Alonso wins Bahrain grand prix

• Exhaust failure thwarts early leader Sebastian Vettel• Felipe Massa completes Ferrari 1-2, Schumacher finishes sixthFernando Alonso led a Ferrari one-two on his debut for the team as they made a stunning start to the Formula One season.Alonso produced the defining move of a dull Bahrain grand prix two-thirds of the way through, passing the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who was struggling with exhaust trouble.Felipe Massa also took advantage, meaning a Ferrari one-two. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton came third but his new team-mate, the world champion Jenson Button, could only manage seventh on his debut. Michael Schumacher finished sixth on his return after three years' absence.Vettel had led all the way until suffering the exhaust problem, eventually finishing an unhappy fourth.It was Ferrari's first one-two since the French grand prix in June 2008, and Alonso's first victory since Japan the same year when he was with Renault.The race was not the spectacle supporters had hoped for, with new rule changes appearing to have done little for the show.In the build-up to the race the drivers and team principals said the sport was venturing into the unknown, that there would either be plenty of thrills or it would be a procession. As it turned out, there was little excitement, save for a handful of moves involving the lower-placed cars.Many had also anticipated mayhem at the first corner, with all cars carrying large fuel loads following the decision to ban in-race refuelling.Instead the field virtually tip-toed their way around the right-hander, led by Vettel. But for his team-mate Mark Webber sending plumes of smoke billowing behind him, the opening turn would have been incident-free.Instead, blinded by white cloud, Renault's Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil in his Force India both spun from their ninth and 10th positions but remarkably neither was struck as the traffic found a way round.The most significant move on that opening lap saw Alonso move past Massa into second, but beyond that little happened up until the first round of pit stops.Formula OneFerrariFernando AlonsoLewis Hamiltonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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