Scuderia Ferrari's 2010 championship got off to the best possible start as it secured maximum points when, after 49 laps, Fernando Alonso celebrated his race debut with the team as he crossed the line to take the chequered flag, to win the Bahrain Grand Prix. However it was a cruel start for Red Bull with Sebastian Vettel robbed of a race victory by a spark plug problem.
Equally happy was Felipe Massa, in a fine second place on his return to racing. It had not been as easy as it looked, because the Spaniard’s car had required a rapid engine change in the morning, and Massa had to nurse his car through much of the race with temperature problems.
Massa started from second place on the front row, with Alonso moving off the grid from third spot. As the lights went out to signal the start of the season, Vettel in the Red Bull led from pole and Alonso soon got the better of Massa to go second, making the most of being on the clean side of the track as he dived inside his team-mate.
Behind the Brazilian came Rosberg - Mercedes, Hamilton - McLaren, Schumacher - Mercedes, Webber - Red Bull, Button - McLaren, Liuzzi – Force India and Barrichello tenth for Williams. Chandok crashed out in the HRT on lap 2 and Di Grassi’s Virgin was out one lap later. By lap 4, Vettel led Fernando by 2.3s with Felipe a further 1.9 behind, the Brazilian having a 2.8 lead over Rosberg.
The best battle in the early stages was Hamilton chasing Rosberg for fourth place and, in his efforts to catch Alonso, Massa set the quickest lap of the race so far on lap 9.
On lap 12, it fell to Bruno Senna to have the honour of making the first planned pit stop under the non-refuelling rules.
By lap fourteen, Vettel was pulling away from the Ferrari men before Alonso pitted on lap 16 at the same time as Rosberg, Webber, Button and Liuzzi.
One lap later, the race leader and Massa came into pit lane and when they were all back on track, the order at the front was unchanged, with Vettel 3.5 ahead of Alonso and Massa almost four seconds down on his team-mate. Behind them came Liuzzi and Barrichello, yet to pit, Hamilton, Rosberg, Schumacher, Button and Webber tenth.
On lap 19 it was Massa’s turn to set a fastest lap and by lap 24, the two F10s were separated by just 1.7. On lap 29, Alonso was the quickest man on track as he began to close on Vettel.
Judging from the sound of the engine in the Red Bull, the German driver was in some sort of difficulty and by lap 33 of the 49 lap race, Alonso was right on his tail, taking the lead one lap later and Massa moving up to second. Lewis Hamilton also got past the slowing Vettel and from then to the flag, the podium positions were fixed.
Alonso was thrilled to have won on debut in Ferrari and dedictated the win to the Ferrari president.
“I want to dedicate this victory to President Montezemolo, who believed in me and to our mechanics who did a really great job, especially this morning, when they changed the engine on my car in a very short time" said the Spaniard.
"Jumping onto the top step of the podium was a special feeling and I hope I have matched the expectations of the whole team. We worked so much this winter and now we are beginning to see the results of that.
"The first races of the season are very important: we must get to the European part of the year with a lot of points in the bag and a high level of understanding of how the tyres work at various types of track. The key to winning will be to continue to develop the car race by race.
"Today, on the harder tyres, we went very well, but with the softer ones, I was struggling a bit to stay close to Vettel. I was planning to attack in the final ten laps, but luck gave me a hand: you always need a bit in every race.
"At the start, I got away well, making the most of being on the clean side of the track and I managed to pass Felipe, going for a space that was big enough to pull off the move without any risk. Then I was lucky not to have any problems with the car, while my team-mate had a more difficult time and had to ease up a bit. Now it’s time to think about Australia. We will see who has the best car at that track, but I think the four top teams will all be in the fight.”
Behind the happy three came, Vettel, Rosberg, Schumacher in the points on his return in sixth place, then under the new points system, Button, Webber, Liuzzi and Barrichello also score as the table now goes down to tenth place.
Sadly for Vettel it was only 4th place after the German driver had had 33 good, solid laps of the 49 in the race after starting on pole, before he complained over the team radio of a lack of power. It was diagnosed as a spark plug problem and the result was a slide down the rankings to eventually finish fourth.
It was a cruel end to his afternoon – especially as the Red Bull mechanics had managed a pitstop almost half a second quicker than other teams.
His team-mate and Aussie Mark Webber finished eighth. Smoke had poured out of his car over the first lap, but it was not as serious as it first appeared and the Aussie drove a solid race, just being pipped to the flag by world champion Jenson Button.
Bahrain GP result - 49 laps
1. ALONSO Ferrari
2. MASSA Ferrari +16.0s
3. HAMILTON McLaren +23.1s
4. VETTEL Red Bull +38.7s
5. ROSBERG Mercedes +40.2s
6. SCHUMACHER Mercedes +44.1s
7. BUTTON McLaren +45.2s
8. WEBBER Red Bull +46.3s
9. LIUZZI Force India +53.0s
10. BARRICHELLO Williams +62.4s
11. KUBICA Renault +69.0s
12. SUTIL Force India +82.9s
13. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +92.6s
14. HULKENBERG Williams +1 lap
15. KOVALAINEN Lotus +2 laps
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso +3 laps
17. TRULLI Lotus +3 laps
R. DE LA ROSA Sauber +21 laps
R. SENNA HRT +32 laps
R. GLOCK Virgin +33 laps
R. PETROV Renault +36 laps
R. KOBAYASHI Sauber +38 laps
R. DI GRASSI Virgin +47 laps
R. CHANDHOK HRT +48 laps
