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2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

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2013 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race 4 of 19 in the 2013 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Bahrain International Circuit
Race details
Date 21 April 2013
Official name 2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix[1]
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)[2] 31,000 (Race Day)[3]
Pole position
Driver Mercedes
Time 1:32.330
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:36.961 on lap 55
Podium
First Red Bull-Renault
Second Lotus-Renault
Third Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

The 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix (formally known as the 2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix)[1] was a Formula One motor race held on 21 April 2013 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.[4] 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.

Mercedes' Nico Rosberg started the race from pole.[5] 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.[6]

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

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Background

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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.[7] However, the teams experienced problems with the soft compound at the Chinese Grand Prix, with the tyres degrading after just seven laps,[8] which prompted Pirelli to alter their allocation for the Bahrain Grand Prix, changing the options from the soft compound to the medium.[9] 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.

This race also marked the 200th Grand Prix for Mark Webber.[10]

Anti-government protests

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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.[11] 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.[12]

Race

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At the start, Nico Rosberg maintains the lead of the race, followed by Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Paul di Resta and Felipe Massa. Vettel is able to pass Alonso already during the first lap, and Rosberg on the third, thus taking the lead. Alonso engages, in turn, in a long duel with Rosberg, before passing him on lap 5. After a lap, the German is also overtaken by di Resta. Around the same time, Adrian Sutil, Jean-Éric Vergne and Giedo van der Garde were involved in a collision.

Fernando Alonso is forced to pit on lap seven to fix the DRS, which remains open on his car: he returns to the track seventeenth. The Spaniard tries to use the device again, which blocks again, forcing him to stop again, one lap later.

Between laps 10 and 11, the best drivers change tires. Paul di Resta is now in the lead, followed by Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Hülkenberg. Vettel returns to the lead definitively on lap 15 after overtaking Räikkönen and the first pit stop for di Resta. The standings see, after the German from Red Bull and the Finn, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Pérez and Paul di Resta. Räikkönen changes tires on lap 16, while, one lap later, Massa is forced to change tires again due to the dechapping of the right rear.

On lap 19, both Button and Grosjean pass Rosberg, who changes tires for the second time one lap later; Button and Grosjean engaged in a great duel, which ended with Button's pit stop on lap 21. Four laps later it was Vettel's turn, who maintained the lead of the race, followed by Grosjean, di Resta, Räikkönen, Webber, Pérez and Button. One lap later di Resta moved into second, passing Grosjean, who then pitted on lap 27. On laps 23 and 24, after a heated battle, the two McLaren drivers got the better of Nico Rosberg. Between laps 29 and 32, Jenson Button and Sergio Pérez then fought for fifth place, with the Englishman passing the Mexican and then resisting his counterattacks. However, the Englishman wore out his tyres and had to anticipate his third stop, like Rosberg.

On lap 34, Räikkönen is second after overtaking di Resta, and pits for the second time, a couple of laps before the Scotsman; from behind, Alonso appears again and is now in the points zone. Three laps later, Webber makes his third pit stop, then on lap 42, it is also Vettel and Grosjean's turn. The standings still see the German from Red Bull in the lead, followed by Kimi Räikkönen, Paul di Resta, Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean: one lap later, the Frenchman takes a position from Webber.

On lap 44, Hamilton passes Button for sixth place; the McLaren driver then also gives way to Pérez and Alonso. The Spaniard, even without DRS, manages to get the better of Pérez on the main straight at the start of lap 47. The final laps are animated by the battle between Hamilton and Webber: the Englishman passes for the first time on lap 51, being passed again by the Australian a couple of laps later, before finally gaining the position, after repeated attacks, at the start of the final lap. The Red Bull driver also gives way to Sergio Pérez who had passed Fernando Alonso on lap 54. In the meantime, during the fifty-second lap, Grosjean had taken the podium at the expense of Paul di Resta.

Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean repeated the exact same podium as in 2012: this had only occurred in the 1964 and 1965 editions of the British Grand Prix (with Jim Clark first, Graham Hill second and John Surtees third) and in the 1998 and 1999 editions of the Spanish Grand Prix (with Mika Häkkinen first, David Coulthard second and Michael Schumacher third).

This was the second time a woman had taken to the Formula 1 podium to receive the Manufacturers' Award, and it was Gill Jones, Red Bull Racing’s Head of Trackside Electronics, stood.[13]

Classification

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Qualifying

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

Notes:

  • ^1Lewis Hamilton was given a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.[15]
  • ^2Mark 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.[16][N 1]
  • ^3Valtteri 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.
  • ^4Esteban Gutiérrez was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident with Adrian Sutil in the previous race.[17]

Race

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

Championship standings after the race

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

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ As penalties are applied in the order that they are incurred, Webber was first moved from fifth to eighth. Hamilton's penalty was then applied, moving him from fourth to ninth, and Webber was moved back up to seventh on the grid.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b "2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Trends in Bahrain". 22 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Bahrain International Circuit - Breaking records". Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  4. ^ "FIA Formula One calendar". FIA.com. Fedération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  5. ^ a b Beer, Matt (20 April 2013). "Bahrain GP: Nico Rosberg takes surprise pole for Mercedes". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  6. ^ a b "2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix — results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administrations. 21 April 2013. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  7. ^ Collantine, Keith (13 February 2013). "Pirelli changes tyre choices for Australia and Bahrain". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  8. ^ Collantine, Keith (14 April 2013). "2013 Chinese Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  9. ^ Collantine, Keith (16 April 2013). "Pirelli swaps soft tyre for medium in Bahrain". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  10. ^ Alan Baldwin (22 April 2013). "Bahrain looks long term with F1 race". Euronews. Reuters. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  11. ^ The Independent
  12. ^ Alexander Dziadosz (21 April 2013). "Bahrain Grand Prix 2013: Crisis Endures Despite Rulers Avoiding Fiasco". Huffington Post. Reuters. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  13. ^ "Meet the women to have stood on the Formula 1 podium". Femalesinmotorsport.com. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Bahrain GP: final starting grid". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 20 April 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  15. ^ Straw, Edd; Beer, Matt (20 April 2013). "Bahrain GP: Lewis Hamilton gets five-place grid penalty over gearbox". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  16. ^ Collantine, Keith (14 April 2013). "Webber handed grid penalty for Vergne collision". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  17. ^ "Esteban Gutierrez given five-place grid penalty in Bahrain for causing crash in China". Sky Sports. 14 April 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  18. ^ a b "Bahrain 2013 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
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2013 Chinese Grand Prix
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2013 Spanish Grand Prix
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2014 Bahrain Grand Prix