By lap 24, Schumacher was back in first place by barely a second over Alonso. The German made his second pit stop on the 36th lap, while Alonso waited until the 39th.

Winner of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix Renault's Fernando Alonso of Spain (R) and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher of Germany spray non-alcoholic sparkling wine at the end of the race at the Sakhir racetrack in Manama March 12, 2006. [Reuters]

The three extra laps and less fuel to be put in gave Alonso a quicker pit stop. Alonso and Schumacher went side-by-side around the first curve after the Spaniard had come out of the pit.

"It was my only opportunity to win the race. I was going for it. I really knew the car was faster than Michael with the tires, epecially the first laps," Alonso said.

Alonso moved in front and it was a chase for the last 17 laps.

"I was on the outside and I tried and there was no opportunity," Schumacher said.

Schumacher bided his time until the last five laps where he quickly moved to make an attempt to pass.

Raikkonen threaded his way through the pack with only one pit stop to be fourth with 15 laps to go. The Finn took third when teammate Juan Pablo Montoya had to pit.

"Sure we would have had a chance to try to win the race," Raikkonen said. "The car was good. That was the positive thing."

Button was fourth, followed by Montoya, Mark Webber of Williams and newcomer Nico Rosberg, also of Williams.

Schumacher took his 65th pole position on Saturday to tie Ayrton Senna's record. It was his first pole since the Hungarian GP in 2005.

The next race is the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 19.

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