A dream start for Fernando Alonso with his new team Ferrari
Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari one-two on his debut for the team to make a stunning start to the new Formula One season.
Alonso produced the defining move of the Bahrain Grand Prix at the end of lap 34 of the 49-lap race, passing a backpedalling Sebastian Vettel at that stage, before going on to claim the 22nd win of his career, and third at the Sakhir circuit.
Suffering a loss of power, polesitter Vettel had led throughout up until that point, eventually finishing an unhappy fourth as Felipe Massa and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton also made their moves past the young German to stand on the podium.It was Ferrari's first one-two since the French Grand Prix in June 2008, and Alonso's first victory since Japan the same year when he was with Renault.
Behind the leading quartet, Mercedes' return to F1 as a fully-fledged manufacturer for the first time in 55 years saw them finish fifth and sixth, with Nico Rosberg narrowly ahead of seven-times champion Michael Schumacher on his return to the sport after three-and-a-half years in retirement.
As for Jenson Button, it was not the performance he would have wanted on his debut for McLaren and on his first outing in defence of the title he won last year.
The 30-year-old finished just a second behind the 41-year-old German, with Mark Webber eighth in his Red Bull.
With the top 10 scoring points this year, Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi was ninth and Rubens Barrichello 10th in his debut for Williams.
Driver Standings
| No. | Driver | Team | Points | |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso (SPA) | Ferrari | 25 | |
| 2 | Felipe Massa (BRA) | Ferrari | 18 | |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton (GBR) | McLaren | 15 | |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel (GER) | Red Bull | 12 | |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg (GER) | Mercedes GP | 10 | |
| 6 | Michael Schumacher (GER) | Mercedes GP | 8 | |
| 7 | Jenson Button (GBR) | McLaren | 6 | |
| 8 | Mark Webber (AUS) | Red Bull | 4 | |
| 9 | Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) | Force India | 2 | |
| 10 | Rubens Barrichello (BRA) | Williams | 1 | |
| 11 | Robert Kubica (POL) | Renault | 0 | |
| 12 | Adrian Sutil (GER) | Force India | 0 | |
| 13 | Jaime Alguersuari (SPA) | Toro Rosso | 0 | |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg (GER) | Williams | 0 | |
| 15 | Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) | Lotus F1 | 0 | |
| 16 | Sebastien Buemi (SUI) | Toro Rosso | 0 | |
| 17 | Jarno Trulli (ITA) | Lotus F1 | 0 | |
| 18 | Pedro de la Rosa (SPA) | BMW Sauber F1 | 0 | |
| 19 | Bruno Senna (BRA) | HRT F1 | 0 | |
| 20 | Timo Glock (GER) | Virgin | 0 | |
| 21 | Vitaly Petrov (RUS) | Renault | 0 | |
| 22 | Kamui Kobayashi (JAP) | BMW Sauber F1 | 0 | |
| 23 | Lucas Di Grassi (BRA) | Virgin | 0 | |
| 24 | Karun Chandhok (IND) | HRT F1 | 0 | |
Team Standings
| No. | Team | Points |
| 1 | Ferrari (Italy) | 43 |
| 2 | McLaren (Great Britain) | 21 |
| 3 | Mercedes GP (Germany) | 18 |
| 4 | Red Bull (Austria) | 16 |
| 5 | Force India (India) | 2 |
| 6 | Williams (Great Britain) | 1 |
| 7 | Renault (France) | 0 |
| 8 | Toro Rosso (Italy) | 0 |
| 9 | Lotus F1 (Malaysia) | 0 |
| 10 | BMW Sauber F1 (Switzerland) | 0 |
| 11 | HRT F1 (Spain) | 0 |
| 12 | Virgin (Great Britain) | 0 |
Credits: Espnstar
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