Scuderia Ferrari’s 2010 championship got off to the best possible start as it secured maximum points when, after 49 laps, Fernando Alonso marked his race debut with the team by zigzagging his F10 in salute to the pit wall, as he crossed the line to take the chequered flag, the worthy winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Equally happy was Felipe Massa, in a fine second place on his return to racing. It had not been as easy as it looked, because the Spaniard’s car had required a rapid engine change in the morning, and Felipe had to nurse his car through much of the race with temperature problems.

This is victory number 211 for the Scuderia from 794 Grand Prix starts, the fourth in the seven editions of this race. For Fernando, it is win number twenty two from 141 Grand Prix starts, his third at the Sakhir circuit.

Felipe started from second place on the front row, with Fernando moving off the grid from third spot. As the lights went out to signal the start of the season, Vettel in the Red Bull led from pole and Fernando soon got the better of Felipe to go second, making the most of being on the clean side of the track as he dived inside his team-mate. Behind the Brazilian came Rosberg - Mercedes, Hamilton - McLaren, Schumacher - Mercedes, Webber - Red Bull, Button - McLaren, Liuzzi – Force India and Barrichello tenth for Williams. Chandok crashed out in the HRT on lap 2 and Di Grassi’s Virgin was out one lap later. By lap 4, Vettel led Fernando by 2.3s with Felipe a further 1.9 behind, the Brazilian having a 2.8 lead over Rosberg.

The best battle in the early stages was Hamilton chasing Rosberg for fourth place and, in his efforts to catch Fernando, Felipe set the quickest lap of the race so far on lap 9. On lap 12, it fell to Bruno Senna to have the honour of making the first planned pit stop under the non-refuelling rules. By lap fourteen, Vettel was pulling away from the Ferrari men before Fernando pitted on lap 16 at the same time as Rosberg, Webber, Button and Liuzzi. One lap later, the race leader and Felipe came into pit lane and when they were all back on track, the order at the front was unchanged, with Vettel 3.5 ahead of Fernando and Felipe almost four seconds down on his team-mate. Behind them came Liuzzi and Barrichello, yet to pit, Hamilton, Rosberg, Schumacher, Button and Webber tenth. On lap 19 it was Felipe’s turn to set a fastest lap and by lap 24, the two F10s were separated by just 1.7. On lap 29, Alonso was the quickest man on track as he began to close on Vettel. Judging from the sound of the engine in the Red Bull, the German driver was in some sort of difficulty and by lap 33 of the 49 lap race, Fernando was right on his tail, taking the lead one lap later and Felipe moving up to second. Lewis Hamilton also got past the slowing Vettel and from then to the flag, the podium positions were fixed. Behind the happy three came, Vettel, Rosberg, Schumacher in the points on his return in sixth place, then under the new points system, Button, Webber, Liuzzi and Barrichello also score as the table now goes down to tenth place.

In a very happy mood at the Sakhir circuit, the team got down to packing up all the equipment and the cars which will now be shipped down to Melbourne, for the next round in two weeks time.

Stefano Domenicali: “A fantastic start to the championship! This amazing one-two is just reward for all the work of the team, both at the track and the factory in Maranello, over these past few months and I dedicate the result to them. Today, we had to manage a very complicated situation with Felipe’s car, because of the high temperatures, but we did it and I was very happy to see our driver on the podium on what was a very special day for him. As for Fernando, what can I say? There could be no better way for him to start his adventure in red! I also want to thank our technical and commercial partners, first and foremost Philip Morris and Shell, who have always supported us, even in the most difficult times and I think there is no better way to also welcome on board a new important sponsor like the Santander Bank. Now we can enjoy this wonderful day for a few hours, but as from tomorrow, we must start preparing for the next round in Australia, adopting our usual approach which involves keeping calm, with our feet on the ground and working hard. We have a very long season ahead of us, in which reliability will be crucial, as indeed we saw yet again today and where we will be fighting very strong and determined adversaries.”

Fernando Alonso: “I want to dedicate this victory to President Montezemolo, who believed in me and to our mechanics who did a really great job, especially this morning, when they changed the engine on my car in a very short time. Jumping onto the top step of the podium was a special feeling and I hope I have matched the expectations of the whole team. We worked so much this winter and now we are beginning to see the results of that. The first races of the season are very important: we must get to the European part of the year with a lot of points in the bag and a high level of understanding of how the tyres work at various types of track. The key to winning will be to continue to develop the car race by race. Today, on the harder tyres, we went very well, but with the softer ones, I was struggling a bit to stay close to Vettel. I was planning to attack in the final ten laps, but luck gave me a hand: you always need a bit in every race. At the start, I got away well, making the most of being on the clean side of the track and I managed to pass Felipe, going for a space that was big enough to pull off the move without any risk. Then I was lucky not to have any problems with the car, while my team-mate had a more difficult time and had to ease up a bit. Now it’s time to think about Australia. We will see who has the best car at that track, but I think the four top teams will all be in the fight.”

Felipe Massa: “I am very happy with this result and I want to thank all the team and our fans. It is my best opening race of a season since I started in Formula 1 and, given all the problems we had, I am very pleased. We had to manage the temperatures on the car and, for around thirty laps, I was not able to push as hard as I could. At the start, I lost a place to Alonso, but then the car worked well with both types of tyre. With the softer tyres, the Red Bull was quicker than us, but on the harder ones we were much better. I want to thank one more time all those who have been close to me over these past months, writing and sending me messages. Now we must look to Australia to be as well prepared as possible.”

Chris Dyer: “A fantastic result for the whole team. We worked so hard over the winter – in the wind tunnel, in the design office, the engine department, on track, everywhere –and today we reaped our reward. It was a great welcome for Fernando and an equally nice welcome back for Felipe: it would be hard to have asked for more in the first race. It was not an easy weekend, because we had to tackle a whole series of problems which we controlled thanks to the efforts of everyone at the track and back home, but I really hope we have fewer of them in the future. Because of the high temperatures, we were not able to run the race we wanted, but especially with Felipe, we had to adopt a very conservative approach, although I don’t think we were the only ones faced with that particular difficulty.”