Thread: Ferrari Wins 1st GP!

Fernando Alonso got his Ferrari career off to a glorious start by leading team-mate Felipe Massa to a comfortable one-two in the Bahrain Grand Prix - but only after Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull lost power while leading.

The German still managed to limp to the flag in fourth, with Lewis Hamilton benefiting from his problem to get on the podium for McLaren. The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher completed the top six.

Vettel had looked comfortable in the lead for most of the race, pulling out a five second advantage prior to the leaders' sole pitstops during laps 15 to 17.


Alonso had taken second from Massa through the first corners at the start, and then closed a little on Vettel by taking fresh tyres one lap sooner. He continued to chip away at the gap in the second half of the race, getting to within 1.5s and bringing Massa along with him, but Vettel seemed to have enough in hand to keep the Ferraris at bay. That suddenly changed at the start of lap 34 though, as Vettel abruptly slowed on the pits straight, reporting a loss of power that the team later diagnosed as an exhaust problem.

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h39:20.396
2. Massa Ferrari + 16.099
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 23.182
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 38.713
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 40.263
6. Schumacher Mercedes + 44.180
7. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 45.260
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 46.308
9. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 53.089
10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:02.400
11. Kubica Renault + 1:09.093
12. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:22.958
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:32.656
14. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 3 laps
17. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 3 laps