2012 Bahrain GP: Vettel keeps Räikkönen and Lotus at bay

Sebastian Vettel won the 2012 Bahrain GP at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. He started from pole position and also set the fastest lap in his Red Bull. Behind him, Lotus F1 celebrated two trophies: Kimi Räikkönen climbed from 11th on the grid to 2nd place, and Romain Grosjean from 7th on the grid to 3rd.

The race was decided on lap 35. Räikkönen launched his only real attack on the lead, but Vettel fended him off. At the flag, 3.3 seconds separated the two.

At the start, the first three on the grid held their positions. Vettel led from Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren and his team-mate Mark Webber. After just one lap, the Red Bull driver already had a lead of more than two seconds. Grosjean made a strong start. With the help of DRS he passed Webber on lap 4 and Hamilton on lap 7, moving up to 2nd place.

Räikkönen was already seventh after the opening lap. On lap 3 he had to let Felipe Massa in the Ferrari through after a wheel-to-wheel battle, but the Finn took the place back shortly afterwards. The start went less well for Daniel Ricciardo. Running sixth, the Toro Rosso driver had a top result in sight, but dropped to 11th place after the first corner. He then apparently made contact with Heikki Kovalainen, damaging his front wing. Ricciardo had to pit on lap 7 for a new wing. Kovalainen brought his Caterham in with a puncture after just the first lap.

Vettel stopped three times, on laps 11, 25 and 39, and was back in front three laps later each time. Others only briefly took the lead during his stops. On lap 12, Paul di Resta led the race. For Force India it was the first lap in the lead since 2009. On lap 40, Grosjean was in front for one lap.

Räikkönen had saved tyres in qualifying and therefore had fresher sets for the race. Around half-distance he passed Grosjean with DRS to move into second. On lap 35 he had his first real chance against Vettel. Red Bull told Vettel over the radio to use full engine revs on the straight to defend, and he held on to 1st place. Räikkönen said later that he had picked the wrong side. After that, his tyres faded and he could no longer get close enough. Räikkönen made his final stop on lap 39, at the same time as Vettel. grandprix.com later asked why Lotus had not brought him in a lap earlier.

Hamilton's race went completely differently. At each of his first two stops the left-rear wheel nut stuck. A normal trip through the pit lane took around 22 seconds, whereas Hamilton needed 28.3 and 30.6 seconds. In total it cost him around 15 seconds. After the first stop he had dropped from 3rd to 9th place. He fought his way back up, but only finished eighth.

Di Resta was one of the few drivers near the front on a two-stop strategy, pitting on laps 14 and 33. That earned him sixth place, equalling the best result of his career so far. Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes got past him five laps from the end to finish fifth. And that despite his team warning him over the radio of exhaust damage.

Two battles on the straight before Turn 4 sparked debate. Each time, Rosberg moved to the outside, forcing first Hamilton and later Fernando Alonso off the track. Alonso complained over the radio. The stewards investigated both incidents after the race. They concluded that Rosberg had not driven dangerously. He received no penalty and the result stood.

Four drivers retired in total:

• Charles Pic (Marussia) parked his car after 24 laps with an engine failure.
• Pastor Maldonado (Williams) retired after 25 laps. A left-rear puncture had earlier sent him into a spin. He had already started from 21st after a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
• Bruno Senna (Williams) stopped after 54 laps because of vibrations, meaning both Williams cars failed to finish.
• Jenson Button (McLaren) suffered a left-rear puncture shortly before the end and dropped out of the points. Then the car gave up: officially a broken exhaust was the cause, though sources also cite differential problems. Having completed 55 laps, he was still classified 18th.

The backmarkers all made it to the finish. Timo Glock in the Marussia, along with Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan at HRT, were two laps down.

Winners: No driver gained more places than Michael Schumacher. In qualifying, a problem with the DRS flap had already knocked him out in Q1. A gearbox change then even forced him to start from 22nd. He finished tenth, twelve places higher, and still scored a point. Räikkönen gained nine places, Massa five. For the Brazilian, 9th place meant his first points of the season. With both drivers on the podium, Lotus were clearly the team of the day.

Losers: Button lost 14 places and Ricciardo nine. Senna dropped seven places, Hamilton six. Webber finished fourth for the fourth race in a row, almost 30 seconds behind Grosjean. At Sauber, Sergio Pérez came away empty-handed, finishing only eleventh from 8th on the grid. Team-mate Kamui Kobayashi finished 13th, right behind Nico Hülkenberg. Jean-Éric Vergne was 14th, Vitaly Petrov 16th.

With the win, Vettel took the lead in the 2012 standings. He now had 53 points, four more than Hamilton (49). Behind them were Webber on 48 and Button and Alonso on 43 points each. Räikkönen (34) was in 7th place, Grosjean (23) in 8th. In the constructors' standings, Red Bull led with 101 points from McLaren (92) and Lotus (57).

Vettel celebrated his first win of the season and the 22nd win of his career. It was also Red Bull's first victory in 2012. That meant each of the first four races had produced a different winner from a different team. The top four places all went to Renault-powered cars, for the first time since 1997. Grosjean stood on a Formula 1 podium for the first time. Räikkönen achieved that for the first time since his comeback. His last podium dated back to 2009, at the Italian GP with Ferrari.

A political shadow hung over the weekend. The Grand Prix went ahead despite protests and violent clashes in the country, and the decision was highly controversial. Force India had skipped the second free practice session for safety reasons.