Pirelli, the tyre supplier, had originally planned to bring their hard and soft compounds of tyre to the race. These were to be designated as the prime and the option respectively. However, teams experienced problems with the soft compound at the Chinese Grand Prix, with the tyres degrading after just seven laps. This prompted Pirelli to alter their allocation for the Bahrain Grand Prix, changing the options from the soft compound to the medium. Before the race, a minute of silence was held as a mark of respect for those who had lost their lives in the Boston Marathon bombings six days earlier. This race also marked the 200th Grand Prix for Mark Webber.
The controversial race went ahead despite ongoing protests which had been taking place since the cancellation of the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix. Public protests also occurred over the 2013 staging of the race, after the 2011 event was cancelled and the 2012 event went ahead despite efforts by demonstrators to disrupt the race. According to Reuters, the race went ahead "largely unhindered" by the protests. Reflecting on the changes in the government strategy compared to 2012, they concluded that the public relations battle over this year's race had produced a stalemate, reflecting the situation in the opposition movement generally.
Mercedes' Nico Rosberg started the race from pole. At the start, Nico Rosberg maintained the lead of the race, followed by Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Paul di Resta and Felipe Massa. Sebastian Vettel was able to pass Fernando Alonso already during the first lap, and Nico Rosberg on the third, thus taking the lead. Fernando Alonso engaged, in turn, in a long duel with Nico Rosberg, before passing him on lap 5. After a lap, the German was also overtaken by Paul di Resta. Around the same time, Adrian Sutil, Jean-Éric Vergne and Giedo van der Garde were involved in a collision.
Fernando Alonso was forced to pit on lap seven to fix the DRS, which remained open on his car; he returned to the track seventeenth. The Spaniard tried to use the device again, which blocked again, forcing him to stop again one lap later. Between laps 10 and 11, the best drivers changed tires. Paul di Resta now led, followed by Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Hülkenberg. Sebastian Vettel returned to the lead definitively on lap 15 after overtaking Kimi Räikkönen and the first pit stop for Paul di Resta. At this point, Sebastian Vettel led Kimi Räikkönen, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Pérez and Paul di Resta. Kimi Räikkönen changed tires on lap 16, while, one lap later, Felipe Massa was forced to change tires again due to the dechapping of the right rear.
On lap 19, both Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean passed Nico Rosberg, who changed tires for the second time one lap later; Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean engaged in a great duel, which ended with Jenson Button's pit stop on lap 21. Four laps later it was Sebastian Vettel's turn, who maintained the lead of the race, followed by Romain Grosjean, Paul di Resta, Kimi Räikkönen, Mark Webber, Sergio Pérez and Jenson Button. One lap later Paul di Resta moved into second, passing Romain Grosjean, who then pitted on lap 27. On laps 23 and 24, after a heated battle, the two McLaren drivers got the better of Nico Rosberg. Between laps 29 and 32, Jenson Button and Sergio Pérez then fought for fifth place, with the Englishman passing the Mexican and then resisting his counterattacks. However, the Englishman wore out his tyres and had to anticipate his third stop, like Nico Rosberg.
On lap 34, Kimi Räikkönen gained second place after overtaking Paul di Resta and pitted for the second time, a couple of laps before the Scotsman; from behind, Fernando Alonso appeared again in the points. Three laps later, Mark Webber made his third pit stop, then on lap 42, it was also Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean's turn. Sebastian Vettel still led, followed by Kimi Räikkönen, Paul di Resta, Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean; one lap later, the Frenchman took a position from Mark Webber.
On lap 44, Lewis Hamilton passed Jenson Button for sixth place; the McLaren driver was also then passed by Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard, even without DRS, managed to get the better of Sergio Pérez on the main straight at the start of lap 47. The final laps were animated by the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber: the Englishman passed for the first time on lap 51, being passed again by the Australian a couple of laps later, before finally gaining the position, after repeated attacks, at the start of the final lap. Mark Webber was also passed by Sergio Pérez, who had repassed Fernando Alonso on lap 54. In the meantime, during the fifty-second lap, Romain Grosjean had taken the final spot podium at the expense of Paul di Resta.
Sebastian Vettel won the race, with Lotus F1 drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean completing the podium. This meant that the top 3 finishers were identical to the 2012 event in the same order. This previously occurred in the 1964 and 1965 editions of the British Grand Prix and in the 1998 and 1999 editions of the Spanish Grand Prix. This was the second time a woman had taken to the Formula 1 podium to receive the Manufacturers' Award, and it was Gill Jones, Red Bull Racing’s Head of Trackside Electronics, who stood. This was also the last Bahrain Grand Prix to take place during the daytime, as the event switched to a night race from the 2014 race onwards.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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