Fernando Alonso spearheaded an emphatic Ferrari revival in the 2010 season-opener in Bahrain by claiming a dream victory on his debut for the Maranello squad.
Team-mate Felipe Massa underlined the reds’ resurgence with second place in his first race since his horrific accident in qualifying for last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s triumph came at the expense of polesitter Sebastian Vettel, who led the majority of the race and looked in control until his Red Bull slowed with a suspected exhaust failure.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton pounced on the wounded Red Bull to take the final podium place and get his 2010 campaign off to a solid start.
Vettel gamely clung onto fourth from Nico Rosberg, who beat his legendary team-mate Michael Schumacher by 4s as the 41-year-old played himself in with a low-key F1 comeback drive. ITV
Fernando Alonso Wins 2010 Season Opener at Bahrain GP
In a race low on thrills and spills and with little overtaking as cars burned through their heavy fuel loads, world champion Jenson Button made a faltering start to the defence of his title with seventh place on his McLaren debut.
Malaysian-owned Lotus, their exalted name returning to the sport after a 16-year absence, proved to be the best of the three all-new teams and the only ones with a car still running at the finish.
Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen was 15th, two laps down, and Italian Jarno Trulli 17th and last of those classified.
“What an amazing day. Lotus is back,” said team boss Tony Fernandes.
India’s Karun Chandhok retired on the second lap on his debut for the HRT team while Brazilian team mate Bruno Senna retired on the 19th. Yahoo! Eurosport
POS DRIVER ENTRANT LAPS TIME/RETIRE 1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 49 1h39m20.396 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 49 16.099 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 49 23.182 4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 49 38.713 5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 49 40.263 6 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 49 44.18 7 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 49 45.26 8 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 49 46.308 9 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 49 53.089 10 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 49 1m02.400 11 Robert Kubica Renault 49 1m09.093 12 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 49 1m22.958 13 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 49 1m32.656 14 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 48 1 Lap 15 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 48 1 Lap 16 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 46 Did not finish 17 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 46 Did not finish R Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 28 R Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 17 R Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 16 R Vitaly Petrov Renault 13 R Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 11 R Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 2 R Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1
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