The 60th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship Series began on Sunday afternoon at the 3.914-mile, 23-turn Bahrain International Circuit when the red lights extinguished themselves thus unleashing 24 1,340-pound, 800-horsepower cars to begin the 49-lap Grand Prix of Bahrain. Heading pell-mell into the first turn with filled to the brim fuel tanks of gasoline – in-race refueling has been banned for 2010 – it was German Sebastian Vettel leading the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa out onto the blistering hot track (ambient air temperatures were in the 95-degree Fahrenheit range). Mercedes Petronas driver Nico Rosberg was fourth, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was fifth and Mercedes Petronas out-of-retirement wheelman Michael Schumacher was slotted in at sixth.

While a number of small incidents plagued the early laps of the race, the leaders calmly held station up at the front and began to steadily pull away, the top five all separated by approximately seven seconds. By the 10-lap mark of the race, the primary concern of each team’s engineers was how the cars were being affected by the burning off of fuel (thus reducing weight) and tire wear. To that end, the word from the pit boxes was that the first pit stops would come at lap 15. And so it was as beginning on lap 16 lead pack drivers such as Hamilton, Schumacher, Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso and others began to dive down pit lane to take on new tires. When it all sorted itself out and everyone cycled through their pit stops, it was a free for all for the lead, Hamilton pulling the first 2:00 minute lap of the race soon thereafter.

At the halfway mark of the Grand Prix, Vettel continued to lead, followed by Alonso, Massa, Hamilton, Rosberg and Schumacher, all of the drivers separated by somewhat healthy gaps of asphalt. (In fact, sixth place man Schumacher was 30 seconds adrift of leader Vettel).

With 15 laps to go, the race took a dramatic turn as the engine in Vettel’s car began to make off-sound noises via a broken header and the two Ferrari’s of Alonso and Massa zapped him for the lead. Ultimately, Hamilton also passed Vettel as Rosberg and Schumacher also closed in on the wounded Red Bull car.

With just two laps remaining in the race, both Rosberg and Schumacher stalked Vettel, Rosberg keen to get around his fellow German. However, it was not to be. At the finish line stripe it was Alonso with a 14.5-second lead over teammate Massa. Hamilton wound up finishing third, while Vettel hung on for fourth, just ahead of Rosberg and Schumacher.

"I had a great start today and was happy to be running in fourth position by the end of the first lap,” explained Mercedes Petronas driver Rosberg after the race. “However I lacked pace on the option tires in the first stint and struggled for pace. Lewis beat me on strategy in the pit stop which we need to analyze later and see what happened. I couldn't quite get Sebastian at the end as I lost grip in the dirty air when I got close. However fifth place is a good start for us and I am confident that we can develop well from here."

Added the sage veteran Schumacher: "After three years away, I'm happy to say that I had fun out there today, especially at the beginning with the good start that I had. I can live very well with sixth position and it gives both me and the team a good base to make progress. I have every confidence that we will improve the car. Working with the team for our first race together was very positive and the guys did a great job so I would like to thank them for their support in my comeback race. We all know that we have some way to go but we will get there. The season is long."

And the thoughts of team Principal Ross Brawn?

"Nico and Michael did a great job this weekend to finish in fifth and sixth positions and now we need to give them the car to improve on those placings. We were not quick enough today and our race pace was not there to finish further up the field and challenge for a podium position. We have some hard work ahead but I am confident that we can progress the car strongly in the next few races. The team performed extremely well this weekend and for our first race with our two new drivers, we achieved two strong points-scoring finishes."

By Eric Johnson