Sebastian Vettel wins Bahrain GP

 

• Raikkonen second, Grosjean third and Di Resta fourth
• Vettel extends overall lead to 10 points after four races

• Share1
• inShare0
• Email

• Paul Weaver in Bahrain
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 April 2013 14.55 BST
• Jump to comments (7)

Sebastian Vettel leads on his way to victory. Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters

Sebastian Vettel became the first double winner of the season here with a commanding win in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

He won with a lead of more than 10 seconds ahead of the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, with Paul Di Resta a creditable fourth.

In doing so he extended his lead at the top of the table to 10 points. "It was a beautiful race," he said. "The car was very quick. It just got better and better." But if Vettel's win, the 28th of his career, was a bit of an anti-climax there was some compelling action back in the field.

There were wheel to wheel clashes between Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso and – most memorably – between McLaren team-mates Pérez and Jenson Button.

Pérez won that battle, finishing sixth to Button's 10th. But at one stage Button, the 2009 champion, seemed rattled after being hit from behind by the Mexican. "He just hit me – calm him down," he appealed to his team. Red Bull boss Christian Horner must have enjoyed that after the team orders row in Malaysia.

Raikkonen continued his remarkable consistency with his third podium place in four races and this time he had some support from his team-mate. The previously-out-of-sorts Grosjean won his first podium spot of the year.

But it was a disastrous day for pre-race favourites Ferrari. Alonso had to stop twice in the same lap because of an issue with DRS flap, and eventually finished eighth, while Felipe Massa had a problem with his right rear wheel and finished 15th.

Hamilton won 10 points for his fifth place, finishing four places ahead of Nico Rosberg, who started from pole but was soon under pressure to relinquish the lead.