Monday cover: Lewis Hamilton’s reign unchallenged in Bahrain

The National's Sport cover for the Monday, April 20 issue, featuring Lewis Hamilton as he won his third race of the Formula One season at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Having now taken three of the four grands prix this year, Hamilton has built an already-commanding lead on Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. The world champion now has 93 points to Rosberg’s 66 and Sebastian Vettel’s 65.

Writes Graham Caygill of the win:

“But Hamilton’s luck was well and truly yesterday at the Bahrain International Circuit as a brake problem, which hampered his speed considerably, came on the last of the 57 laps of the race.

“While he slowed, it was not enough to deny him the 36th victory of his Formula One career and the third of the season, as he finished three seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

“Losing the win would have been cruel on Hamilton who again dominated the race in his Mercedes, showing strong speed when needed, and looking after his tyres well when all he had to do was control the gap to his rivals.

“It is is already looking ominous for the rest of the field with Hamilton taking a 27-point lead over Rosberg to the first European race of the season in Spain on May 10, and his teammate and the Ferrari drivers need to spend the next three weeks finding a way to beat the Briton if they are not to prevent this becoming an one-sided affair.”

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