Finger boy did it again !!!
Sebastian Vettel won his first race of the 2012 season after holding off Kimi Raikkonen in an enthralling battle for victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Raikkonen came from 11th on the grid, and in the third stint was right on the gearbox of Vettel, but had to settle for second place ahead of his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean at the chequered flag.The Finn may have stood a better chance if he had passed team-mate Grosjean more quickly at the end of the second stint, but team principal Eric Boullier stuck by his decision to let his drivers race.
Mark Webber took fourth in the second Red Bull, and Nico Rosberg completed the top five after an eventful race for Mercedes. Paul di Resta made use of a two-stop strategy to take a very well-deserved sixth place ahead of Fernando Alonso in seventh. Alonso had got up to fifth with an assertive start, but did not have the pace to stay there.
Two appalling pit stops meant Lewis Hamilton dropped from second at the start to eighth at the finish as McLaren had a torrid race in which Jenson Button eventually retired with a sick-sounding car and a differential problem.
Massa was respectably close to his team-mate's pace on the way to ninth, while Michael Schumacher was able to come through from 22nd on the grid to 10th in the second Mercedes.
The Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain.
57 laps, 308.405km, Weather: Dry.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h35:10.990
2. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 3.300
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.100
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.700
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG + 55.400
6. Paul Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 57.500
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari + 57.800
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 58.900
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 1:04.900
10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes AMG + 1:11.400
11. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:12.700
12. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:16.500
13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:30.300
14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:33.700
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
17. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. Pedro De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
22. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault + 3 laps
Fastest lap: Sebastian Vettel, 1:36.379
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
P.Maldonado Williams-Renault 26
C.Pic Marussia-Cosworth 25
After 4 races:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. S.Vettel 53 1. Red Bull-Renault 101
2. L.Hamilton 49 2. McLaren-Mercedes 92
3. M.Webber 48 3. Lotus-Renault 57
4. J.Button 43 4. Ferrari 45
5. F.Alonso 43 5. Mercedes 37
6. N.Rosberg 35 6. Sauber-Ferrari 31
7. K.Raikkonen 34 7. Williams-Renault 18
8. R.Grosjean 23 8. Force India-Mercedes 17
9. S.Perez 22 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6
10. P.Di Resta 15
11. B.Senna 14
12. K.Kobayashi 9
13. J.Vergne 4
14. P.Maldonado 4
15. N.Hulkenberg 2
16. M.Schumacher 2
17. F.Massa 2
18. D.Ricciardo 2
