While a few put their money on the returning veteran Schumacher in Bahrain and a few others though it would be Red Bull to take home the laurels, it was Fernando Alonso from Ferrari who eventually managed to win the season opener in Bahrain.

Red Bull did run the show initially but it was an exhaust problem which pegged back the Red Bull driver’s advance on the F1 circuit. Sebastian Vettel was the pole sitter for the race but with reduced power he managed to finish fourth. The German driver considered himself lucky to finish the race but he thought he should have won it. For Massa, it was an emotional comeback after a career treating injury marred his prospects in the last edition of the F1 racing. Meanwhile, Rosberg managed to defeat Schumacher and finish fifth, just one place ahead of the seven time world champion.

Massa managed to get his first points in this year’s championship, after returning to one of his favorite race tracks and winning the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. He won it in 2007 and came back for another medal after big issues in the first two races this year, when he retired. “I love this circuit. I’ve always been very, very strong here. We knew we could count on a great car and that certainly proved to be the case,” Massa said. These are his first 10 points after failing to finish in Australia and Malaysia.

Second place, Kimi Raikkonen, wasn’t that happy (“It’s not bad” he said) for his second place, 3 seconds behind Massa, but the fact that he’s now the leader of the world championship brings satisfaction.

BMW did good, with Kubica in the third place Nick Heidfeld taking the fourth, 4.9 seconds behind the winner and respectively 8.4 seconds.

Lewis Hamilton made a mess of the race. Started third, inexplicably hit Fernando Alonso of Renault in the back and headed to the pits for repairs. He finished on the 13th spot.

Kovalainen of McLaren on fifth and Jarno Trulli from Toyota finished the top6.

Picture copyright : F1-Live