Later today we should have the results of the first round of the F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship so keep an eye out for that to find out if you’ve won. Links Michael happy with the first race (Michael Schumacher) “I am very, very happy and proud about how it went, considering I was completely out for three years and did not have a lot of driving for preparation. It would be strange to assume that I would come in, sit in the car and drive circles around the others – I, for my part, did not assume that in any case.” Bahrain: Petrovs Renault retirement (ScarbsF1) “In this weekends race Petrov retired with e a suspension problem, it transpires the ride height adjusting shim fell out between the carbon pushrod and the titanium end fitting.” Don’t write the script for misery (Who are you, anyway?) “I know what we need to do: declare a moratorium on outright guff.” Comment of the day I think traditions are made to be broken so instead of a Comment of the Day today we have Brilliant Comment Thread of the Day

Rosberg headed Schumacher all weekend long Michael Schumacher was overshadowed by team mate Nico Rosberg on his return to F1. Elsewhere Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton drew first blood as they began a new season alongside highly competitive team mates

We’ve got the first race of 2010 in the books – more reaction to the Bahrain Grand Prix later today. Here’s the Monday round-up: Links James Allen’s Bahrain GP verdict (ITV-F1) “This handed the lead to Alonso, who was in that position because he had passed Massa at the start. It was a very smart move by the Spaniard, who went around the outside of his team-mate into turn one and then passed him in the ensuing left-hand kink of turn two

Rank Driver Car Fastest lap Deficit to fastest lap 1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1′58.287 2 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1′59.393 1.106 3 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1′59.487 1.200 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1′59.560 1.273 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1′59.732 1.445 6 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1′59.833 1.546 7 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1′59.906 1.619 8 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1′59.964 1.677 9 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1′59.970 1.683 10 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2′00.080 1.793 11 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 2′00.204 1.917 12 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2′00.218 1.931 13 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2′00.236 1.949 14 Robert Kubica Renault 2′00.474 2.187 15 Nico Hülkenberg Williams-Cosworth 2′01.401 3.114 16 Pedro de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 2′01.650 3.363 17 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 2′02.701 4.414 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 2′02.930 4.643 19 Vitaly Petrov Renault 2′04.307 6.020 20 Kamui Kobyashi Sauber-Ferrari 2′05.044 6.757 21 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2′07.062 8.775 22 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 2′09.127 10.840 23 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 2′09.361 11.074 24 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 2′34.479 36.192 Top 50 fastest laps Rank Driver Lap time Lap 1 Fernando Alonso 118.287 45 2 Fernando Alonso 118.879 36 3 Adrian Sutil 119.393 49 4 Fernando Alonso 119.406 41 5 Fernando Alonso 119.448 44 6 Fernando Alonso 119.477 35 7 Mark Webber 119.487 45 8 Fernando Alonso 119.528 37 9 Lewis Hamilton 119.56 42 10 Fernando Alonso 119.576 42 11 Fernando Alonso 119.583 29 12 Fernando Alonso 119.587 40 13 Lewis Hamilton 119.59 43 14 Adrian Sutil 119.601 43 15 Adrian Sutil 119.618 44 16 Fernando Alonso 119.622 38 17 Fernando Alonso 119.626 39 18 Lewis Hamilton 119.706 33 19 Lewis Hamilton 119.731 41 20 Felipe Massa 119.732 38 21 Mark Webber 119.786 46 22 Felipe Massa 119.811 37 23 Rubens Barrichello 119.833 47 24 Felipe Massa 119.837 42 25 Felipe Massa 119.847 44 26 Mark Webber 119.891 44 27 Mark Webber 119.894 33 28 Lewis Hamilton 119.904 36 29 Vitantonio Liuzzi 119.906 39 30 Jaime Alguersuari 119.964 28 31 Jenson Button 119.97 45 32 Vitantonio Liuzzi 119.997 47 33 Fernando Alonso 120.015 46 34 Rubens Barrichello 120.018 41 35 Fernando Alonso 120.019 30 36 Mark Webber 120.036 34 37 Lewis Hamilton 120.036 29 38 Fernando Alonso 120.053 48 39 Lewis Hamilton 120.062 35 40 Sebastien Buemi 120.08 41 41 Mark Webber 120.089 47 42 Felipe Massa 120.104 32 43 Rubens Barrichello 120.112 44 44 Rubens Barrichello 120.114 43 45 Felipe Massa 120.117 19 46 Rubens Barrichello 120.119 45 47 Vitantonio Liuzzi 120.139 40 48 Lewis Hamilton 120.15 34 49 Vitantonio Liuzzi 120.164 38 50 Vitantonio Liuzzi 120.169 45

Fernando Alonso got his Ferrari career off to the perfect start Fernando Alonso won the Bahrain Grand Prix on his first appearance for Ferrari. He took the lead from pole sitter Sebastian Vettel , who was struck by an exhaust failure while leading. Felipe Massa followed his team mate home in second place giving Ferrari a one-two finish in the first race of the season

Championship standings after the Bahrain Grand Prix Drivers’ championship Position Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso 25 2 Felipe Massa 18 3 Lewis Hamilton 15 4 Sebastian Vettel 12 5 Nico Rosberg 10 6 Michael Schumacher 8 7 Jenson Button 6 8 Mark Webber 4 9 Vitantonio Liuzzi 2 10 Rubens Barrichello 1 11 Nico Hülkenberg 0 12 Robert Kubica 0 13 Jaime Alguersuari 0 14 Vitaly Petrov 0 15 Adrian Sutil 0 16 Sebastien Buemi 0 17 Jarno Trulli 0 18 Heikki Kovalainen 0 19 Karun Chandhok 0 20 Bruno Senna 0 21 Pedro de la Rosa 0 22 Kamui Kobyashi 0 23 Timo Glock 0 24 Lucas di Grassi 0 Constructors’ championship Position Team Points 1 Ferrari 43 2 McLaren 21 3 Mercedes 18 4 Red Bull 16 5 Force India 2 6 Williams 1 7 Renault 0 8 Toro Rosso 0 9 Lotus 0 10 HRT 0 11 Sauber 0 12 Virgin 0

It’s race day everyone! In a few hours’ time we’ll know the winner of the first race of 2010.

Ferrari’s race pace could halt Vettel’s charge Can Sebastian Vettel start 2010 the way he ended 2009 – with a win? He’ll have to keep the fastest Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso behind him for 49 laps of the punishing Bahrain circuit.

Takuma Sato will drive a Lotus-branded IndyCar in certain rounds of this year’s IndyCar championship.

Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for Red Bull Sebastian Vettel will start the first race of the year from pole position after heading qualifying for Red Bull.