Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took a comfortable win in the desert of Bahrain despite being overtaken at the start of the race by Fernando Alonso off the start line. The German finishing the Grand Prix 9.1 seconds ahead the Lotus’ of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean a further 10.4 seconds back.
Vettel dropped back to third off the line but soon came back at Alonso to reclaim his starting position of second and by lap 3, Vettel had made the pass on Rosberg for the lead and that’s where he stayed after everything settled down after the pit stops. Vettel’s cause was helped by his main rival Fernando Alonso having to make extra stops to push down his DRS wing which remained stuck open after deployment, which ultimately meant the Spaniard had a massive disadvantage as Alonso could not use the DRS while overtaking, the Spaniard did well to salvage eighth place for Ferrari!
From watching the race, it seemed that Raikkonen popped up in second place out of nowhere, I don’t really remember too many overtakes from the Finn. But he must have been doing something right to finish second for a second consecutive race. Teammate Grosjean had an exciting race, banging wheels with Perez in his quest for a podium, passing a number of drivers along the way including Jenson Button and stealing third away from lead Briton Paul di Resta five laps from the end!
Moving onto di Resta, what an excellent result for the Scot and Force India; cementing Force India’s position ahead of McLaren who use the same equipment (engine and gearbox)! di Resta jumped into fourth place off the line ahead of Felipe Massa, who eventually ended the race in 15th place after two tyre failures and a broken front wing. This is the second time that di Resta has finished in fourth place, that much vaunted podium finish still eludes the Scot, but brilliant performance from di Resta, if Force India can provide the car, I’m sure that podium will come sooner rather than later!
Lewis Hamilton who initially suffered from bad tyre wear came alive in the final third of the Grand Prix passing Button, Perez and Webber for fifth place, not a bad result after a five place grid penalty for an enforced gearbox change after a pull rod failure as a result of a rear tyre delamination. McLaren’s Sergio Perez had an eventful race banging wheels with team mate Button and Lotus’ Grosjean. the Mexican showing some speed in Bahrain to claim sixth place for McLaren.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes Nico Rosberg came home line astern in seventh, eighth and ninth, just four seconds covering the trio. Jenson Button finished a further five seconds down the road after making an unplanned third pitstop because of tyre wear. A disappointing end to Button’s race after running third during the middle third of the race!
Bahrain 2013 was certainly an exciting race with all the wheel to wheel action, Sergio Perez being the new Crashi-Bashi driver. I really enjoyed this race, most exciting race of the season, even if all the excitement was furher down the field and not a battle for the lead… let’s hope that the return to Europe yields more of the same! The wheel to wheel action almost reminded me of the olden days!
Top 10 finishing positions for the Bahrain Grand Prix:
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1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1:36:00.498 2. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) +9.100 3. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) +19.500 4. Paul di Resta (Force India) +21.700 5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +35.200 |
6. Sergio Perez (McLaren) +35.900 7. Mark Webber (Red Bull) +37.200 8. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +37.500 9. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +41.100 10. Jenson Button (McLaren) +46.600 |
