Why the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix was the first to run under floodlights

Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix from second on the grid, passing his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in a race that started in the evening at Sakhir. The race was the first in Bahrain to run after dark and the third round of the season. The win was Hamilton's second of 2014 and the 24th of his career.

Why did Bahrain move the race into the evening?

Organisers made the race an evening event after testing floodlights at the 2013 6 Hours of Bahrain. Sunday is a working day in the country, so a late start drew larger crowds, and the lighting investment made night racing the norm for every Bahrain Grand Prix from then on.

Martin Whitmarsh, then a former McLaren team principal, first revealed the plan in October 2013. Organisers confirmed it a month later, presenting the night slot as a way to mark ten years since the event first ran.

On 5 April 2014 the circuit chairman, Zayed Al Zayani, confirmed that the race would stay at night in future seasons. The decision was commercial as much as technical, because the evening slot made the event work on a day when most of the country was at work.

The first floodlit start in Bahrain arrived in the same week as a call to cancel the race.

What was the political backdrop to the race?

Bahraini human rights groups asked the FIA in January 2014 to suspend the race while its Ethics Committee examined the effect on human rights. According to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, no reply came. On the Friday before the race, thousands of people rallied in Manama against the Grand Prix and the government, and clashes with police followed.

The race went ahead as scheduled, and the sporting story played out inside the circuit while the argument continued outside it.

Where did the championship stand going into Bahrain?

Nico Rosberg led the drivers' championship with 43 points going into Bahrain, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Jenson Button was fourth on 23 points, three ahead of McLaren teammate Kevin Magnussen, who was fifth in the table.

The constructors' table was more lopsided. Mercedes led on 68 points, McLaren were second on 43, and Ferrari were third on 30. Williams (20) and Force India (19) were fighting over fourth.

Hamilton was chasing his first win at the circuit, while Rosberg said he enjoyed the track and hoped to build on his recent form. Hamilton said he expected the race to leave his relationship with Rosberg unaffected. Rosberg accepted it could change as the season went on, pointing out that the pair had battled for a championship in go-karts.

Red Bull's Christian Horner expected the power of both Mercedes cars to count, because Bahrain is a power-dominated circuit. He also feared the hot climate would hurt his team, although Red Bull planned to make progress over the weekend.

Who made their first appearances of the season?

Three drivers ran a Formula One car for the first time that year in the opening practice session. Felipe Nasr drove in place of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, Giedo van der Garde took over the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez, and Robin Frijns used Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham.

There were 11 teams in all, each fielding two race drivers. The three substitutions were the only changes to the line-up before the race started.

How did qualifying set up the front of the grid?

Nico Rosberg took pole with a lap of 1:33.185 in the third qualifying session, the fifth pole of his career. Lewis Hamilton lined up beside him after locking his brakes on his final timed lap, which flat-spotted his tyres and ended the attempt.

The grid had a twist behind them. Daniel Ricciardo qualified third but took a ten-place penalty for an unsafe pit release at the previous round in Malaysia, which promoted Valtteri Bottas into third. Sergio Perez was fourth, Kimi Raikkonen fifth after medium tyre problems, and Jenson Button sixth in his 250th Grand Prix.

Further back, Adrian Sutil dropped five places after the stewards found he had impeded Romain Grosjean. Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest driver outside the final session, but he went wide over the exit kerb at turn 11 and lost the time he needed. Marcus Ericsson qualified 20th after brake locking and an energy recovery problem slowed him.

Practice, track limits and the turn four kerb

Practice produced its own trouble. Hamilton set the fastest times in both Friday sessions, 1:37.502 in the first and 1:34.325 in the second, which was held in cooler weather.

The turn four kerb caused most of the trouble. Pastor Maldonado landed on it and damaged his car, and Max Chilton lost control at the same corner after a front-left brake disc failed. Several drivers complained, the kerb was removed, and the FIA race director Charlie Whiting wrote to every team to say track limits would be enforced strictly.

Vettel also had a bad session. He spun at the exit of turn two and beached his car in the gravel, missing the final 20 minutes of the session. Rosberg was reprimanded by the stewards after slowing through turns 13 and 14, forcing Perez to swerve, while Gutierrez escaped a penalty for impeding Massa in the same area.

