Schumacher en route to victory (Getty Images).
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Michael Schumacher stormed to victory in the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix
on Sunday as Britain's Jenson Button snatched a second successive podium finish.
Schumacher triumphed by 1.3 seconds from Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello
to make it three wins out of three this season.
Button snatched third just eight laps from the end of the first ever grand
prix to take place in the Middle East when Juan Pablo Montoya suffered a problem
in his Williams.
Renault's Jarno Trulli finished fourth, with Button's BAR team-mate Takuma
Sato fifth, while Fernando Alonso was sixth in the other Renault.
Schumacher's 73rd career victory gives him a nine point lead in the championship
over Barrichello while Button is now third in the standings after another superb
afternoon in his Honda-powered car.
Schumacher dominated the 57-lap race from start and only relinquished the lead
during the three pit stops.
The six-time world champion could have enjoyed an even greater victory but for
slowing down on the last lap allowing Barrichello to close the gap.
But there would be no champagne celebrations with the top three drivers being
sprayed by Warrd - a unique non-alcoholic drink made from pomegranate and rose
water to reflect Muslim tradition
Button looked set for fourth place until Montoya suddenly started slowing. The
Colombian had to trail round in the closing laps and eventually finished a
hugely disappointing 13th.
And it was another nightmare afternoon for the McLaren team as David Coulthard
and Kimi Raikkonen both failed to finish.
Coulthard made it until the closing laps before he stopped at the end of the
pit lane while Raikkonen was the first to retire with a spectacular engine
blowout.
The Finn, who missed out on the championship by just two points last year, has
failed to finish the first three races and already looks out of title contention
with 15 GPs left.
Germany's Ralf Schumacher finished seventh after surviving an early collision
with Sato while Mark Webber picked up Jaguar's first point of the season with
eighth place.
Schumacher said: "It is a dream result. It was hard work because my brakes were
marginal. I had to drive a fine line and couldn't push it too hard.
"But it was a superb weekend even though it was tough at times. But in the
final moment we had everything spot on, getting the front row and the first two
positions.
"The biggest problem was to stay on line because it was so slippery. It was
very tricky.
"The rose water smells pretty good - now all three of us have a beautiful
smell. Everybody here has done a superb job, they have prepared a circuit that
is difficult to drive but a great challenge.
"The facilities were superb and the people were very friendly. It was a great
experience and we look forward to coming back."
Barrichello said: "My car was great. Michael was very fast in the first
couple of corners and he got a gap.
"Then I had a small problem in the pit-stop and he was 10 seconds ahead and
that was too difficult.
Button, who finished over 26 seconds behind, said: "This is fantastic. This
was a bit more difficult because I started sixth which was disappointing.
"But it was good to fight through as we did in Malaysia. Our strategy really
paid off this weekend."
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