field, Daniel Ricciardo scored some solid points for Red Bull in sixth, while Romain Grosjean finished seventh for Lotus. They were followed home by Sergio Pérez in eighth and Daniil Kvyat in ninth.

Felipe Massa scored the final point in 10th, after he started from the pit lane as he car failed to launch off the line. The Brazilian was involved in an entertaining scrap with Pastor Maldonado, as the pair exited the pitlane level with one another. Maldonado had the inside line into the first corner and took the place.

Massa went on to finish ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was the sole McLaren driver in the race as Jenson Button failed to make the start due. Engine issues severely hampered Button's entire weekend, but he will be pleased to see the car's performance improved once again this weekend.

See 2015 Bahrain grand prix race results.

See 2015 F1 Championship standings.

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