Bahrain F1: Vettel wins in deja vu 2012 podium as he is joined by Raikkonen and Grosjean

Sakhir, April 21, 2013 – The 2013 Formula 1® Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix delivered the most nail-biting race yet seen at the Home of Motorsport in the Middle East. Red Bull’s triple world champion Sebastian Vettel triumphed, claiming his second consecutive victory in the Kingdom, while the rest of the field delivered an outstanding spectacle in the battle for points-winning positions.

Holding second place at the start behind pole man Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes, Vettel saw off a stern challenge from Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and then hounded down the leader. At the start of lap 3 the Red Bull made a robust move on Rosberg for the lead into Turn 1 and Vettel set off to build a comfortable lead which did not come under serious threat to the end.

As a measure of how competitive the race was overall, however, there were 35 overtaking moves successfully completed on track in the course of the 57 laps. Remarkably the man who made the most on-track passes was Fernando Alonso, with five, despite losing his DRS aerodynamic aid early in the race. In contrast Nico Rosberg had the worst afternoon on track, as he was passed 12 times.

The fast and furious action concealed one team taking a more measured approach to the race: Lotus. Both the 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and his team-mate Sebastien Grosjean kept themselves clear of the most frenetic action and nursed their tyres to progress from eighth and eleventh place on the grid to finish second and third – making this year’s podium the mirror image of 2012.

Sebastian Vettel – “It was good fun at the beginning with some very tight wheel to wheel racing. At the start you don’t know if you will be quick or not, as everyone is a bit all over the place, including yourself! It’s important to get to the front; we saw at the last race that if you get stuck behind someone then it does have an impact on tyre wear and today it was important to make use of the tyres we had saved from qualifying yesterday. I love to be in clean air, so I was pushing hard to get into the lead and, with the speed we had mid-race, it was quite comfortable today. Well done to the whole team, to everyone here, to the factory in the background and especially to those who were working on the strategy today; it worked just as we expected, so we obviously got the numbers right.”

The star of the show for many fans was Paul di Resta in his Force India, who finished fourth after electing to follow Lotus’s strategy and conserve his tyres. Despite losing third place to Grosjean in the final stages, the Scot was thrilled to score ForceIndia’s best result of the season so far.

Next up behind di Resta were the swashbuckling sextet of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Sergio Perez (McLaren), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Jenson Button (McLaren). This gaggle delivered the lion’s share of the on-track action and brought the crowd of 28,000 to its feet for lap after lap.

Of the six rivals, it was the two McLaren team-mates who came closest to disaster as their battle for track position grew particularly fierce. On lap 30 the Mexican youngster Perez lunged at his English team-mate going into Turn 1 and hit the back of the car, causing Button to demand that the team ‘calm him down’ over the radio.

When Perez tried again by going around the outside of Button two laps later, he found himself being eased off the road completely as Button let his feelings be known.

Speaking after the race, Button said: “He was too aggressive. You don’t expect your team-mate to do that at 200mph. I don’t think I’m the only one to feel like that.”

Kimi Räikkönen-“You’re never really happy if you don’t win, but I suppose second place is as close as you can get. I drove to the maximum and the car had the pace that we missed in qualifying yesterday so it was a pretty good result. We didn’t have the speed to challenge Sebastian [Vettel] today but we did have the pace to get both cars on the podium so I’m happy for the team.”

Romain Grosjean-“It’s great to be back on the podium and it’s a fantastic result for the team. It hasn’t been an easy start to the season for me, but we made good progress through the weekend and are now back to where we should be. I felt much more comfortable in the car and the result today is a deserved reward for everyone after all our hard work. It was a really enjoyable race with a lot of overtaking and a couple of tense moments along the way, so to come from P11 through to the podium is really satisfying. We’ve had consistency already, finishing every race in the points, but now it’s the big results we’re chasing and this is a very good start to that challenge.”

Only one car retired from the 22 starters; that being the Scuderia Toro Rosso entry of Jean-Eric Vergne, which found itself in the midst of the midfield melee on the opening lap and was forced to retire with accident damage. With so many cars finishing it meant that Williams, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Caterham and Marussia come away from the Kingdom with no points to show for their efforts.

GP2 topped the bill among the support races as the aspiring Formula 1® stars of tomorrow and delivered a thrilling finish in which victory fell toBritain’s Sam Bird by just 0.08 seconds. Bird’s first win, and that for his Russian Time team, came after second place man Felipe Nasr hunted him down on better preserved tyres.

On their first appearance in the schedule for the Formula 1® Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, the all-new Formula Middle East contenders showed that there is plenty to look forward to from this new regional series. Once again, British racer Emil Bernstorff took a lights-to-flag win in a race which saw Alban Varutti and Michela Cerruti join him on the podium.

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa joined with the 73,000 fans to have attended the three days of this year’s race, and presented the trophy to Sebastian Vettel for winning the 2013 Formula 1® Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

On behalf of the Bahrain International Circuit, BIC Chairman said: “As ever, we have had exceptional support for the race, and the crowds we have seen over the weekend have been a real demonstration of that… I would especially like to thank all those who have made the race possible, including the relevant authorities, as well as the staff at the BIC, for all their hard work in the months and weeks leading up to the race.

Many thousands of fans remained in place in the F1® Village as darkness fell and the closing concert brought the weekend of family-focused entertainment to a close. Both DJ to the stars, Calvin Harris, and Grammy-winning R’n’B sensation Ne-Yo proved to be a huge hit and ensured exceptional value from every Grand Prix ticket.

Ending the 2013 Formula 1® Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on such a high note, the staff and fans of motor sport inBahraincan look forward to plenty of circuit and drag racing action in the months ahead, including the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours ofBahrainand CIK-FIA U18 World Championships in November.

Paul Di Resta, Force India  –“It’s great to round off the fly-away races with a fourth place and a race that was probably my strongest Grand Prix. The podium was very close, but with our strategy we were always going to be vulnerable at the end of the race – especially to Grosjean who had two new sets of medium tyres. I had a good start to the race, a strong opening stint and we showed our true speed today, but ultimately fourth place was the maximum that was possible. We will get on the podium one day, hopefully soon, but for now we can be very happy with the points we’ve scored today. A big thanks to the whole team because it’s been an excellent weekend and I feel we managed to get 100% out of the car.”