Jerome Miron-US Presswire
The Grand Prix of Bahrain featured everything you want in a Formula 1 race. Overtaking was difficult, but exciting and frequent. Some teams used to the podium, such as Ferrari, had problems the entire race, while others such as McLaren Mercedes returned to the form we were accustomed to.
One thing remained constant though was Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel having an absolutely dominant performance in the best car. This week, Vettel made it look easy, extending his championship-points lead over Kimi Raikkonen to ten points.
From the get-go it was apparent how dominant the reigning champion would be. After an exhilarating start, Vettel precisely got past much-improved Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and ran away with the lead. His pace was so consistent that even teams on two-stop strategy such as Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen as well as Force India driver Paul Di Resta, who ran the best race of his career Sunday in Bahrain.
The other Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was able to run a successful grand prix, making a late pass on Di Resta for the last position on the podium. Lotus is now second in the manufacturer’s championship to the aforementioned Red Bull cars, and ahead of Ferrari, who had an abysmal race.
Fernando Alonso is now thirty points away from Vettel in the championship standings, after having a DRS malfunction that caused an unscheduled pit stop. Teammate Felipe Massa punctured his right rear tire and finished out of the points, capping off an awful day for Ferrari.
Red Bull Racing is too dominant, and if Vettel can perform even close to this well for the rest of this season, he will undoubtedly repeat as World Champion. Despite random failures to Mark Webber’s car, Vettel seems to never see any ill effects. He has already established a ten-point lead in the championship standings over second place, and a massive thirty-point lead over third. With that in mind, and Red Bull reaching midseason form, it is hard to believe anyone but Vettel will be champion when the series reaches Brazil.
Follow Mike Guzman on Twitter @Mike486
