Vettel Reigns Supreme In Bahrain

The familiar finger salute of Sebastian Vettel was back on the podium in Bahrain as the defending World Champion bounced back with a bang

After finishing P11 at last weekend's Chinese GP, the German returned to top form in style as he started on pole position and then held off the charging Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen to claim his and Red Bull's first win of the 2012 season.

It was an impressive afternoon for the Lotus team with Raikkonen securing his best finish since returning to F1 and his team-mate Romain Grosjean making it onto the podium for the first time in his career. Grosjean was also the first Frenchman on the podium in more than a decade.

Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who was driving by himself most of the afternoon, finished P4 while Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg had to settle for P5.

Force India's Paul di Resta equalled his best-ever finish as the decision to opt for a two-stop strategy paid off as he just managed to keep Fernando Alonso behind him in P8.

McLaren had another disappointing afternoon with Lewis Hamilton their only finisher in P9. Two appalling pitstops saw the 2008 World Champion lose valuable time on the front runners.

His team-mate Jenson Button's misfortune was even worse as he was forced to retire on the penultimate lap. He was running P5 when he picked up a puncture and was then ordered to park his car in the garage a lap later.

Button's poor luck meant Felipe Massa finished P9 and Michael Schumacher P10.

Full results
01. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h35:10.990
02. Räikkönen Lotus-Renault + 3.300
03. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 10.100
04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 38.700
05. Rosberg Mercedes + 55.400
06. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 57.500
07. Alonso Ferrari + 57.800
08. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 58.900
09. Massa Ferrari + 1:04.900
10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:11.400
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:12.700
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 1:16.500
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:30.300
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:33.700
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


Did not finish
Bruno Senna Williams-Renault Lap 54
Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault Lap 25
Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth Lap 24

Source: Planet-F1