1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 54.101s
2 Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 54.242s
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 54.608s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 55.217s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 55.241s
6 Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 55.284s
7. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 55.524s
8 Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 55.672s
9 Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 55.885s
1 Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 56.309s

11Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 55.330s
12 Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 55.653s
13 Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 1m 55.857s
14 Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 56.237s
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 56.265s
16 Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 56.270s
17. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 56.619s

18. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 57.071s
19. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1m 59.728s
20. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 1m 59.852s
21. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 2m 00.313s
22. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 2m 00.587s
23. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 2m 03.240s
24. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 2m 04.904s

Fernando Alonso has insisted that he won’t be upset this year if he fails to win the F1 drivers’ title for a third time.

Alonso will make his debut for Ferrari at the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend and while the Scuderia have been on the pace in pre-season testing – and are considered by some to be one of the favourites, the Spaniard has tried to quell expectations ahead of the season opener.

“I understand that people can be disappointed if I’m not champion [this year] but I personally won’t be,” he told Spanish radio Cadena Ser. “It’s a sport, (Real) Madrid and Barcelona are the best (football) clubs in the world but they can lose the Champions League or a match.

“Not winning the championship is completely logical – and it would not be a disappointment.”

Alonso, who failed to win a single race last year with Renault, is though still very upbeat about his prospects with the new Ferrari F10. Indeed speaking to Ferrari’s official website he was a lot more ‘on message’.

“I want to thank you all for what you have done for this new F1 Ferrari. I already told it to the newspapers but I want to tell you personally: this is the best car I’ve ever driven,” he said this week in an address to the mechanics and engineers responsible for building the Ferrari F10.

“This doesn’t mean that it will be enough to win every single race, but I’m happy about how the tests went and I think that we’re at 100 per cent for the first race in Bahrain. We are Ferrari and we know from our history that we have only one goal: winning the Championship. And I know that thanks to your work we can do it.

“We know that the first race is like the first stage at the Tour de France: what counts is winning. Felipe [Massa] and I are extremely motivated and we’ll give it our all to show that we merit the opportunity to drive a car like Ferrari.”

Jenson Button benefited from a typical piece of Ross Brawn strategy to come through from fourth on the grid to win the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Briton, who lost out to countryman Lewis Hamilton at the start, made importantly short work of the world champion in the early stages to mark himself out as the main challenger to the front row-occupying Toyotas. Then, when the lighter Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock stopped before the Brawn, Button was left in prime position to claim a third – and potentially most satisfying – win of Brawn’s maiden season.

Through the middle part of the 57-lap event, the two Toyotas fell further away, leaving Sebastian Vettel – with newer tyres and a heavier initial fuel load – as the only real threat to the championship leader, but Button had enough in hand to come home nearly ten seconds ahead of the field.

Vettel managed to resist a late spot of pressure from Trulli, to claim another podium to add to his win in China, while Hamilton managed to come home ahead of the second Brawn of Rubens Barrichello to collect a much-needed fourth place for the beleaguered McLaren team.

Even more desperate for a result, Kimi Raikkonen gave the visiting Luca di Montezemolo something to cheer with sixth for Ferrari, coming home ahead of the disappointing Glock, while Fernando Alonso held off Nico Rosberg for the final point.

The German’s Williams team-mate, Kazuki Nakajima, posted the sole retirement of the hottest race of the year so far, but that will be of little comfort to the two BMW Saubers, both of which were hobbled by first lap contact that left them aerodynamically disadvantaged and switching to a one-stop strategy that failed to pay dividends.

1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 76 laps 1hr 31m 48.182s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 07.1s
3. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +00m 09.1s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 22.0s
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes +00m 37.7s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 42.0s
7. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +00m 42.8s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 52.7s

9. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 58.1s
10. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +00m 65.1s
11. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 67.6s
12. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +00m 77.8s
13. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00m 78.8s
14. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
16. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
17. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
18. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +1 lap
19. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +1 lap

Rtd Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 48 laps completed oil pressure

Fastest lap:

b>Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 34.556s lap 10