Bahrain – Race: Vettel wins after an eventful race

At the lights out, Alonso and Vettel have a very good start but Rosberg manages to maintain the lead. Alonso quickly overtakes Vettel, who fights back and regains his initial position. Sutil, having been hit, is slowing down. The yellow flag is then raised. Vettel challenges Rosberg on the straight but fails to overtake him. A duel between the two men ensues. Jean-Eric Vergne, in 16th place, suffers a puncture and is forced to pit.

At the 3rd lap, DRS is activated, Vettel and Alonso take advantage to pass Rosberg but the Spaniard can’t hold his position, with Rosberg taking back 2nd place. A little further back in the still tightly packed field, Pérez, Räikkönen, and Grosjean are battling for 6th place.

On the 5th lap, Alonso takes 2nd place, which is reclaimed by di Resta in the following lap. Rosberg, struggling with his tires, is overtaken by Massa, but this is followed by a series of technical issues for the Scuderia. Alonso is forced to pit due to a DRS problem as early as the 8th lap.

On the 9th lap, Webber pits and Massa passes Rosberg. Alonso makes another pit stop, with his rear wing remaining open. He comes out in 17th, far from the leading group. Rosberg and Button put on hard tires on the 10th lap and come out in 11th and 12th positions. The following lap, it’s Vettel, Massa, and Perez’s turn to change tires.

On the 13th lap, Vettel sets the fastest time and takes first place 2 laps later. Räikkönen makes his first hard tire change. Massa pits on the 18th lap and switches to medium tires, but the Brazilian loses time due to a problem with the right rear. Ferrari is in a nightmare, the driver rejoins in 15th place. Button is battling with Nico Rosberg for 3rd place. Vergne retires, his car being damaged.

On the 22nd lap, Button switches to hard tires and comes back behind Rosberg. The two McLarens, Pérez and Button, overtake the German on the 24th lap. A lap later, Alonso pits for the 3rd time and comes out on hard tires as well. Grosjean, then in 2nd, is overtaken by di Resta, but both drivers are more than 6 seconds behind Vettel. Grosjean switches to medium tires on the 28th lap and comes out behind Massa.

On the 30th lap, Button overtakes Pérez and thus takes the 5th place. During the overtaking maneuver, the Mexican touches his teammate’s rear wheel with his front wing. Three laps later, both McLaren drivers collide again. Pérez, pushed off the track, does not let Button get away. Grosjean takes advantage to overtake Pérez, resulting in a collision. Räikkönen catches up to di Resta and takes the 2nd place on the 34th lap. Grosjean also passes Button, who finds himself once again closely followed by Pérez.

On the 35th lap Räikkönen and Button pit to switch to hard tires. They are followed 2 laps later by di Resta. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race. Felipe Massa, who once again finds himself with a damaged right rear tire, is forced to stop at his pit.

At the 38th lap a battle is emerging between Webber, Button, and Rosberg. The Australian driver and the German collide in a corner. The incident will be reviewed after the race.

On the 44th lap, Grosjean temporarily climbs to 3rd place on the podium by overtaking Webber. Hamilton, Pérez, and Alonso are battling for 8th place. Alonso passes Pérez at the end of the straight on the 47th lap.

On the 49th lap, an incident occurs in the pits between Bianchi’s Marussia and Van Der Garde’s Caterham, which was released too early by his team. Paul di Resta, who had returned to the front, is overtaken by Romain Grosjean who will keep this position until the end.

5 laps from the finish, Webber, Alonso, and Pérez are battling for 6th place. Two laps later, Pérez pushes Alonso off the track to claim 7th place. In the final lap, Hamilton and Webber contend for 5th place, ultimately won by the Brit.

At the end of the race, it is Vettel who wins ahead of Räikkönen, Grosjean, di Resta, Hamilton, Pérez, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg, Button, Maldonado, Hülkenberg, Sutil, Bottas, Massa, Ricciardo, Pic, Gutiérrez, Bianchi, Chilton and Van Der Garde.

In the drivers’ championship, Vettel remains the leader with a 10-point lead over Räikkönen. Hamilton takes the 3rd place in the standings with 50 points, which is 7 points more than Alonso. In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull retains its first place but Lotus is now 16 points ahead of Ferrari.

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix Results: