German Sebastian Vettel wins incident-free Bahrain Grand Prix

Two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel held off a charging Kimi Raikkonen to win an incident-free Bahrain Grand Prix Sunday for his first victory of the season.     

Vettel started from pole for the first time this year and led from start to finish. Raikkonen worked his way up from 11th on the grid to finish 3.3 seconds behind for his first podium finish since returning to the sport this season. Raikkonen's Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean was third, followed by Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber.     

The race had been overshadowed most of the week by clashes between riot police and anti-government demonstrators in the divided Gulf nation, but was held without a hitch. With security checkpoints boosted ahead of the race, there were no signs of protests near the circuit Sunday.                           

The beefed-up security moved into place shortly before the start of the race. Tensions rose the day before because of the discovery of a body of a man who the opposition claims was killed by security forces.                                 

Last year's race was canceled because of the uprising by the kingdom's Shiite majority, which is seeking to break the ruling Sunni dynasty's hold on power.                             

Opposition groups have sharply criticized the return of the race to Bahrain.                               

At least 50 people have been killed since the unrest began in February 2011.        

AP/LBCI