2012 Bahrain Grand Prix race results: Vettel takes the win!

Double World Champion Sebastian Vettel took his first win this season in a hot and exciting Bahrain Grand Prix to put himself on top of the World Drivers’ Championship.

Vettel capitalized on misatkes from McLaren to take the win ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean both in the Lotus. Kimi Raikkonen threatened Vettel’s position mid-way through the race but a slower pit stop and equal pace meant that 2nd was the best he can do.

Mark Webber took his fourth 4th position of the season with Nico Rosberg, who suffered a broken exhaust late in the race, behind him in 5th.

Paul Di Resta drove a fantastic race to snatch 6th ahead of Fernando Alonso in 7th and Lewis Hamilton, who had, not one, but 2 pit stop errors, in 8th.

Felipe Massa took his first points of the season, finishing 9th, with Michael Schumacher wrapping up the top 10 after a brilliant drive from 22nd on the grid.

Jenson Button who was set for a 7th place finish, retired just one lap before the end of the race due to a mechanical problem and a late puncture.


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h35:10.990
 2.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +     3.300
 3.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +    10.100
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    38.700
 5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    55.400
 6.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +    57.500
 7.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    57.800
 8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    58.900
 9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:04.900
10.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +  1:11.400
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:12.700
12.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +  1:16.500
13.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:30.300
14.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:33.700
15.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
17.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
18.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     1 lap
19.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
20.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
21.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
22.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +    3 laps