Lewis Hamilton beats Nico Rosberg in thrilling race

Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Nico Rosberg to win a breathless Bahrain Grand Prix by just one second.

A late-race safety car, deployed after Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus tipped Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber into a roll at Turn 1, turned the 57-lap race into a 10-lap sprint under floodlights in the desert.

Both drivers had gone wheel-to-wheel in the early stages, as Hamilton outdragged poleman Rosberg at the start and the German attempted to come back at his British team-mate, so they were warned to keep it clean by Mercedes boss Paddy Lowe.

They just about managed it as they scrapped mightily for the win.

Rosberg had the advantage of softer tyres for the showdown and had several stabs at passing Hamilton using DRS into the Michael Schumacher corner.

But he could not make either stick, and Hamilton prevailed on his medium tyres after some epic side-by-side racing through the esses.

Behind, Force India recorded its first podium since Spa 2009 as Sergio Perez just held off the quicker Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.

See more HERE