Hamilton and team-mate George Russell were resigned to finishing fifth and sixth, powerless to keep up with the faster cars from Ferrari and Red Bull under the Sakhir floodlights.
But following a late safety car for Pierre Gasly’s blazing AlphaTauri, a dramatic double retirement for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the closing stages meant Hamilton inherited third behind Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who clinched a 1-2 finish for Ferrari.
With Russell following Hamilton home in fourth, making good early progress through the pack after qualifying a lowly ninth, that meant Mercedes successfully completed its damage limitation quest while it is yet to get on top of its handling issues.
Hamilton said his third place finish was “the best result we could have gotten”, with Mercedes’ pre-season porpoising struggles continuing in Bahrain.
“Firstly, a big, big congratulations to Ferrari, so happy to see them do well again, that’s such a historic, epic team,” Hamilton said in parc…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Autosport.com – Formula 1 – Stories…