Vettel out front in dramatic Bahrain race

In a dramatic Bahrain Grand Prix full of dramatic on track action, Sebastian Vettel took his second victory of the year pretty serenely. Despite driving for Red Bull, the team which has lobbied hardest to have an adjustment of the tyres away from their current specification, he managed to control the tyres well and made a three stop strategy work to finish in complete control.

He made a good start to draw alongside pole sitter Nico Rosberg, who was very aggressive off the start, swerving almost to the pit wall but Vettel couldn’t quite get him and it left a gap for Fernando Alonso to dive through on the inside.

Vettel has his steely side too, and he swooped down the inside into turn 5 to take back second place and began to stalk Rosberg, the Mercedes beginning to show its trademark from last year as the tyres faded dramatically. Vettel was soon by and immediately headed off into the distance.

He didn’t really get too far away, but as the rest squabbled for position you always felt Vettel had pace in hand as he demonstrated by setting fastest lap a few laps from the end, sparking the now traditional radio message from Red Bull to tell him to back off.

Ferrari and Lotus still look strong contenders to snatch victories but the question now is how consistently can they do it? Ferrari has had a few reliability issues and organisational slip ups, while Lotus might well have been in contention if they could have qualified higher up the grid. It’s ominous that Red Bull despite their tyre issues was able to dominate in such dramatic fashion.

Ok, the tyres were not meant to degrade as much at this track, it was always going to be more of a temperature issue to keep them operating at their best, but it’s an emphatic demonstration that Red Bull are still the fastest out there. 

However, it would have been interesting to see what happened if Pirelli had stuck to their original plan to bring the high degradation soft tyres, and hadn’t switched them to the medium to accompany the hard compound and it’s also noteworthy that Webber’s tyres didn’t last. Whatever though, Vettel was in a class of one today, a fine win.

Star of the race: Grosjean comes alive again

As Vettel motored on up front, it was all kicking off behind him. It was a fantastic display of driving skill as the best drivers in the world went wheel to wheel at 200mph, and apart from the odd bumped wheel and askew front wing endplate, it was all pretty much the non-contact sport it’s meant to be.

I think first of all Lotus’ Romain Grosjean has to be highlighted. There’s no doubting the Lotus was one of the fastest cars out there today, but also after he failed to get into the top ten, Grosjean knew that starting from 11^th was still going to be a tough afternoon.

There’s been something slightly off about the Frenchman so far this year. Last year he showed tremendous speed but also a penchant for crashing into people, especially at the start. To be fair to him a lot of the incidents were not of his making but after the huge start line crash in Belgium for which he was banned for one race he seemed to become even more hesitant.

This year he hasn’t shown the speed we know he possesses. It looked like the events of 2012 had taken their toll on him and his potential was going to be firmly locked away. He also felt there was something wrong with the car.

For Bahrain they brought him a new chassis, and despite the problems in qualifying Grosjean came alive. He showed his speed and brought out the aggression again as he stormed through the field. He battled hard, but all the time he looked in control, he looked like he was aware of his surroundings, knew where everyone was and dealt with the situations appropriately in the split second you have to decide things from the cockpit of a Formula 1 car.

It was a great drive as he charged towards the final podium spot, capturing it with just a few laps to go. This could be a real turning point in his career; if he can replicate this form at the next few races a new star of Formula 1 will have arrived.

Paul di Resta just misses out on podium

Paul di Resta was so close to his first podium, so close, but he was always going to be vulnerable to attack in the closing stages as he managed his tyres on a two stop strategy. So it proved as Grosjean on fresher tyres having pitted three times snatched the position away from him.

However fourth place was still a great result for the Scotsman, Force India finally getting the top five result that their pace has deserved all year. In Bahrain they were good from the start, di Resta 5^th in the first two practice sessions, and there he qualified albeit after grid penalties for Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton were taken into account.

Force India team mate Adrian Sutil joined him on the third row, but suffered a puncture courtesy of Felipe Massa’s front wing on the first lap. He made a decent recovery to 13^th but was out of it from the start. di Resta’s luck didn’t desert him though, he took fourth at the start, was soon past Rosberg into third, and even managed to lead for several laps too.

If Force India can keep up development then Paul might not have to wait too long for his first podium. It’s also positive for him, as Sutil seemed to be grabbing the headlines so far this season, so for di Resta to reassert himself was needed.

Sergio Perez gets aggressive

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh had said in the week leading up to the Bahrain Grand Prix that Perez needed to show a more aggressive side. Didn’t he just?

Perez showed the kind of form that got him the McLaren drive in the first place. He was robust, incisive with his overtakes and didn’t give up.

That’s actually what was great about the race today, so much passing and re-passing. Half the time when someone passes another car they disappear off into the distance. But I was losing count of how many times the likes of Perez, Jenson Button and Rosberg would be passed, then a few laps or even corners later they’d be fighting to get their position back.

