Alonso marks Ferrari debut with Bahrain GP win to lead team to 1-2 start finish
Fernando Alonso won the season-opening Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix and led a Ferrari one-two in a dream debut with the Italian glamour In a race led for more than two thirds of the distance by Germany's Sebastian Vettel before the Red Bull slowed and was reeled in, the Spaniard laid down a marker for the season with his 22nd career victory.
"There is no better way to start the relationship," declared the double world champion after collecting the winner's trophy and a bottle of non-alcoholic local fizz. "I am with the best team in the world."
Brazilian Felipe Massa was overtaken by Alonso at the first corner and finished runner-up, 16 seconds behind, on his race return from life-threatening head injuries suffered in Hungary last July.
Britain's Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, completed the podium for McLaren, 23.1 behind Alonso, with Vettel slipping to fourth after starting on pole.
"It's a pity but what can you do. All in all it's been positive all weekend apart from the failure," said Vettel.
"Everything was running smoothly, but I lost power with about 20 laps to go, we are not sure what it was yet, but it wasn't good. Luckily I could continue and finish fourth but we should have won really."
Affected by an exhaust failure, Vettel was soon after passed by Massa, who claimed second on his return to racing after a life-threatening crash last July in Hungary.
"We were lucky with the problems of Sebastian Vettel to pass," Massa said. "I'm very happy. It's also the best start of my season. I rode through the race normal(ly), with very good pace. Thanks to God, I'm fine."
Lewis Hamilton overtook Vettel at the same spot as the McLaren driver finished third ahead of his Red Bull opponent.
"We had control of the race today and things we were on top of the strategy — everything was running smoothly," Vettel said. "We should have won today. It cost us a lot."
Nico Rosberg was more than 40 seconds behind Alonso in fifth place. Schumacher, his Mercedes teammate and a seven-time champion, came sixth in his first race in three years after starting seventh in his first race.
"All in all, I have a very positive feeling after my first race," Schumacher said through a translator. "We came in roughly where we expected to come in."
Massa pulled up to Vettel on the same stretch before going around last year's championship runner-up at the first corner, where Hamilton passed the German driver four laps later.
Massa had to lay up over the last 30 laps to save fuel and his tires, and Hamilton said he just ran out of laps as he pushed to catch the Brazilian.
"We had a good day. Our race pace was a lot stronger (than expected)," Hamilton said. "If I wasn't behind Nico for the first half of the race, I could have been closer to the front."
Schumacher's new team , Mercedes, showed it still has some work to do to provide him with a car worthy of an eighth title. Schumacher finished 3.9 seconds behind Rosberg.
Defending champion Jenson Button finished seventh for McLaren, while Mark Webber of Red Bull was eighth.
BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Sakhir) - Alonso and Ferrari romp to victory in Bahrain - Part 1
BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Sakhir) - Alonso and Ferrari romp to victory in Bahrain
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