Sebastien Vettel - Red Bull Racing 2010
Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel lost his chance of his first win of the season due to a spark plug problem rather than a faulty exhaust.
The German looked certain to take the victory until a loss of power on lap 33, saw the Red Bull being overtaken by the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and then the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa. The team initially put the problem down to a cracked exhaust but it has now been confirmed that it was in fact a spark plug failure which was to blame.
The opening round of the 2010 F1 championship saw a mostly uneventful race under the new regulations of ‘no refuelling’.
On his return to the F1 series, Michael Schumacher slammed the new regulations stating that it makes overtaking virtually impossible. Surely it proves the point that if you have the driver and the car, overtaking is possible anywhere and is not just down to the strategies on pit stops for refuelling!
In the words of Alan Prost, who also drove during a refuelling ban in his career;
“When you start with 160kg you have to think differently, and they are not used to that.
After a few races, I am sure the good drivers, the top drivers, will like it.”
Mark Webber looked as if he were to be the first casualty of the race as his Red Bull was seen providing a huge smoke-screen as the race got underway. Fortunately it tuned-out to be excess oil in the car and did not cause a serious problem.
Robert Kubica in the Renault and the Force India driver Adrian Sutil made contact and both spun out on the first lap of the race although both managed to continue and cross the finish line.
The new Lotus team managed to finish their debut race with both drivers crossing the line in fifteenth and seventeenth place while both of the Virgin drivers were forced to retire, along with both of the HRT cars.
The next race takes place on the March 28 in Australia but here are the results for the Bahrain Grand Prix;
| POS | DRIVER | NATIONALITY | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIRE |
| 1. | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Ferrari | 49 | 1h39m20.396 |
| 2. | Felipe Massa | Brazil | Ferrari | 49 | 16.099 |
| 3. | Lewis Hamilton | Britain | McLaren-Mercedes | 49 | 23.182 |
| 4. | Sebastian Vettel | Germany | Red Bull-Renault | 49 | 38.713 |
| 5. | Nico Rosberg | Germany | Mercedes GP | 49 | 40.263 |
| 6. | Michael Schumacher | Germany | Mercedes GP | 49 | 44.180 |
| 7. | Jenson Button | Britain | McLaren-Mercedes | 49 | 45.260 |
| 8. | Mark Webber | Australia | Red Bull-Renault | 49 | 46.308 |
| 9. | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Italy | Force India-Mercedes | 49 | 53.089 |
| 10. | Rubens Barrichello | Brazil | Williams-Cosworth | 49 | 1m02.400 |
| 11. | Robert Kubica | Poland | Renault | 49 | 1m09.093 |
| 12. | Adrian Sutil | Germany | Force India-Mercedes | 49 | 1m22.958 |
| 13. | Jaime Alguersuari | Spain | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 49 | 1m32.656 |
| 14. | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Williams-Cosworth | 48 | 1 Lap |
| 15. | Heikki Kovalainen | Finland | Lotus-Cosworth | 47 | 2 Laps |
| 16. | Sebastien Buemi | Switzerland | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 46 | 3 Laps |
| 17. | Jarno Trulli | Italy | Lotus-Cosworth | 46 | 3 Laps, Hydralics |
 |
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| R | Pedro de la Rosa | Spain | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 28 | Hydralics |
| R | Bruno Senna | Brazil | HRT-Cosworth | 17 | Engine |
| R | Timo Glock | Germany | Virgin-Cosworth | 16 | Gearbox |
| R | Vitaly Petrov | Russia | Renault | 13 | Suspension |
| R | Kamui Kobayashi | Japan | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 11 | Hydralics |
| R | Lucas di Grassi | Brazil | Virgin-Cosworth | 2 | Hydralics |
| R | Karun Chandhok | India | HRT-Cosworth | 1 | Accident |
| FASTEST LAP: | |||||
| Fernando Alonso | Spain | Ferrari | 45 | 1:58.287 | |
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