Mar 14, 2010, 14:56 GMT
Sakhir, Bahrain - Ferrari finished one-two at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday as former world champion Fernando Alonso took first place in his race debut for the Italian team, beating team-mate Felipe Massa into second place.
Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren finished third.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel who started from pole and had a convincing lead for most of the race, developed mechanical problems in the 34th lap and limped home in fourth place ahead of the two Mercedes' of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, who was racing in his first race since finishing fourth in the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2006.
Alonso finished in a time of one hour 39 minutes 20.296 seconds for the 49 laps of 6.299 kilometres for a race distance of 308.405 kilometres.
Vettel, who started from pole, comfortably won the start from Massa and Alonso, who were second and third on the grid respectively.
Massa, who was racing in his first race since finishing third in Germany in July last year and receiving life-threatening injuries in a horrific crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, was overtaken by Alonso on the first lap.
Another driver to fall behind was the Red Bull of Mark Webber whose car had a huge smoke explosion shortly after the start and then had to allow Schumacher go past.
Seemingly heading towards his sixth Grand Prix victory, Vettel developed engine problems with 15 laps to go when he suddenly lost power and had Alonso and Massa on his tail and the Spaniard overtook him virtually immediately with Massa following suit less than a minute later.
As Vettel anxiously asked over the team radio whether there was nothing that they could do to fix his problem, he had to see Hamilton as well as the two Mercedes' of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher draw closer.
Shortly after being told by his team that there was nothing they could do as it was a mechanical problem, probably an exhaust that has gone, Vettel was passed by Hamilton but he then managed to hold off a challenge from Rosberg.
The race was the first time since the Australian Grand Prix in 1993 that the teams were not allowed to refuel, which made the cars about 100 kg heavier.
For the first time also, the top ten drivers were awarded points, with Alonso taking 25 for his victory, while Massa scored 18 points for his second place, with Hamilton taking 15.
Vettel took 12 points for his fourth place. Rosberg and Schumacher scored 10 and eight points respectively.
The final point positions went to Jenson Button in a McLaren, who got six points for his seventh-place finish, while Webber was eighth for four points.
Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi received two points for being ninth, while the final point went to Rubens Barrichello in a Williams.
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