World champion Lewis Hamilton swept to victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday for his third win in the first four races of the Formula One season.
The Mercedes driver led from pole and but for pit stops kept his lead at the Sakhir circuit to take the chequered flag, 3.380 seconds ahead of Ferarri's Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen took advantage of a late brake problem by Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes, who under pressure from the Finn ran wide at turn one with two laps remaining.
Raikkonen was on the podium for the first time for Ferrari since the Italian Grand Prix in 2009 while Rosberg had to make do with third place.
Valtteri Bottas in a Williams finished fourth, holding off the challenge of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth in a Red Bull with the engine blowing up as he left the last turn, while Romain Grosjean in a Lotus was seventh, ahead Sergio Perez (Force India), Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) and Felipe Massa, who started last from the pits after an electrical problem with his Williams.
Hamilton defended the lead from pole ahead of Vettel, while Raikkonen got ahead of Rosberg at the start for third place.
Rosberg fought back to overtake Raikkonen on lap four, and five laps later made a similar pass on the same turn on Vettel to move second.
Rosberg repeated the pass on Vettel on the same turn to go second again after the Ferrari driver had emerged back in front following the first pit stops.
Hamilton was just over two seconds up on Rosberg around the halfway mark, with Vettel and Raikkonen both looking a threat in third and fourth respectively.
Rosberg was again behind Vettel after a second pit stop by the Mercedes driver on the 35th lap. However a mistake by Vettel running wide on the final turn allowed Rosberg to get in front on the straight a lap later.
Vettel soon had to pit for a new front wing, ending the four-time champion's hopes of a podium finish.
Raikkonen led for a while until a later pit stop after 41 of the 57 laps, with Hamilton then some 4.5 seconds up on teammate Rosberg.
Raikkonen had a fresh set of soft tyres for his last stint to enable him to close the gap on Rosberg.
Although the advantage from the tyres was beginning to wear off, Raikkonen got close enough to attack with two laps remaining, and managed to get past when Rosberg went wide on turn one.
Hamilton meanwhile was never under real pressure but also appeared to suffer a brake problem towards the end as he chalked up the 36th grand prix win of his career.
McLaren's Jenson Button pulled out shortly before the start following a technical problem. McLaren started with Felipe Alonso 14th on the grid, with the Spaniard ending the race 11th.
The win takes Hamilton to 93 points in the drivers' standings, with Rosberg on 66, Vettel on 65 and Raikkonen on 42.
