Ahead of returning teammante Felipe Massa 

Fernando Alonso completed a famous debut for Ferrari by claiming victory in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and heading a 1-2 result for the Scuderia.

 

The Spaniard ensured that he was best placed to take advantage of the problems that beset pole winner Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages after using the outside line at turn one on the opening lap to supplant Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa into turn two. From there, the pair kept a watching brief in second and third, although Vettel initially pulled out a five-second lead.

After the pit-stops, however, the gap to the leader began to shrink at a rapid rate and, when Vettel reported a loss of power believed to have been due to an exhaust problem, Alonso was able to sweep past heading onto the start-finish straight on lap 34. Massa soon followed his team-mate through, but had no answer to the Spaniard as Alonso pulled out a 16-second victory margin in the remaining 15 laps.

While the Prancing Horse galloped on, however, the increasingly lame Vettel also fell prey to Lewis Hamilton, and only just managed to hold off countryman Nico Rosberg on the final lap to confirm fourth place.

Rosberg duly headed high-profile Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher, who marked his return with sixth place, coming home ahead of reigning world champion Jenson Button and Mark Webber, who lost a strong starting spot when his Red Bull began belching oil smoke on the opening lap. The ensuing cloud accounted for both Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil;, who touched and spun away top ten starts.

In their place, accepting the newly created scoring places in ninth and tenth, were Sutil’s Force India team-mate Tonio Liuzzi and Williams veteran Rubens Barrichello. Kubica and Sutil recovered to eleventh and twelfth.

The only one of the new teams to make the chequered flag was Lotus, for whom Heikki Kovalainen finished a respectable 15th.

Alonso wins first race of 2010 season

Fernando Alonso on Sunday won his first race for Ferrari. The Spaniard drove past pole sitter Sebastian Vettel during the season opening Bahrain grand prix when the leading Red Bull developed an exhaust problem.

With reduced power, German Vettel was able to finish fourth.

“Luckily I could continue but we should have won really,” the 22-year-old told the BBC.

Felipe Massa, who was passed by Alonso on the first lap, had strong pace at Sakhir but was passed by Alonso on the first lap.

He was emotional on his return to F1 after his recovery from injury.

“I was saving fuel for the last 30 laps,” said the Brazilian, at the end of the first grand prix since 1993 with no in-race refuelling.

Nico Rosberg completed his impressive clean-sweep of beating Michael Schumacher this weekend by finishing one place ahead of the seven time world championship in fifth.

World champion Jenson Button, and Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber, were just seventh and eighth.

Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir – Race results

Fernando Alonso heads Ferarri 1-2 in opening race of the 2010 F1 season.

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 49 laps 1hr 39m 20.396s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 16.0s
3. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 23.1s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 38.7s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 40.2s
6. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 44.1s
7. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 45.2s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 46.3s
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 53.0s
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +01m 02.4s

11. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +01m 09.0s
12. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +01m 22.9s
13. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 32.6s
14. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
15. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth +2 laps

Rtd Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 46 laps completed
Rtd Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 46 laps completed
Rtd Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 28 laps completed
Rtd Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 17 laps completed
Rtd Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 16 laps completed
Rtd Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 13 laps completed
Rtd Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 11 laps completed
Rtd Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 2 laps completed
Rtd Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 1 lap completed

Fastest lap:

Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 58.287s lap 45

More details and driver’s comments to follow

surce Flagworld /crash.net / GMM