5 things we learned from Bahrain Grand Prix

04 April 2016 09:23

Nico Rosberg followed up his triumph in Australia with another victory in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. Here, Press Association looks at five talking points from the second round of the championship.

1. After his rather tepid showing last year, this is exactly the start Rosberg required to take the title challenge to Lewis Hamilton in 2016. Following on from his Melbourne cruise, Rosberg benefited from Hamilton's opening-corner collision to open up a 17-point lead in the championship. While Rosberg faced little threat to his lead - Kimi Raikkonen was not a match for the Mercedes, while Hamilton limped home in his damaged car - the German's display was nevertheless a competent one, and his win will provide him with the confidence that this really could be his year. Rosberg has now won five races on the bounce - a streak which stretches back to last season - and only three other drivers in the history of the sport (Sebastian Vettel, Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher) have managed more. Promising signs, indeed.

2. Hamilton insists he is not flustered by his winless run - which now goes back to October's United States Grand Prix - and experience surely tells us that he need not worry. He has started both of the opening races on pole - his record-breaking lap on Saturday in Bahrain was nothing short of spectacular - yet two successive sluggish race starts have cost him dearly. Hamilton must get on top of the new single-paddle clutch system to prevent his poor getaways from becoming a trend rather than an anomaly .

3. Ferrari were expected to take the challenge to Mercedes this year, but could poor reliability cost them? Raikkonen, who finished second on Sunday, retired from the Australian Grand Prix with an engine blow-up, and team-mate Sebastian Vettel suffered the same fate on the parade lap in Bahrain. It marked the first time in Vettel's career that he has failed to start a race. The Italian team are already 50 points behind their rivals, but is Vettel concerned? The four-time champion said: "It is not ideal and we can't be proud of it - but we had a good preparation over the winter and we know that we can still improve."

4. Romain Grosjean and Haas - the American team competing in their debut Formula One season - continued their remarkable run in Bahrain after the Frenchman finished fifth. Haas enjoy a close relationship with Ferrari, and with Raikkonen out of contract at the end of the season, Grosjean's early success will do little harm to his chances of landing a seat with the Italian team next term. "Some people said it was career suicide," said Grosjean, who left Renault to join the newcomers this season. With a wry grin he added: "I think they were wrong."

5. FIA president Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's chief executive, chaired a crisis meeting ahead of Sunday's race about the sport's unpopular qualifying format. A new proposal, believed to be based on aggregate laps, has been tabled, which will be put to a vote later this week. But with the sport requiring a unanimous verdict, don't be surprised if the system which flopped in Australia and Bahrain remains in place for the next race in China. Referring to the current format, Raikkonen said: "People outside look at us like 'what stupid people, what are they doing?'" It is fair to say the Finn has got a point.

Source: PA