Hamilton arrived with a 13-point lead in the standings over Sebastian Vettel after his victory in China the previous weekend. Tensions within the Mercedes camp had surfaced after that race, with Rosberg accusing Hamilton of deliberately backing him into the charging Ferraris. The team warned both drivers that it would manage their racing if the situation was not resolved.
Hamilton took his 42nd career pole position with a time of 1:32.571, his fourth successive pole. Vettel qualified second for Ferrari, ahead of Rosberg on the third position. Kimi Räikkönen was fourth. Jenson Button was unable to set a qualifying time due to McLaren-Honda power unit problems; the stewards allowed him to start based on satisfactory practice times, but his car failed again before the formation lap and he did not start.
Felipe Massa's Williams stalled on the formation lap and started from the pit lane. Hamilton held his lead at the start while Räikkönen moved around the outside into third. Rosberg took third back from Räikkönen on lap 4 and passed Vettel at the end of lap 9. As pit stops began, Ferrari used an undercut strategy on lap 14 to bring Vettel in early; Rosberg pitted one lap later and emerged behind the Ferrari. Hamilton stopped on lap 16, came out ahead of the Rosberg-Vettel battle, and Rosberg passed Vettel on the main straight to secure second.
Räikkönen ran a longer first stint on medium compound tyres while the leading group used softs, then after his own stop continued to close on the Mercedes pair ahead. On the final scheduled stops, Vettel ran wide on lap 36 exiting the final corner, letting Rosberg past and sustaining front wing damage that required an unscheduled stop, dropping him to fifth. Räikkönen made his second stop on lap 40, switching to soft tyres, and ran the final 17 laps at well over a second per lap faster than the two Mercedes ahead. Rosberg, suffering brake overheating throughout, outbraked himself at turn one on lap 56 — with one lap to go — and Räikkönen drove past to take second. Hamilton crossed the line first in 1 hour 35 minutes 5.809 seconds, 3.380 seconds ahead of Räikkönen and 6.033 seconds ahead of Rosberg, despite also encountering brake difficulties in the final laps.
Valtteri Bottas was fourth for Williams ahead of Vettel, who recovered from his unscheduled stop to fifth. Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull coasted across the finish line sixth on its last stroke before the engine expired on the start-finish straight.
As in previous years, protests occurred outside the circuit highlighting the political situation in Bahrain and calling for the release of political prisoners. One week before the race, Amnesty International published a report on human rights violations in the country. Formula One issued a statement ahead of the 2015 grand prix committing to respecting human rights in countries where it conducts business — a shift described by observers as a reversal from the previously stated position of executive Bernie Ecclestone.
Hamilton led the drivers' championship with 93 points, ahead of Rosberg on 66 and Vettel on 65. Räikkönen's podium moved him to 42 points. In the constructors' standings, Mercedes led on 159 points, with Ferrari second on 107.
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