Sebastian Vettel eases to victory ahead of Lotus drivers at Bahrain GP

Sebastian Vettel dominated an action-packed Bahrain Grand Prix to take his second victory of the season with Kimi Raikkonen second and Romain Grosjean (sob) third.

Vettel was involved in a tense battle at the start of the race with Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg, but once he emerged in the lead from the exit of turn four on lap three, he looked unbeatable. Alonso looked likely to be his closest rival but his race was ruined when his DRS flap stuck open. He had to make an early pit stop to fix it but the problem emerged again and he pitted once more. Impressively, he managed to fight back to 8th without the use of DRS to limit the damage to his championship challenge

Raikkonen filled the void behind Vettel by expertly managing a two-stop strategy on a day when the likes of Rosberg and Jenson Button had to make four stops. Romain Grosjean also made use of Lotus’ tyre management to finish on the podium, running a three-stop strategy that gave him fresher tyres to attack at the end of the race.

Paul di Resta, on a two stopper, lost out on a podium as a result and had to settle for fourth after a very accomplished drive. Lewis Hamilton recovered from his grid penalty to finish fifth but had a tight battle with Mark Webber in the closing laps, with the Red Bull then losing another position to Sergio Perez on the last lap.

Behind Alonso in eighth, the four-stop strategies for Rosberg and Button left them ninth and tenth.

Vettel was in a hurry to hit the front from the outset.

He forced polesitter Nico Rosberg to defend heavily off the line, and although Fernando Alonso managed to get his Ferrari between them around the outside, Vettel surged back into second with a bold move at Turn 5.

Vettel then pounced on Rosberg’s Mercedes into Turn 4 on lap two, only to run wide. Next time around he made the move stick, and thereafter inched away towards an ever-more certain victory.

Alonso was soon up to second but his DRS flap jammed open. He made an emergency pitstop to fix it, but the problem reoccurred. By lap nine, he was 19th, had made two pitstops and knew he would be without DRS all afternoon.

With Alonso out of contention, the best of the rest battle became a contest between di Resta and Raikkonen, both two-stopping compared to most frontrunners’ three.

Di Resta looked to be best-placed until his final stop, when Raikkonen vaulted him, having stopped sooner.

Force India remained on course for third for a while, but Grosjean was looming. The three-stopping Frenchman saved his medium tyres for the final stint and was able to hunt down and pass di Resta, who had to settle for fourth.

The rest of the top 10 featured wild racing all afternoon, with an abundance of side by side and wheel to wheel action as different strategies unfolded and different cars found pace at different junctures.

Lewis Hamilton crept forward after a low-key start and finally grabbed fifth.

Sergio Perez produced by far his most combative performance for McLaren yet. He was embroiled in a long dice with team-mate Jenson Button and the fading Rosberg, which featured contact between the McLarens and anxious radio messages on more than one occasion.

Despite losing a front wing endplate against his team-mate’s car, Perez finished sixth, joining Hamilton in passing Mark Webber on the final lap.

Webber had been a podium threat for a spell, before falling back on his final set of tyres.

Alonso fought through to eighth despite his lack of DRS, with Rosberg and Button forced to four-stop and ending up ninth and 10th.

Felipe Massa suffered two right rear punctures and was only 15th. He had also made contact with Adrian Sutil on lap one, causing a puncture for the Force India driver, who made it back up to 13th.