The 2012 season of Formula 1 World Championship continues to be very tight, after Sebastian Vettel won on Sunday the Grand Prix of Bahrain. The previous three F1 races this year were Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg. Running in a hostile environment and marked by protests of Shiite population against the abuses of the Sunni leadership of the kingdom, Bahrain Grand Prix was carried out successfully without major security problems.
Sunday race found Vettel in pole position for the first time this season, Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) – 2nd place of the grid, Mark Webber (Red Bull) – 3rd place, Jenson Button ( McLaren-Mercedes) – 4th and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) – 5th place. The top three drivers kept their positions after the first turn, then Vettel began to distance himself round after round, in his typical style. But truly “explosive” started Lotus-Renault drivers. In the first round, Romain Grosjean climbed to the 4th place after being seventh on the starting grid, and his colleague Kimi Raikkonen, came to 7th after starting 11th. The two continued their exceptional race and, before the first exchange of tires “swept” all in their path. The Frenchman has passed Webber and Hamilton and Raikkonen was first passed by Felipe Massa, then he passed the Brazilian from Ferrari, Alonso and Button, and after the first pit stop he was just came behind Grosejan, three seconds away from leader Vettel.
In round 24/57, Raikkonen has passed his teammate and came closer to Vettel. Between the second to pit stop until lap 40, the Finn recently returned to Grand Circus stayed glued to the reigning world champion, but the latter proved impossible to overcome. In that round, both Raikkonen and Vettel had the last tire change. After that, the Lotus-Renault driver was unable to close in less than two seconds from the race leader.
Thus, Vettel has recorded his first F1 race win this season and the 22nd of his career. Raikkonen finished second, marking his first presence on the podium since returning to F1 after two years in which he competed in rally competitions. Grosjean eventually ranked third, making the performance of his career, the first French on the F1 podium since 1998, when Jean Alesi finished third in the Belgian Grand Prix.
Webber and Rosberg crossed the line in places 4 and 5, followed by Briton Paul Di Resta from Force India, the only driver who has opted for a strategy with only two pit stops. Also a first this season has been a presence in the points of both Ferrari drivers. Fernando Alonso, 9th at start, finished seventh and Felipe Massa, 14th on the starting grid, was ninth. The Brazilian, threatened with losing his place at Scuderia Scuderia, won his first points in 2012.
Hamilton finished between the two Ferrari drivers. A disappointing result for the McLaren driver, who was only one hundredth of a second behind Vettel in qualifying race. Lewis Hamilton, who in the first three races had three third places, had to pit stop problems again. Mechanics have delayed him twice in the pits, so he had no chance to fight for a better position. Button had bad luck, as he abandoned in the second to last round, with a wheel problem, at a time when he had a good chance to get the sixth place.
There was bad luck for Michael Schumacher as well. Due to a problem at the rear mobile wing occurred during qualifications on Saturday Schumacher fail to pass Q1. Then, the mechanics have changed the gearbox and the German was relegated from 17th place to 22. However, the seven-time world champion managed to salvage something and, benefiting from Button’s abandonment, took 10th place, still getting one point.
Outcome at Sakhir race has changed again the F1 rankings.
After a 2nd place, an 11 place and a 5th, Sunday victory propelled Vettel at the top of drivers’ ranking, so familiar to him last season. He accumulated 53 points, followed by Hamilton – 49 points, Webber – 48, Alonso and Button, both with 43. Red Bull took over the first place in the teams’ rankings, after amassing 101 points, followed by McLaren-Mercedes – 92 points, Lotus-Renault – 57 points and Ferrari – 47 points. In Formula 1 next is European section, which will be interrupted only by the Canadian Grand Prix. The 5th race, Grand Prix of Spain, will take place May 13 in Barcelona.
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