Hamilton also set the fastest time of the final session at 1:35.324, ahead of Rosberg and Perez.

How did the race start and open up?

Hamilton got the better launch, moving ahead of Rosberg into the first corner. Massa made the best start of the field and climbed from seventh to third by the end of the opening lap, while Rosberg tried the outside at turn four and was held off. At the end of lap one, Hamilton led his teammate by one second.

Contact came early. Alonso passed his Ferrari teammate Raikkonen on the inside at the first turn and touched Magnussen, leaving minor bodywork damage. At turn eight, Vergne was squeezed by Maldonado, the two cars collided, and Vergne limped into the pits with a punctured right-rear tyre, rear wing damage and floor damage. He lost eight places on that first lap alone.

Hulkenberg passed Alonso on lap four by braking later into the first corner. Ricciardo then moved to the outside of Magnussen and took 11th on lap 11, and Perez attacked Massa into the fourth turn to take third on the next lap.

Williams were harder on their tyres than the cars around them. Massa came under pressure from Perez, while Button closed on Bottas and then battled him around the inside at turn one, moving in front through the following corner.

Which drivers lost the most ground in the opening half?

Vettel and Bianchi lost the most ground in the opening half of the race, though for different reasons. Vettel's DRS stopped working and Daniel Ricciardo caught him by lap 15, while Bianchi's floor damage cost him downforce for the rest of the race. Sutil also stopped at the corner with a puncture.

Bianchi's trouble began with the contact at turn one. A right-rear puncture sent him into the pit lane for a replacement wheel, and the damaged floor left his car hard to control for the remainder of the race. Sutil's stop came after his second collision with Bianchi, and debris was left on the track.

Ricciardo defended his place from Kvyat, who tried the inside at turn four. Later, Red Bull ordered Vettel to hand sixth to Ricciardo after Ricciardo radioed that both cars were losing time. Vettel gave the place back immediately.

Strategy, tyre wear and the safety car

Pirelli brought two dry compounds to Sakhir, the soft option and the medium prime. The drag reduction system had two activation zones, one on the straight between turns 10 and 11 and one on the start-finish straight.

Tyre wear shaped the middle of the race. Both Williams cars, both Ferraris and Magnussen were forced from two stops to three because of high tyre wear. Button, Magnussen's teammate, looked after his rubber well enough to stay with two stops.

Rosberg chose to save fuel after failing to retake the lead on the opening laps. Once he had saved enough, he had more power available for an attack. He used DRS down the pit straight and briefly got past Hamilton by braking late on the inside into turn one, but he ran slightly wide, and Hamilton immediately took the place back.

Hamilton then extended his gap over Rosberg for 22 laps until an incident between Maldonado and Esteban Gutierrez brought out the safety car. The restart put Rosberg straight back onto Hamilton's gearbox, but he could not find a way past, and Hamilton held the place to the finish as his teammate's soft tyres wore down.

Race details at a glance

Who finished on the podium and what did it mean for the standings?

Hamilton won, Rosberg was second and Perez third, with Hulkenberg fifth. The result cut Rosberg's championship lead over Hamilton to 11 points. Mercedes stretched their constructors' advantage to 68 points over Force India, who moved up to second in the table.

Hulkenberg rose from sixth to third in the drivers' standings on the back of his fifth-place finish, a strong return for a team that had been chasing the leaders all season.

McLaren were third in the constructors' table, with Red Bull and Ferrari fourth and fifth. With 16 races still to run, the gap between the two Mercedes drivers was small enough to change hands again within a single weekend.

Why does the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix still get discussed?

It is remembered for two reasons. It was the first night race in Bahrain, and it went ahead while rights groups argued it should be suspended. Those two threads are hard to separate when people look back at the weekend today.

The night format is the lasting practical change. Organisers tied evening racing to the calendar, since the Sunday slot suited crowds and the floodlights were already in place. The schedule was presented as a settled decision for the seasons that followed. The lighting had already passed a trial at the 2013 6 Hours of Bahrain before that decision was confirmed.

The protests are the part that tends to attract the most attention. The call for suspension, the rally in Manama and the clashes with police all came in the same week as the first floodlit start, so the sporting story and the political story arrived together and have stayed linked.