Vettel wins in Bahrainposted in F122 | 04 | 2012

DOUBLE WORLD CHAMP Sebastien Vettel returned to winning ways today when he dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix in his Red Bull. And Scotland's Paul di Resta equalled his best-ever Formula One result when he finished sixth for Sahara Force India.

And the 26-year-old from Bathgate notched another landmark in his career when he led an F1 grand prix for the first time.

Vettel though, who struggled through the opening three race, was in imperious form. Starting from pole, the young German led from start-to-finish — excluding pitstops — to claim the 22nd F1 win of his career.

Behind him, Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen, who started 11th, and team-mate Romain Grosjean, completed the podium. It was the first time two Lotus drivers had finished on an F1 podium since 1979. Aussie Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull.

Nico Rosberg finished fifth on the track, though the Mercedes drivers faces the prospect of penalties from the stewards following two 'blocking' incidents involving first McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, then Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

See more photos of Paul di Resta in action in Bahrain today

The Spaniard finished seventh behind Di Resta, with Hamilton — who lost around 18 second with rear-left tyre problems in two pitstops — eighth.

With the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa ninth, the top 10 was rounded out by Michael Schumacher. The seven-times world champ had started the race from 17th in his Mercedes.

Vettel, meanwhile, was understandably delighted with the result, though he admitted he expects the remainder of the season to be tough.

"I'm very happy we made it to the victory here," Vettel, who became the fourth winner in the opening four races this season, said. "We were not quite sure how competitive we would be.

"It's a very tight season, the cars are very close to each other and small things can make a huge difference on a Sunday.

"I think we started the season saying the McLaren is the fastest car by quite a bit, but we've seen that on Sunday it can be a different picture. I think they still have one of the strongest packages.

Paul di Resta starts 10th in Bahrain

"But you need to get everything right, you need to have the right tyres, you need to treat them right, you need to find the right set-up through the course of the weekend, so a lot of things to look out for."

Raikkonen though, who delivered his best result in his comeback year, believes that he will be in with a chance to win grands prix again this season.

"Of course I wanted to win, and would have been much happier in myself if I had won," the 32-year-old Finn admitted, "but nevertheless, the team deserved what they got and hopefully we can put ourselves in this position more often.

"We had the car already in the first three races to be up there, but we made some small mistakes and it cost us too much.

"Today wasn't far away. I really should have made it, but I didn't, so like I said, hopefully we can put ourselves in this position more often to have a chance. But we have to work hard and improve certain areas of the car and I'm sure we can be up there more often and try to get the win."

Raikkonen admitted he had one chance to overtake Vettel for the lead, but made the wrong decision.

"We got one try on Sebastian but I couldn't use it because I chose the wrong side and then my tyres dropped off and that was it," he continued. "I pretty much knew that was my only chance."

Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix — Results (Provisional):

1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h 35:10.990mins;

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.

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1min 36.379secs

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Jim McGill

Photo: Getty Images