Race Report: Bahrain - Vettel Wins Aggressive Race In The Desert

The Bahrain Grand Prix started off as an incredibly feisty affair, with pole sitter Nico Rosberg facing a tough task to hold off some incredibly quick race pace competition, Vettel ultimately being one of few to have clean air, streaking off into the distance whilst it was battles galore throughout the rest of the top field.

His Second Win In Four Races - Now 10 Points Clear Of Raikkonen

Off the line Alonso took Vettel round the outside into T1, before Vettel impressively undertook Fernando back into T5 in an unexpected passing place. The first few laps were unbelievably aggressive, with the front few within a second or two of each other, slipstreaming down the many straights like crazy. Ultimately after haunting Rosberg, Vettel passed Rosberg on lap 3, followed by Alonso. 

The Force India's had mixed fortunes at the start, with di Resta jumping from 5th to 4th, whilst Sutil tangled with Massa, ultimately having to pit immediately ruining his good qualifying from 6th. di Resta then passed the struggling Rosberg into 3rd, and then disappointingly from a race point of view, Alonso's DRS flap became stuck, prompting a pitstop - di Resta into 2nd.

The wing was fixed, tyres changed and the damage was minimal, but unfortunately for the prancing horse, the rear wing became stuck again and immediately had to pit again, ruining his race. 1st stop was damage limitation, but the 2nd stop yet again questions the logic on the Ferrari pit wall, and should have instructed Fernando to not use it again first time round. He recovered to get what points he can to 8th place.

Fernando's Stalled DRS Flap Stuck Open

It soon emerged on lap 12 that di Resta and Raikkonen's Lotus would be 2 stopping, Raikkonen ultimately having the pace to overtake the Force India. It would be Grosjean from 11th on the grid though on a 3 stop race that would prove the Lotus race pace on both strategies, and would finish behind his teammate in 3rd place as he steadily worked his way through the field, overtaking Paul on lap 52 of 57, snatching away what looked like Paul's first podium place, ultimately finishing 4th. 


After Fernando's mechanical wing failure Ferrari's bad after went from bad to worse when on lap 18 Massa added to his front wing woes had a right rear puncture. Thankfully for Pirelli, something had cut and given him the puncture, rather than a overheating tyre failure as originally feared. Unbelievably any chance of points blew away as another tyre suffered the same fate later in the race, finishing 15th. 

Rosberg's expectations quickly became lower and lower, on lap 20 being taken by Button's McLaren which was in better form than talked up, quickly followed by many others. His teammate Hamilton didn't have a much better afternoon starting from 9th as he struggled on 2 sets of mediums, but on the hard tyre battled well, fighting with Webber over 5th in the last few laps, ultimately coming out on top into T1 on the last lap. Rosberg after fighting so much in the race had to pit a 4th time, disappointingly only finishing 9th. Mercedes be impressing in qualifying but there race pace is slipping behind the top teams, with McLaren unexpectedly having a better car on the day.

The Improved McLaren's Put On A Great Show

McLaren on the other hand looked much improved despite not expecting much, Sergio Perez having a brilliant afternoon from 12th on the grid to finish 6th, overtaking Webber on the last lap. Button was ahead for much, but Perez challenged Jenson without fear and showed the reason why he was chosen to replace Hamilton. Perez looking like a McLaren driver for the first time - perhaps Martin Whitmarsh's talk has helped! Button finished 10th, after like Rosberg having to pit for a 4th time.

In the mid and lower field it was quite uneventful in comparison to all the battles constantly going on in the top 10, but Maldonado put in a much improved performance, finishing just outside the points in 11th for Williams, whilst Charles Pic did a great race in the Caterham, finishing ahead of not just both Marussia's, but also Gutierrez in the Sauber to finish 17th.

Overall, it's a shame Alonso couldn't take the battle to Vettel, but Grosjean, di Resta and Perez were superb and all showing their true potentials collectively, whilst the battles in the top 10 made sure there wasn't enough time to make a cup of tea and not miss anything. Bahrain certainly wasn't Bohrain this year.

Vettel now leads the championship by 10 points from Raikkonen, whilst Alonso despite his Chinese win drops back to 27 points behind, and would really love to win his home Grand Prix in Spain in 3 weeks now to close the gap.

Nick, F1 Hub




F1 Hub Overtake of the Race
Button on Perez - Lap 35
Perez overtook Jenson into turn 1 off the DRS and the move looked extremely clean. Despite Sergio running out wide to stop Button coming back, Jenson exited well and squeezed up the inside into turn 2, something that not many people could do, including Webber, Alonso and other big names. Top commitment. Vettel's overtake on Alonso on lap 5 into turn 1 deserves a quick mention too, using his leftover KERS and undercutting out of turn 4, getting the line into turn 5. 



F1 Hub Driver of the Race
Grosjean had a super race going from 11th to 3rd, but for me it's extremely close between  di Resta and Perez showed grit and determination to both challenge his teammate on track, make one less stop and even taking Webber on the last lap to finish 6th, less than a second behind Hamilton. Some rightfully will argue he was too aggressive, but still a great effort and will get his first F1 Hub Teammate Battle Tracker point against Button this weekend! Check back for that article in a few days.

Paul di Resta though didn't put a foot wrong, and was desperately unlucky not to have the tyres left to get his first podium. Showing his class. 



Full Race Result
1) Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull-Renault]
2) Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus-Renault]
3) Romain Grosjean [Lotus-Renault]
4) Paul di Resta [Force India-Mercedes] 
5) Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes]
6) Sergio Perez [McLaren-Mercedes]
7) Mark Webber [Red Bull-Renault]
8) Fernando Alonso [Ferrari]
9) Nico Rosberg [Mercedes]
10) Jenson Button [McLaren Mercedes] 
11) Pastor Maldonado [Williams Renault] 
12) Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber-Ferrari]
13) Adrian Sutil [Force India-Mercedes] 
14) Valtteri Bottas [Williams-Renault]
15) Felipe Massa [Ferrari]
16) Daniel Ricciardo [Toro Rosso-Ferrari]
17) Charles Pic [Caterham-Renault]
18) Esteban Gutierrez [Sauber-Ferrari]
19) Jules Bianchi [Marussia-Cosworth]
20) Max Chilton [Marussia-Cosworth]
21) Giedo van der Garde [Caterham-Renault]

Did Not Finish
Jean-Eric Vergne [Toro Rosso-Ferrari] Lap 16