Bahrain Grand Prix (2013) RESULT

Nico Rosberg put in a cracking lap in qualifying for the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix to take pole position, but the Mercedes did look like it might have problems with tyre degradation in the race.

With Sebastian Vettel lurking alongside and Fernando Alonso right behind, it was a big ask for the German to turn his pole position in to a win, and so it transpired.

Alonso managed to briefly get past Vettel at the start of the race, but Vettel soon got his second place back and within a couple of laps had taken Rosberg for the lead. Alonso ran in third for a time, but two pit stops to fix his DRS put paid to any chance of challenging for a podium finish and Massa fared little better after a puncture put him down the order.

With Rosberg suffering the expected tyre degradation in the Mercedes and the Ferraris out of the running after their problems, it was Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus and Paul di Resta in the Force India – both on a two-stop strategy – that took the fight to Vettel.

But Vettel ahd pulled out enough of a lead to come out in front of Raikkonen after his final pit stop, with Kimi having to settle for second place. Paul di Rest, unfortunately, lost out on his first podium finish as he lost his third place to the Lotus of Grosjean in the closing laps.

Hamilton, who started ninth after a grid penalty for a gearbox change, had a difficult race as the Mercedes suffered with its tyres, but despite that he managed to get his car in to fifth place behind di Resta.

Sergio Perez had his best race so far for McLaren and, despite starting behind Button on the grid managed to fight past Jenson (who finished in tenth – where he started the race) and take sixth place  with the Red Bull of Mark Webber taking seventh after suffering tyre problems near the end and the trouble Alonso taking ninth place.

It’s the second win of the season for Vettel (and a lot last controversial than the win in Malaysia) and the Red Bull looked so comfortable we could soon see the dominance of the last few years returning.

By Cars UK