Perez has not had the start he’d have liked at McLaren. He expected to be fighting for podiums and wins not for the lower reaches of the top 10. To be fair this is mostly down to McLaren bringing out a dud of a car. But still while Button seemed to be taking charge and getting more out of the car than it deserved, Perez had been fairly quiet in the first three races, today though that Latin flair was back in evidence.

He went wheel to wheel with a number of drivers this afternoon, his overtake of Fernando Alonso for 7^th was wonderfully aggressive (which the Spaniard didn’t like), but nothing was quite as dramatic as his fight with his team mate Button.

No quarter was given, they were allowed to race, and Button who was beginning to struggle in the second half did not want to be beaten for the first time by his new team mate. Perez wanted to make a point and as they switched places, you could sense the entire McLaren team on tenterhooks. It was dramatic, but it was impressive. At times like that if I was a team owner, I’d have told Button to get out the way, but this was much more fun.

Things possibly went slightly too far, Perez tapped Button flicking a bit of front wing off against Jenson’s right rear tyre. Potentially it could have ended both their races, it didn’t though but it prompted Button to get on the radio to the team to tell Perez to ‘calm down’ and later he said he was over aggressive.

Sergio therefore went wheel to wheel again, their front tyres meeting down the back straight, Perez leaving the track only to come back alongside. It was awesome to watch. But Button’s tyres were shot and he ended up making a fourth stop to slide down to 10^th.

Perez kept the entertainment up though, passing Alonso and then on the last lap he grabbed 6^th from Webber. This result will give him a bit of confidence and it certainly brought McLaren into the limelight, especially with their choice to let them fight although words were said that to Perez after that this aggression may need to be tempered on occasion. 

However, despite their improved race pace it doesn’t take away from the fact they are not fast enough, especially in qualifying. They have a lot of upgrades coming for Spain, and they need them if they want to get back on the podium.

Ferrari lose ground

It all went wrong for the Scuderia. Alonso was keeping a watching brief in second 

behind Vettel when suddenly his DRS flap stuck open on lap 8. He pitted a lap later when it got stuck again. He dropped down the field and actually made a great recovery to finish 8^th without the aid of DRS. Massa suffered two punctures on his way to a miserable 15^th.

But after the great victory in China, Ferrari looked primed to produce another strong result after locking out the second row. Ferrari has got a stronger car than last year, but so far this year they’re not quite getting the consistency together that they had in 2012.

Alonso has now fallen 30 points behind Vettel in the championship. At no point last year in a woeful early season car did he fall so far back. It will be of concern, but at least this year they can take comfort that they have a strong car which looks like it’ll challenge for podiums and more importantly consistently battle for wins too. In Bahrain Ferrari didn’t feel they’d lost valuable points, they felt they’d lost a victory.

Rest of the top 10

Kimi Raikkonen took his third podium of the year with second place. He was the highest placed driver to use a two stop strategy and after dropping back at the start from his 8^th grid position he actually did quite well to get to the podium. Yet again the Lotus demonstrated its kindness to tyres and the pace it can still achieve. There is no doubt now that Kimi is in the long haul for this title, he lies only 10 points back.

I was quite surprised to see Lewis Hamilton end up 5^th, from his interviews I think he was too. He suffered from the Mercedes problem on tyre trouble, and also balance issues in the first half of the race, but then it all suddenly came good. He stopped three times, once less than his team mate, and subtly moved up the order. For a race with so much overtaking and fighting it was a surprise that it took so long for Lewis to get involved in a scrap but his fight with Webber for 5^th was as dramatic as anything else on track. Those 10 points also moved him up to third in the title fight.

Webber brought the second Red Bull home in 7^th, being passed by Lewis and Perez towards the end. He looked on for a podium at one point but his tyres failed him and he couldn’t maintain the pace.

Nico Rosberg took the final point, he had taken a great pole position, but despite some brilliant defence couldn’t keep up and made a fourth stop that dropped him to 10^th. He looks like he can challenge Lewis, but results are not going for him at the moment.

Charles Pic delighted Caterham who brought some upgrades which resulted in him finishing ahead of both Marussia’s for the first time this year and Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber. Maybe Heikki Kovalainen’s appearance in first practice gave them a better direction too.

Back to Europe

So four races have gone, that is effectively a quarter of the season done already. Ferrari should have done better, but they have the car to challenge, Lotus is ready for a title challenge and Mercedes are lurking.

Force India are the surprise package while McLaren will be looking for their revisions in Spain to take them back to battling for wins. Sauber have disappointed, Williams have reversed while Toro Rosso look like they have untapped potential on occasion. Marussia and Caterham battle looks to be intensifying.

Red Bull look strong and you fear they have extra speed just waiting to be unleashed if the right tyre circumstances arrive but it’s still too close to call at the top... for now.

LAT and XPB photo's taken from autosport.com, all others from planetf1.com