Bahrain Grand Prix 2013 - Report

Sebastian Vettel drove a faultless race to secure a second win of the season in an action-packed Bahrain Grand Prix. Wasting little time in picking off pole-sitter Nico Rosberg in the opening stages, Vettel soon built up a healthy margin over his closest rivals, managing his tyres whilst maintain a searing pace out front. Superior tyre preservation meanwhile enabled the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean to take the remaining podium positions.

With Ferrari and Lotus setting the pace during the weekend’s practice sessions, it came as a major surprise when Rosberg put his Mercedes on pole position in Q3 on Saturday, two tenths clear of Vettel who lined up alongside his compatriot on the front row.

The Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa would line up third and fourth thanks to grid penalties for Lewis Hamilton – who was forced to change his gearbox after a tyre blowout in final practice – and Mark Webber, as a result of his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne last time out at China. This also meant the rapid Force Indias would lock out row three between them, Paul Di Resta ahead of Adrian Sutil.

At the start of the race, Rosberg made a clean enough getaway to hold the lead, with Alonso diving around the outside of Vettel at the first corner to take second. The Red Bull driver was however in no mood to settle for third place, wresting back the position mere corners later.

Rosberg was soon under pressure from Vettel, resisting the reigning champion's advances before capitulating mid-way round the third lap. Alonso was able to pass the Mercedes at the end of the lap with the help of DRS, and although Rosberg was temporarily able to re-gain second, he gave up the place once again at the start of lap five.

The race was shaping up to be a two-way battle between Vettel and Alonso before disaster struck for the latter. On the seventh lap, his DRS jammed open, prompting an early stop as the Ferrari mechanics closed the slot by hand. The following lap, the same thing happened once more, prompting another stop with the Spaniard unable to use the overtaking aid for the remainder of the race.

This promoted Di Resta to second, who had moved ahead of Massa at the start and passed the ailing Rosberg at the start of lap 6 with the help of DRS. The Scot took the lead when Vettel pitted at the end of lap 10, staying out until the end of lap 14 in order to try and get by with just two rather than three stops during the race.

Kimi Raikkonen, who had started eighth after another difficult qualifying session, was on a similar strategy to Di Resta, pitting from second two laps later having just lost the lead to a scorching Vettel. The two-stop strategy paid dividends for the Finn, who always looked likely to capture second even if he was unable to challenge a dominating Vettel.

Raikkonen gradually caught his fellow two-stopper Di Resta after their respective first stops, passing the Force India driver on lap 34 before diving into the pits for the final time at the end of the lap. Di Resta followed suit two laps later, but was then forced to switch his focus to defending third position from the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

The Franco-Swiss had quietly made his way up the order from a lowly grid slot of eleventh, thanks in part to the Lotus E21’s peerless tyre preservation which made Grosjean easily of the quickest three-stopper besides Vettel. After his final pit-stop, Grosjean closed down Di Resta for the final podium spot at a rate of knots, making the pass at the start of lap 52.

Whilst Vettel cruised to a 28^th career victory, moving him clear of Jackie Stewart for sixth place in the all-time list, Raikkonen and Grosjean completed the top three in a carbon copy of the 2012 Bahrain podium. Di Resta was unfortunate to miss out on the podium, but nonetheless equalled his best finish in F1 with a fine fourth place.

Fifth place went to Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. It had been a very subdued performance from the Brit for much of the distance, having started down in ninth after his penalty, but Hamilton made his three stop strategy work well and showed strong pace in the closing stages – overhauling Webber in an exciting scrap for fifth position in the final few laps.

Webber was running as high as second after the first round of pit-stops, but lost out first to the two-stoppers of Di Resta and Raikkonen before then being overhauled by Grosjean on lap 44. The Australian pulled out all the stops to hold off Hamilton, but was suffering more than most from tyre degradation and had to give way to the Brit at the start of the final lap.

Sergio Perez’s McLaren then also found a way past with mere corners to go, demoting Webber to seventh. The Mexican spent much of the race fighting with teammate Jenson Button as well as a fading Rosberg, but got the better of both by avoiding having to make a fourth pit-stop.

Eighth place fell to Alonso, who fought valiantly after his early setback but was unable to effectively fight his opposition without the use of DRS. The race was little more than a damage limitation exercise for the Spaniard, and the four points he earned could prove very  useful in the final championship reckoning.

Ninth went to Rosberg, who spent much of his afternoon going backwards with severe tyre wear. A late fourth pit-stop ruled him out of the fight for fifth along with Button, who was unhappy with the aggression displayed by teammate Perez as the pair diced for position. The 2009 champion had to be content with a single point for tenth place.

Pastor Maldonado finished eleventh in a moderately competitive, if still pointless, outing for Williams, with Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber coming home twelfth. It was a case of what might have been for Sutil in the second Force India, who sustained a puncture on the opening lap thanks to contact with Massa before fighting back to finish thirteenth.

Massa damaged his front wing as a result, but was in the reckoning for solid points until his race unravelled with two separate punctures. The Brazilian could therefore do no more than fifteenth behind the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing sixteenth after struggling for pace at the wheel of the Toro Rosso.

Charles Pic led home the battle of the backmarkers in seventeenth thanks to some sorely needed upgrades for the Caterham, narrowly holding off Esteban Gutierrez, who lost time with early contact with the second Caterham of Giedo van der Garde. The Marussias of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton rounded out the finishers along with the Dutchman; Vergne’s Toro Rosso sustained damage with an early puncture and was the only retirement of the race.