F1 2012 has been very unpredictable and today’s race in Bahrain was no exception with Sebastian Vettel becoming the fourth winner in four races this season; leading from pole on the grid to taking the chequered flag! Kimi Raikkonen led Romain Grosjean in a Lotus 2 – 3, their first double podium since ’79, it’s a different team but it’s nice to see the legendary marque back at the front!
It was a dismal race race for McLaren, Jenson Button ended up retiring from 13th place with a cracked exhaust and broken differential. A lap before retiring, Button pitted because of a puncture just as he was lining up a pass on Paul di Resta for sixth after struggling with rear tyres all race and recovering from a poor start! Lewis Hamilton lost a total of 17 seconds due to two bungled pit stops, both times there were problems with the right rear tyre, this lost time cost Hamilton at least two places, a possible fifth place finish went begging because of slow pit stops!
Paul di Resta drove excellently to secure sixth place with a two stop strategy; taking the chequred flag in sixth place, 0.3 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Scot’s tyres were at the edge of the cliff, we saw what an effect tyre’s ‘falling off a cliff’ has last weekend as Kimi Raikkonen dropped 8 places in one lap during the Chinese Grand Prix, so it’s safe to say that di Resta got lucky, firstly with Button’s puncture and having just about enough of a gap to hold off Alonso!
The Mercedes’ duo’s drop off in performance since China is astonishing; Nico Rosberg took the chequered flag in fifth place, exactly where the German started from, although had some adventures along the way, clean driving Hamilton and Alonso off the road on separate occasions, for which he is likely to get a penalty, whether that’ll be a time penalty in this race or a grid penalty in Spain, we are yet to find out. Michael Schumacher, who started in 17th claimed the final point, finishing in 10th in what was a fairly anonymous race for the seven time world champion!
Mark Webber is another driver that had an anonymous race finishing in fourth place, I don’t really remember too much about his race, much like Schumacher’s, but the Australian got a decent enough result which places him in third place five points behind Red Bull team mate Vettel and one point behind McLaren’s Hamilton in the world driver title race, which could change massively come the end of the Spanish Grand Prix in three weeks time. Nineteen points covers positions 1 through 7. Given how unpredictable this season is, anything could happen during the 66 laps of Catalunya!
Felipe Massa may have just saved his drive for 2012 with a decent result of ninth place; given how poor the Ferrari has been in 2012; ahead of former Ferrari team mate Schumacher. Massa did not score any points in the first three races of 2012, which looked like costing him his Ferrari drive, rumours have been rife about a swap for Sauber’s Sergio Perez, but nothing has materialised!
Top 10: 1 Sebastian Vettel, 2 Kimi Raikkonen, 3. Romain Grosjean, 4 Mark Webber, 5 Nico Rosberg, 6 Paul di Resta, 7 Fernando Alonso, 8 Lewis Hamilton, 9 Felipe Massa, 10 Michael Schumacher.
