IMAGES: Best Of Bahrain

Jacques Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill catch up on the grid.

There weren’t just plenty of former World Champions on the starting grid at Sunday’s Bahrain GP – there were plenty in the paddock as well. Here Jacques Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill (all World Champions with Williams) shoot the breeze before the start of the race.

The Bahrain GP gets under way.

And away they go! Polesitter Sebastian Vettel gets away to a great start, but it’s Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who makes the best move, getting ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa at the first corner.

Mark Webber's Red Bull lets off a puff of smoke near the start.

Amid the excitement of the start, Mark Webber’s Red Bull lets off a huge cloud of smoke – it’s not deemed serious for the Aussie and he finishes the race, but amid the poor visibility Robert Kubica (Renault) and Adrian Sutil (Force India) touch and spin, and are forced to the back of the pack.

Lewis Hamilton stops for a tyre change.

With a ban on refuelling, most of the teams only made one pitstop. And they were quick, on average about 3 seconds – as demonstrated here by McLaren and Lewis Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso crosses the line in Bahrain.

Fernando Alonso picks up his very first win in the red of the Scuderia, after Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull suffered mechanical failure.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton congratulate each other after the race.

Mmmm, wonder what these two former teammates had to say to each other after the race.

Team Ferrari celebrate after the race.

Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and the whole Ferrari team celebrate a 1-2 in the opening race.