Vettel keeps Raikkonen at bay to grab first win of the season

Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel claimed their first victory of the 2012 Formula 1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the German moving to top spot in the drivers’ championship and his team to first in the constructors’ championship standings as a result.

However, the double world champion was made to earn his win after resisting the persistent challenge from Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus. The team’s promise shown in pre-season testing came to fruition as Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean battled their way through the pack to occupy second and third on the podium.

Mark Webber’s consistent start to the season in the sister Red Bull culminated in him finishing in fourth place for the fourth time this season. Lewis Hamilton’s (McLaren) race was blighted by pitstop problems, which meant that despite his promising performance in qualifying he had to settle for eighth.

A great start off the line saw Vettel dart away from the chasing pack headed up by Hamilton and Webber. Grosjean, like the double world champion, made an impressive start when the lights went out and he soon found himself in P4 from seventh on the grid.

Grosjean’s Lotus showed great race pace early on and as a result was able to pass first Webber on the fourth lap then Hamilton three laps later. Raikkonen likewise made his way through the field early on as he moved up to seventh from 11th off the line, and then was able to position himself in third by the first round of pitstops as he stayed out for a longer stint while making several crucial passes along the way.

With the wind in his sails, Raikkonen bore down on his French team-mate and overtook him on lap 24, just before the second round of stops. The Finn ate into Vettel’s lead as they headed into the closing stages, and an improbable victory was looking likely for the Lotus team.

However, Vettel once again began to build a sizable lead over Raikkonen after the final change of tyres, which ultimately secured the win. The former Ferrari driver tried to fight back with a flurry of fast times, but was unable to close the gap on the German and had to settle for second ahead of Grosjean.



Webber had a largely uneventful afternoon in fourth, despite the fervent battles that were occurring behind him.

On the other hand Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes had fallen back to ninth after he had qualified in P5, but eventually fought back to finish in the position he had started the. He also received attention from the stewards after he had defended his position rigorously from Hamilton and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

However he received no punishment from the stewards, which brought about a thinly veiled jibe on Twitter from the Spaniard: "I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!"

Paul di Resta (Force India) adopted a two-stop strategy that worked brilliantly as he came home in sixth after being passed five laps from the end by Rosberg.

McLaren had a frankly torrid afternoon. Hamilton’s chance at securing a large haul of points came undone after he lost a large amount of time on the first and second pitstops after he suffered wheelnut issues on his left rear. The Brit had to make do with seventh as he followed di Resta and Alonso across the line.

Jenson Button spent much of his time in top ten before a late puncture forced him into a pitstop. His race went from bad to worse as he nursed his car back into the pits on the penultimate lap after he experienced mechanical problems in what was a far from healthy sounding car.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was able to improve on his questionable performances of late as he secured ninth, while Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) fought his way up through the field and took the final point after he had started in 22nd.

Formula One returns to Europe with the Spanish Grand Prix over he weekend of the 12/13 May.

Pos/Driver/Team/Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h35:10.990
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 3.333
3. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.194
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.788
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 55.460
6. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 57.543
7. Alonso Ferrari + 57.803
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 58.984
9. Massa Ferrari + 1:04.999
10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:11.490
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:12.702
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:16.539
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:30.334
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:33.723
15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
19. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Senna Williams-Renault + 3 laps
DNF. Maldonado - Williams Renault
DNF. Pic - Marussia-Cosworth


For the latest F1 updates and features watch Inside Grand Prix on Motors TV.


Tom Cauvain

Image courtesy of Red Bull Media