2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race 4 of 19 in the 2013 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Bahrain International Circuit
Race details
Date	21 April 2013
Official name	2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Location	Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.412 km (3.363 miles)
Distance	57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Attendance	73,000 (Weekend) 31,000 (Race Day)
Pole position
Driver	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Time	1:32.330
Fastest lap
Driver	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:36.961 on lap 55
Podium
First	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault
Third	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

The 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix (formally known as the 2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 21 April 2013 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg started the race from pole. Sebastian Vettel won the race, with Lotus F1 drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean completing the podium meaning the top 3 finishers were identical to the 2012 event in the same order.

Contested over 57 laps, it was the fourth round of the 2013 season, and the ninth time that the Bahrain Grand Prix had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The controversial race went ahead despite ongoing protests which had been taking place since the cancellation of the 2011 event. This race also marked the 200th Grand Prix for Mark Webber.

This was also the last Bahrain Grand Prix to take place during the daytime, as the event switched to a night race from the 2014 race onwards.

Report

Background

Tyre supplier Pirelli had originally planned to bring their hard and soft compounds of tyre to the race, to be designated as the prime and the option respectively. However, the teams experienced problems with the soft compound at the Chinese Grand Prix, with the tyres degrading after just seven laps, which prompted Pirelli to alter their allocation for the Bahrain Grand Prix, changing the options from the soft compound to the medium. Before the race, a minute of silence was held as a mark of respect for those who had lost their lives in the Boston Marathon bombings six days earlier.

Anti-government protests

A Bahraini protester holding an anti-F1 sign

In the context of the 2011 Bahraini uprising, public protests also occurred over the 2013 staging of the race, after the 2011 event was cancelled and the 2012 event went ahead despite efforts by demonstrators to disrupt the race. According to Reuters, the race went ahead "largely unhindered" by the protests. Reflecting on the changes in the government strategy compared to 2012, they concluded that the public relations battle over this year's race had produced a stalemate, reflecting the situation in the opposition movement generally.

Race

At the start, Nico Rosberg kept his lead into the first corner, with Vettel and Alonso keeping close company. On the second lap, Vettel went into the lead, and Alonso went into second place. Around the same time, Adrian Sutil, Jean-Éric Vergne and Giedo van der Garde were involved in a collision. Vergne eventually retired on lap 16, with damage caused by a puncture. Sutil would remain in 13th place, stuck behind Nico Hülkenberg for most of the race. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso was complaining about his DRS system not working properly. It was in fact stuck open. He pitted to get the wing fixed. However, when trying to overtake, it got stuck open again, and was forced to remain without DRS for the rest of the race. He eventually finished 8th as a result. There was drama between the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Sergio Pérez. The two went onto the radio, and complained about each other battling aggressively for the past few laps. Button fell to 10th by the closing stages, while Pérez managed to get into 6th, only two seconds ahead of Webber and Alonso, and only 6 tenths behind Lewis Hamilton at the finish. Rosberg had fallen rapidly down the field, and would barely finish in the points, in 9th. Paul di Resta on the other hand, was more successful. He was running in third place at the finishing stages, before Romain Grosjean took the honours with just a few laps remaining. Grosjean's teammate Kimi Räikkönen managed to get into second place, and stay there until the end of the race. Vettel was challenged by him, but he held his own until the flag had fallen, taking his second victory of the season. Felipe Massa on the other hand, had a disappointing weekend. He qualified well in 4th place, but during the race, dropped to 15th place due to two tyre failures.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Grid
1	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:33.364	1:32.867	1:32.330	1
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:33.327	1:32.746	1:32.584	2
3	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:32.878	1:33.316	1:32.667	3
4	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:33.498	1:33.346	1:32.762	91
5	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:33.966	1:33.098	1:33.078	72
6	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:33.780	1:33.358	1:33.207	4
7	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:33.762	1:33.335	1:33.235	5
8	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:34.048	1:33.378	1:33.246	6
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:33.827	1:33.146	1:33.327	8
10	5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.071	1:33.702	no time	10
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:33.498	1:33.762		11
12	6	Sergio Pérez	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.310	1:33.914		12
13	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:34.120	1:33.974		13
14	11	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	1:34.409	1:33.976		14
15	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1:34.425	1:34.105		15
16	18	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:34.314	1:34.284		16
17	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:34.4253			17
18	12	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:34.730			224
19	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	1:35.283			18
20	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	1:36.178			19
21	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1:36.304			20
22	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	1:36.476			21
107% time: 1:39.379
Source:

Notes:

• ^1 — Lewis Hamilton was given a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
• ^2 — Mark Webber was given a three-place grid penalty for his role in causing an avoidable accident with Jean-Éric Vergne at the previous round of the championship.
• ^3 — Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado recorded identical times during Q1. As Bottas set his time before Maldonado, he was considered to have placed higher than Maldonado, and so advanced to Q2 while Maldonado was eliminated.
• ^4 — Esteban Gutiérrez was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident with Adrian Sutil in the previous race.

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	57	1:36:00.498	2	25
2	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	57	+9.111	8	18
3	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	57	+19.507	11	15
4	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	57	+21.727	5	12
5	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	57	+35.230	9	10
6	6	Sergio Pérez	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+35.998	12	8
7	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	57	+37.244	7	6
8	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	57	+37.574	3	4
9	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	57	+41.126	1	2
10	5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+46.631	10	1
11	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	57	+1:06.450	17
12	11	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	57	+1:12.933	14
13	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	57	+1:16.719	6
14	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	57	+1:21.511	15
15	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	57	+1:26.364	4
16	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	56	+1 lap	13
17	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	56	+1 lap	18
18	12	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+1 lap	22
19	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	56	+1 lap	19
20	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	56	+1 lap	21
21	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	55	+2 laps	20
Ret	18	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	16	Puncture damage	16
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos.	Driver	Points
	1	Sebastian Vettel	77
	2	Kimi Räikkönen	67
1	3	Lewis Hamilton	50
1	4	Fernando Alonso	47
1	5	Mark Webber	32
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos.	Constructor	Points
	1	Red Bull-Renault	109
1	2	Lotus-Renault	93
1	3	Ferrari	77
	4	Mercedes	64
1	5	Force India-Mercedes	26
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

• 2013 Bahrain GP2 Series round