Vettel fends off Kimi for Victory

The Bahrain GP saw a return to form for Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel after a tricky first few races of 2012.  It wasn’t an easy victory for the reigning champion with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean running close behind in 2nd and 3rd for the second half of the race.  Kimi had a great chance to take the lead, but Vettel held him off and did the same when they pitted together too.

McLaren were no where near challenging up at the front, especially following not one, but two disastrous pit stops for Lewis Hamilton.  Ferrari had an average race, Massa scored his first points of the year with 9th, while Alonso enjoyed battles pretty much throughout the race to come home 7th, right behind Paul Di Resta who risked a 2-stop strategy to give Force India a solid bunch of points.  Rosberg limped across the line in 5th with a broken exhaust, while his team mate Schumacher picked up just 1 point for 10th after starting down in 22nd.

With Vettel’s victory and Webber’s solid 4th place, Red Bull have taken control of the Constructors Championship, just ahead of McLaren.  It’s the 4th time this year that Webber has finished 4th in 2012, such consistency leaves him 3rd in the Drivers Championship, just behind Lewis Hamilton, who’s run of podiums came to an end, allowing Sebastian Vettel back to the top of the table.