Vettel came out on top of a tight battle with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on Saturday, the German taking pole position by less than a tenth of a second. Mark Webber and Jenson Button lined up behind their respective teammates in third and fourth places, with Nico Rosberg managing only fifth on the grid after a making a mistake in his final timed lap. His Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher went out in Q1 after suffering a DRS failure, falling a further five places on the grid to 22nd due to a gearbox change penalty. Raikkonen also got caught out at the very end of Q2, restricting him to eleventh place on the grid.
As the lights went out, Vettel made a good start to lead the way initially, whilst Hamilton and Webber were also able to maintain their grid slots. Button on the other hand fared less well, dropping to sixth place behind the fast-starting cars of Grosjean and Fernando Alonso, whilst Raikkonen launched four places up from his grid slot to hold seventh by the end of the opening lap.
During the opening stint, both Lotus cars were able to make rapid progress. Despite being overtaken by a seemingly resurgent Felipe Massa early on, Raikkonen was able to re-pass his former Ferrari teammate on lap 5 before moving ahead of Button and Alonso by the end of his first stint. Grosjean had also dispatched Webber and Hamilton to sit in second place behind race leader Vettel prior to his first stop.
Whereas the majority of the leaders opted for the medium compound tyre for the second stint, Raikkonen instead opted for the softs, enabling him to pass Webber to move into third position on lap 13 in an audacious move at turn 11. The Iceman proceeded to catch teammate Grosjean thereafter, who was using the medium tyre, though Raikkonen did lose precious seconds to Vettel as he navigated his way past the ostensibly slower of the Lotus cars at the first corner on lap 24.
Raikkonen made his second stop at the end of that lap to switch to medium tyres, whilst Vettel reverted to soft tyres the following lap for his third stint having run the second on mediums. It was at this stage that Raikkonen really began to hunt Vettel down as the Red Bull's tyres began to wear - the gap had been reduced to two seconds on lap 28, and to just one second on lap 33. Two laps later, Raikkonen had hauled the Lotus within striking distance of the Red Bull for a DRS-assisted assault at the first corner, but Vettel resolutely defended his position until both made their final stops simultaneously on lap 39.
With both of the protagonists now on medium compound tyres, Vettel was able to stretch his advantage once again, and a brief period where Raikkonen began to catch the reigning champion once again proved to be a false dawn. Vettel thus cruised to a twenty-second career win, re-taking the championship lead by four points from Hamilton in the process. Raikkonen ascended the podium for the first time in three years with a fine second place finish, whilst Grosjean in third position was never threatened after being passed by Raikkonen. The result meant two Lotus cars appeared on the podium for the first time since Mario Andretti and Carlos Reutemann in 1979.
Webber took a fourth straight fourth place finish ahead of Rosberg, who attracted controversy but no penalties with his more-than-robust defence of his position at turn 4 against Hamilton in the opening stint and Alonso in the second. Hamilton was able to pass the Chinese Grand Prix winner nonetheless after being forced beyond the edge of the track, but fell back behind Rosberg as well as both Ferraris as his first two stops were beset by issues attaching the rear-left wheel to his car. The Brit re-passed Massa during a trouble-free final stop, but still had to settle for a lowly eighth place. Button meanwhile looked good for sixth place at the wheel of the other McLaren until he abruptly pitted with four laps remaining to address a puncture, before pulling into the pit garage two laps later with differential failure.
Behind Rosberg finished Paul Di Resta, who after a troubled weekend for the Force India team pulled off a two-stop strategy in order to come home sixth, narrowly ahead of Alonso. Behind Hamilton finished Massa, who took his first points of the year, and Michael Schumacher, who made steady progress from his disastrously low grid slot to take the final point of the afternoon. Sergio Perez finished in eleventh place, the Sauber seemingly lacking pace on the medium tyre, with Nico Hulkenberg next over the finish line in the second Force India.
Jean-Eric Vergne finished in thirteenth for Toro Rosso ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, who also attempted a two-stop strategy in the second Sauber but lost ground after having to make a late third stop. Daniel Ricciardo squandered a highly impressive sixth place grid slot with a lousy start, sinking to a dismal seventeenth place by the end of lap two, had his race further compounded by contact with Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen that necessitated a change of front wing. The Australian eventually crossed the line in a disappointing fifteenth place.
Vitaly Petrov was next ahead of teammate Kovalainen, who suffered a puncture as a result of the contact with Ricciardo. Timo Glock was the only Marussia to finish, (Charles Pic falling victim to engine problems having out-qualified his more experienced teammate) with HRT duo of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan as ever bringing up the rear. Besides Button and Pic, the only other non-finishers came courtesy of Williams, who after two competitive outings never looked like scoring points in the Bahrain heat. Pastor Maldonado suffered a puncture serious enough to warrant his retirement whilst running outside of the top ten just before half-distance, whilst Bruno Senna pulled into the garage from fourteenth place with two laps remaining as his car began to suffer from a vibration.
For all the controversy surrounding the event in the past week, Bahrain has produced a fourth different winner in as many races, not to mention a fourth different winning team. Few would have guessed coming into the season that it would have taken Vettel and Red Bull four attempts to take their first win, whilst even fewer would've predicted a Lotus that appears to have genuine race-winning pace. Add the prospect of a revitalised Ferrari after the upcoming in-season test at Mugello, and we potentially have a titanic scrap on our hands for what looks destined to be one of the closest fought titles in years.
Vitaly Petrov was next ahead of teammate Kovalainen, who suffered a puncture as a result of the contact with Ricciardo. Timo Glock was the only Marussia to finish, (Charles Pic falling victim to engine problems having out-qualified his more experienced teammate) with HRT duo of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan as ever bringing up the rear. Besides Button and Pic, the only other non-finishers came courtesy of Williams, who after two competitive outings never looked like scoring points in the Bahrain heat. Pastor Maldonado suffered a puncture serious enough to warrant his retirement whilst running outside of the top ten just before half-distance, whilst Bruno Senna pulled into the garage from fourteenth place with two laps remaining as his car began to suffer from a vibration.
For all the controversy surrounding the event in the past week, Bahrain has produced a fourth different winner in as many races, not to mention a fourth different winning team. Few would have guessed coming into the season that it would have taken Vettel and Red Bull four attempts to take their first win, whilst even fewer would've predicted a Lotus that appears to have genuine race-winning pace. Add the prospect of a revitalised Ferrari after the upcoming in-season test at Mugello, and we potentially have a titanic scrap on our hands for what looks destined to be one of the closest fought titles in years.
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