Sebastian Vettel took his first win of the season in Bahrain after starting from pole position, marking a strong recovery for the Red Bull team.
The German had to hold off a strong charge from Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen who finished just three seconds off the lead in second, but had looked promising for the win.
It was a Lotus 2-3 with Romain Grosjean taking the final podium position, albeit a distant seven seconds behind Raikkonen.
Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg rounded off the top five cars with the former taking his fourth fourth position, whilst the latter is under investigation for some questionable moves on both Lewis Hamilton (8th) and Fernando Alonso (7th). The result of those two investigations are expected after the race.
Hamilton will be wanting answer from his team after three slow stops took any chance of a victory or podium away, ending his consistent podium run.
Felipe Massa secured his first points of the 2012 season after finishing 9th ahead of Michael Schumacher who drove a strong recovery race from 22nd to take the final point.
Jenson Button retired from 12th after suffering a gearbox issue, but had been running in 6th prior to a slow puncture.
Williams will be disappointed with a double DNF following their good form in China last weekend.
2012 Bahrain GP Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 25 | |
| 02. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +3.333 | 18 |
| 03. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | +10.194 | 15 |
| 04. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +38.788 | 12 |
| 05. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +55.460 | 10 |
| 06. | P. di Resta | Force India | +57.543 | 8 |
| 07. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +57.803 | 6 |
| 08. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +58.984 | 4 |
| 09. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +1:04.999 | 2 |
| 10. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +1:11.490 | 1 |
| 11. | S. Perez | Sauber | +1:12.702 | |
| 12. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +1:16.539 | |
| 13. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +1:30.334 | |
| 14. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | +1:33.723 | |
| 15. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | +1 lap | |
| 16. | V. Petrov | Caterham | +1 lap | |
| 17. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | +1 lap | |
| 18. | J. Button | McLaren | +2 laps | |
| 19. | T. Glock | Marussia | +2 laps | |
| 20. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | +2 laps | |
| 21. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | +2 laps | |
| 22. | B. Senna | Williams | +3 laps | |
| 23. | P. Maldonado | Williams | ||
| 24. | C. Pic | Marussia |
