Fernando Alonso took his maiden win for the Ferrari team in Bahrain ahead of teammate Felipe Massa to make it a Ferrari 1-2.
It was a dominant race by Sebastian Vettel, that was until he suffered reliability problems on lap 35, a suspected exhaust issue, which saw both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa pass the Red Bull driver with ease, giving Alonso the lead.
Lewis Hamilton also managed to pass Vettel later in the race, dropping Vettel to fourth.
The start of the race saw Mark Webber’s engine cough oil smoke into the path of Kubica, who tagged Adrian Sutil causing the Force India driver to lose positions.
Karun Chandhok was caught out by the turn 6 bump which spun him into the barrier on the second lap, meanwhile his teammate, Bruno Senna suffered a hydraulic failure.
That was the same story for both Virgin cars who failed to make the end of the race.
The best newcomers being the Lotus team, with both cars managing to make the finish line, Kovalainen in P16 and Trulli in P17, although Trulli also suffered a hydraulic problem, which seems to be a common issue among the new teams.
Qualifying Times:
| # | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.20.396 |
| 02 | F. Massa | Ferrari | +16.099 |
| 03 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +23.182 |
| 04 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +38.713 |
| 05 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +40.263 |
| 06 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +44.180 |
| 07 | J. Button | McLaren | +45.260 |
| 08 | M. Webber | Red Bull | +46.308 |
| 09 | V. Liuzzi | Force India | +53.089 |
| 10 | R. Barrichello | Williams | +1:02.400 |
| 11 | R. Kubica | Renault | +1:09.093 |
| 12 | A. Sutil | Force India | +1:22.958 |
| 13 | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | +1:32.656 |
| 14 | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | +1 lap |
| 15 | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | +1 lap |
| 16 | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | +3 laps |
| 17 | J. Trulli | Lotus | +3 laps |
| 18 | P. de la Rosa | Sauber | +21 laps |
| 19 | B. Senna | Hispania | +32 laps |
| 20 | T. Glock | Virgin | +33 laps |
| 21 | V. Petrov | Renault | +36 laps |
| 22 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +38 laps |
| 23 | L. di Grassi | Virgin | +47 laps |
| 24 | K. Chandhok | Hispania | +48 laps |
(All timing unofficial)
