Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) made it four different winners in four races so far in in 2012.

The German came out on top of a two-way fight with 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen who, much like his teammate Romain Grosjean, delivered a great performance for Lotus. They respectively finished second and third.

Both stormed through the field in the opening phase of the grand prix, Raikkonen eventually getting the upper hand over Grosjean.

The Finn gave Vettel a run for his money, but didn't have quite enough to get passed.

Behind, Mark Webber in the second Red Bull had yet another fourth place finish. He enjoyed a calm race, unlike Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), who crossed the line in fifth after dropping to ninth in a hairy first lap.

McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button won't keep a good souvenir of Sakhir.

A bad pitstop dropped Hamilton down the order – he had to settle for eighth after having started beside pole-sitter Vettel – while Button pulled into the pits in the second last lap, discouraged by an early puncture and some late mechanical problems.

Honourable mentions to Paul di Resta (Force India) who, thanks to a good strategy and a solid performance, briefly led a grand prix (for the first time) and to the two Ferrari drivers, Fernando Alonso who squeezed seventh out of his slow F2012 and Felipe Massa who, for once, was close to his teammate in terms of pace.

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) can also be proud of his effort. From 22nd on the grid, he managed to score 10th place's only point. So it was the 43-year-old who had the last laugh over Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn may have pushed Schumacher out of Q2, but at least the German picked up a point, while the best Kovalainen could pick up was a puncture.

Daniel Ricciardo's (Toro Rosso) promising qualifying run also didn't materialize into good race fortune. The Australian only finished 15th, even though, a day before, he had qualified sixth.

Source: AUTOSPORT.com



Race results – Bahrain Grand Prix
From ItaliaRacing.net

1 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 57 laps

2 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 3.3s

3 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E20-Renault) - 10.1s

4 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 38.7s
5 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W03) - 55.4s
6 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 57.5s
7 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F2012) - 57.8s
8 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 58.9s

9 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 1min04.9s

10 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1min11.4s
11 - Sergio Perez (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1min12.7s
12 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1min16.5s

13 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1min30.3s

14 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1min33.7s

15 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1 lap
16 - Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap
17 - Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap
18 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 2 laps
19 - Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 2 laps

20 - Pedro De La Rosa (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 2 laps

21 - Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 2 laps



Fastest lap by Sebastian Vettel 1min36.379s



Retirements
Lap 54 - Bruno Senna
Lap 26 - Pastor Maldonado
Lap 25 - Charles Pic



Drivers’ championship
1.Vettel 53; 2.Hamilton 49; 3.Webber 48; 4.Button, Alonso 43; 6.Rosberg 35; 7.Raikkonen 34; 8.Grosjean 23; 9.Perez 22; 10.Di Resta 15; 11.Senna 14; 12.Kobayashi 9; 13.Vergne, Maldonado 4; 15.Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Massa 2.



Constructors’ championship
1.Red Bull-Renault 101; 2.McLaren-Mercedes 92; 3.Lotus-Renault 57; 4.Ferrari 45; 5.Mercedes 37; 6.Sauber-Ferrari 31; 7.Williams-Renault 18; 8.Force India-Mercedes 17; 9.Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6