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Bahrain delivers a thriller in the nick of time

Sky F1's Martin Brundle on why Bahrain was one of the best races he has ever seen and the 'scary' advantage of the Mercedes W05

The 2014 Bahrain GP was one of the best races I've ever had the privilege of commentating on. It was an absolute thriller.

When I was asked immediately after the race to name my driver of the day, my instinctive reaction was to identify Daniel Ricciardo. I'll stick with that. Through no fault of his own, Daniel has endured a miserable start to the year but on Sunday he did an incredible job to go from 13th on the grid to fourth. Along the way he made some sweet moves and topped it off by nailing his World Champion team-mate with ten laps to go. It was an outstanding performance from the Red Bull driver. As Hamilton and Rosberg slugged it out for the win, we finally got to see what the Mercedes W05 is really capable of and, for the rest, the answer was scary. Over the last 11 laps when the car was let off the leash, the Mercedes was lapping around two seconds faster than everyone else. But it was also interesting to see how much pace Red Bull had during the final stages when there was no longer any need to worry about saving fuel and Ricciardo passed Nico Hulkenberg before nearly chasing down Sergio Perez for the final podium spot. That suggests to me that the Renault is lacking efficiency rather than being down on power. As for the drivers, I'm sure they are missing the scalextric-like downforce levels they've been enjoying for the last couple of years. But some of the action they produced this week, especially through Turns Four and Five, was simply breathtaking. After watching them from trackside and appreciating the work they are having to do behind the wheel now, I suspect we will look back in a few years' time and revere them for driving through this era. MB

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