Vettel Wins In Bahrain

Sebastian Vettel is the three-time defending world champion in Formula One racing, and also happens to be the reigning winner of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. With an ideal No. 2 starting position, there is little reason to expect anything other than Vettel emerging victorious once again. Though Nico Rosberg led the opening two laps from pole position, but once Vettel overtook the Mercedes on the third lap the race was his to lose.

Vettel was involved in a tense battle with Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg at the start of the race, but once he emerged in the lead from the exit of turn four on lap three he looked to be unbeatable. Alonso looked likely to be his closest rival but his race was ruined when the DRSon his Ferrari stuck open on lap five. He had to make an early pit stop to fix it but the problem emerged again the next time he used it and he pitted once more, dropping to 17th on lap nine (impressively he managed to fight back to eighth without the use of DRS to limit the damage to his championship challenge). 

Raikkonen was inevitably overshadowed at times as his stops were out of kilter with the majority’s, as was Paul di Resta (who drove a brilliant race for Force India from fifth place on the grid). Unable to contain Raikkonen’s faster Lotus, the Scot was on target for a podium finish until Romain Grosjean, in the second Lotus and on a three-stop strategy, hauled him in and overtook with seven laps to run settling him for a fourth place finish.

Lewis Hamilton recovered from his grid penalty to finish fifth but had a tight battle with Mark Webber in the closing laps as the two traded position while trying to limit tyre wear. Webber ultimately lost out and on the final lap conceded another position to McLaren's Sergio Perez, who put in a very bullish performance that included running Alonso onto the gravel and contact with team-mate Button.

Behind Alonso in eighth, the four-stop strategies for Rosberg and Button left them ninth and tenth. Rosberg attempted to hold his own at the start of the race but shed positions with every pit stop and with his final stop for new tyres dropped out of contention for decent points despite starting from pole position. It was a similar story for Button who ran as high as third at one point but had to make four stops too.

Pastor Maldonado finished just outside the points ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, while Adrian Sutil, Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa came home 13th, 14th and 15th. 

The Marussias jumped the Caterhams at the start, as per the pre-race plan, but then Charles Pic overtook them both and swept away to secure a minor victory for the Leafield team and 17th overall. As Jules Bianchi led Marussia partner Max Chilton home in 19th and 20th positions, Van der Garde finished 21st and last. Esteban Gutierrez started last, got hit by debris on the opening lap, but made up some places to finish 18th for Sauber.

Jean-Eric Vergne was the only driver not to make the end of the race after a collision early in the race caused irreparable damage that eventually forced him to retire.

Fernando Alonso	Winner
Kimi Räikkönen	Second
Lewis Hamilton	Third
Sebastian Vettel	P4
Jenson Button	P5
Felipe Massa	P6
Daniel Ricciardo	P7
Paul di Resta	P8
Romain Grosjean	P9
Nico Hülkenberg	P10
Sergio Perez	P11
Jean-Éric Vergne	P12
Valtteri Bottas	P13
Pastor Maldonado	P14
Jules Bianchi	P15
Charles Pic	P16
Max Chilton	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Nico Rosberg	Retired (Suspension)
Mark Webber	Retired (Wheel)
Adrian Sutil	Retired (Collision)
Estaban Gutiérrez	Retired (Collision)