Looking back on the weekend, although i didn't agree with the race being held and issues did arise that made me think why and earth F1 was there, one thing is for certain: the Bahraini people were able to express themselves and be heard on an international scale as the Grand Prix drew attention to the country, unfortunately like many others have already said, now the GP is over the spotlight will more than likely move away from Bahrain.
The hot conditions of the desert are not for the faint hearted, however spits of rain and a cooler temperature on sunday wasn't what the teams were expecting... can you believe it rains in the desert too?!
Lap 1 and it was pole sitter Sebastian Vettel that got a speedy start to break away from the pack. Daniel Ricciardo had an awful start from 6th to 17th where he stayed for the majority of the race, battling with Caterham's Vitaly Petrov.
Heikki Kovalainen had another poor start getting in to contact with another car, he got a right-rear puncture and had to trail off for a very early pit stop.
The most surprising start was by Felipe Massa, he had a good race managing to stay fighting for points, good results is something the Brazilian definitely needs.
The Lotus pair obviously had their weetabix in the morning and were both flying out on the track, Grosjean swiftly passing Hamilton for 2nd place while Raikkonen raced hard to make up places from Jenson Button and Mark Webber.
It all went wrong for Hamilton after a disasterous pit stop - problems with the wheel nut's arised again, shaking his head he eventually rejoined the track, the chances of a podium now a distant memory. After one terrible pit stop to another, Hamilton's second stop later in the race was equally as bad and McLaren will have to investigate what has happened with their pitstops over the last few races, they need to improve them as they cannot afford to lose another race from (to a certain extent) an avoidable problem.
Nico Rosberg was a bit naughty on Lap 10 after barging Hamilton off the race track, who made a bold move keeping his foot down, over taking the German. For Rosberg to pull out the same move on Alonso a few laps later however the Spaniard was not happy and radioed through and angry message to his pit crew. However he then went on to kick up controversy himself after he looked as if he was following a Sauber in to the pits and at the last second decides against it and rejoins the race, a dangerous move but both Rosberg and Alonso who's incidents were investigated after the race, got let off the hook.
After the weekends antics at Force India - getting caught up in a protest, missing FP2, coincidently not being shown in quali - Paul Di Resta had a storming race, led for one lap and managed to hold his ground with the big guns, the talented Scot finished up the race in 6th, an excellent result for him and the team!
The first retirement of the race was Pastor Maldonado after a left-rear puncture showing some 360 degree skill on the track puffing up a lot smoke, he slowly peeled off to the pits to reitre the car.
Back at the front, after Kimi was able to overtake teammate Grosjean, he cut down the gap to leader Vettel to 1.1 seconds. The iceman blew his one chance of taking the lead though and the world champion built up a gap between the Finn.
Near the end of the race Williams' last remaning driver, Bruno Senna, had to reitre in the pits. Jenson Button also had to retire on Lap 56; he had a very sick sounding exhaust.
Sebastian Vettel won his first race of the season, joining him on the podium were both Lotus drivers, Kimi Raikkonen, his first podium on return to the sport and Romain Grojean his first podium in F1 not bad for a rookie and a superb race by all.
RESULTS:
Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel: 1:36.379
PODIUM:
[1st-Sebastian Vettel, 2nd-Kimi Raikkonen, 3rd-Romain Grosjean]
Next Up:
Formula 1 takes another 3 week break (can't say i'm a massive fan of these *long* breaks) the next race is in Barcelona but there's an upcoming test in Mugello, Italy which will take place before. I personally can't wait to see F1 cars around Mugello, i really like the track, always enjoy watching the MotoGP round at the circuit.
Talking of MotoGP back to back races start this weekend, first up Spain this weekend!
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