By Ros Satar
Force India’s Paul di Resta narrowly missed out on his first podium finish, but equalled his career best by finishing fourth in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
In an exact match of the top 4 finishers last year, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won, having moved on pole sitter Nico Rosberg early in the race, and never really lost his position.
Vettel was followed in by the two Lotusdrivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.
Di Resta was followed in by Lewis Hamilton who ended the race in a thrilling to-and-fro contest with Mark Webber, coming back at him finally in the last few laps.
Hamilton had to start ninth on the grid after having to replace a gear box, damaged when he suffered a left-rear tyre failure.
For most of the race, Hamilton was largely left to his own devices, before ending with some great driving against Webber.
Jenson Button, on the other hand, had mixed fortunes, having made some good progress during the race, moving from his grid position of 10th as far up as third, picking off Rosberg, in the process.
Button and McLaren team-mate Sergio Perez also had some thrilling racing between them, with Perez just clipping the back of his teammate.
Button radioed in: “Calm him down”.
By Lap 46, though, Button’s race was all but done, being taken by Perez and dropping further down the order, and he did well to finish in the points at 10th.
Barcelona, and car updates cannot come fast enough for McLaren.
Marussia’s Max Chilton finished one place up in 20th place.