Bahrain Grand Prix Review

Lewis Hamilton suffered a suspension failure in the morning practice session, it was fixed in time and he was ready for this 1 hour session. After the problems with Qualifying last weekend in China, many were hoping for a good session with plenty of action. Here is how the session panned out.

Qualifying Report:

It was a slow start once again in the first session, but once the cars did appear on track, it was Force India looking the surprise and very strong. McLaren were looking slow compared to the front runners, the grip seemingly not there. Many expected the McLaren’s to be struggling this weekend and that did appear to be the case at this early stage. Williams managed to set exactly the same times in the first session, Bottas set the time first, meaning Maldonado was behind, and out of Q1. The young Finn is much stronger throughout every session this season.

The second session started with drama down at Marussia. A vapour fire broke out and was quickly extinguished, the team suffered the same problem during FP3. But out on track it was Force India once again looking strong. Lotus had the pace also, Kimi Raikkonen was a real force, he out qualified his teammate. McLaren continued to struggle, they were in real danger and Sergio Perez didn’t make the top 10, but Jenson Button did, his radio message proved how happy he was, underlining the lack of performance this weekend.

The final shoot out session started slowly, but thankfully we did see all 10 cars on track to set a time. Ferrari used the hard tyre to the surprise of some, Fernando Alonso tried for a better second lap, but a few errors meant he abandoned it. Amazingly it was Nico Rosberg who was fastest overall, he took a surprise Pole Position in the desert of Bahrain. The Mercedes really wasn’t expected to be the fastest car. After Qualifying Nico did tell the media that he expected them to fall back during the race. There were some penalties to consider after Qualifying.

Starting Grid

1: Rosberg Mercedes
2: Vettel Red Bull
3: Alonso Ferrari
4: Massa Ferrari
5: DiResta Force India
6: Sutil Force India
7: Webber Red Bull Penalty
8: Raikkonen Lotus
9: Hamilton Mercedes Penalty
10: Button McLaren
11: Grosjean Lotus
12: Perez McLaren
13: Ricciardo Toro Rosso
14: Hulkenberg Sauber
15: Bottas Williams
16: Vergne Toro Rosso
17: Maldonado Williams
18: Pic Caterham
19: Bianchi Marussia
20: Van Der Garde Caterham
21: Chilton Marussia
22: Gutierrez Sauber Penalty

Race Report:

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

As the sun was beating down on grid, the excitement was building up for the start of the race. As the 5 lights went out Rosberg and Vettel got away well, scrapping all the way to the first turn. The Ferrari of Alonso got the jump on the RedBull into the corner. Force India had a great start with both drivers, Sutil however got too close to Felipe Massa in turn 4, they made contact breaking the Ferrari’s front wing and puncturing the rear tyre of Adrian Sutl. It was a slow lap for the German back to the pitlane, Massa was also able to continue. Meanwhile it was all going on up front with Vettel storming past Alonso in turn 5, almost running wide. It was a sensational move with an electric start to the Grand Prix. Remarkably Rosberg was able to keep the charging RedBull at bay, at least for the moment. Vettel was all over the back of the Mercedes as they were ducking and darting all over the track, it was fascinating to watch. Fernando Alonso was just behind pushing and looking for any opportunity. Vettel took the lead on lap 3, swooping past the Mercedes into turn 5. It was a determined move and the pace of the RedBull was showing immediately with the clear track.

The McLaren’s had a good start to the race, and in the opening laps were battling with the RedBull of Mark Webber and the Lotus cars. Perez was holding off Raikkonen while Button ahead was challenging Webber, it was a good scrap between the Brit and the Australian. Jenson’s former teammate Lewis Hamilton didn’t have a good start after falling back behind Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean who had poor starts, but the whole pack were bunched together, it really was shaping up to be an extraordinary race.

Fernando Alonso made it past Rosberg eventually and began hunting down Vettel who was once again building a lead ahead. Paul DiResta mounted a charge too, he also overtook the Mercedes, Nico Rosberg was beginning to fall back. The Force India was catching the Ferrari, Alonso had to defend from the Scotsman. Felipe Massa on the other hand was charging up to the Mercedes, even with a broken front wing from his earlier contact. Ferrari faced bigger issues as the DRS failed on Fernando Alonso’s car and there was no option but to pit and fix it, but as he went back out on track and deployed the system once again, it failed for the second time. Another pitstop followed to fix it and Alonso was now without DRS for the remaining 49 laps of the race. It put an end to any challenge on the Red Bull as he rejoined in 17th position.

Surely things couldn’t get worse for the famous Italian legends, but they did. This time it was Felipe Massa with a delaminating rear tyre. It was almost the same as Lewis Hamilton on Saturday morning, the tyre didn’t fail totally, but it was certainly in need of changing. The Brazilian driver came into the pits and it was a quick stop, there was no front wing change as the damage was still clearly visible after the earlier incident. He rejoined but the lightning struck twice. on Lap 32 he had yet another tyre problem, this time it was a complete failure and he made his way into the pits once again. Ferrari’s race was well and truly destroyed with DRS and tyre failures. I honestly believe that with the pace of the Ferrari, Alonso could have challenged Vettel for the lead if it wasn’t for his DRS failure.

Later in the race the McLaren’s were really battling hard for position and it wouldn’t be for the last time in the race. They were going for it hammer and tong, scintillating racing to watch. Sergio Perez made contact with teammate Button but luckily for the young Mexican it didn’t do too much damage. It was great to see a team allow their drivers to race so closely and without team orders interfering. Romain Grosjean took full advantage in the Lotus and he passed both McLaren’s as he was slicing his way through the field in a very strong car. The Lotus had great race pace and both drivers were taking advantage. The feisty Frenchman went on to overtake the Force India of Paul DiResta for third place. It was a fantastic performance and great to see him back on good form once again.

But it was a supreme performance from Sebastian Vettel, he won the Bahrain Grand Prix in dominant fashion in the Red Bull. Kimi Raikkonen came home second with teammate Romain Grosjean in third. It was exactly the same podium as last years race. This race was full of drama and excitement from start to finish, possibly the best race this season so far.

Tom Wilkinson’s Post Race Pointers:

Driver of the day for me was between Alonso and Grosjean, firstly the way Fernando Alonso drove back through the pack to finish 8th without the use of DRS was quite simply incredible. Romain Grosjean is back on good form which is fantastic, to start 11th and finish 3rd is a great result for the Frenchman.

It was a strong team performance from Lotus after choosing the right strategy, it worked very well and certainly was the right choice.

A note must be made also of Sergio Perez. The way he was battling with Button in only his 4th race at McLaren was just superb, this shows he’s a driver to watch out for. Great skill and very respectful also of his teammate, leaving enough room, it was good hard fair racing.

There is a 3 week break to the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, you can join me on Twitter @TomWilkinsonF1 for all the latest F1 news and information.

Read all my reports right here at Driving For Pleasure.