Australia’s Mark Webber was left pondering what might have been after finishing 11th at the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix, won by BrawnGP’s Jenson Button (above).

Webber made a solid start, slashing his way through the lower order as he commenced his charge towards a potential points finish.

However, his chances of sneaking a surprise result were stymied early on, after finding himself trapped behind the Renault of Nelsinho Piquet.

The struggling Brazilian refused to relent, racing for his career as he held Webber at bay for the first stint and halted his progression.

Despite displaying far superior overall speed, Webber was unable to find a way past Piquet, who used the added 60kw (80hp) provided by the KERS system to great effect, cancelling out any of the Red Bull driver’s attacks.

“My start was okay, we had a reasonable first few laps, but then I got stuck behind Piquet. It’s very difficult to overtake a car with KERS, he was too quick on the straights and that really wrecked the first stint for me,” Webber said.

“We then converted to a two-stop strategy, but the grip was quite low on the prime tyres, although it was the same for everyone. If you don’t start near the front in these races we know the score, but I did my best.”

Webber’s result was made even more frustrating by the pace of team mate Sebastian Vettel.

The German’s chances of securing victory were scuttled after he was trapped behind Toyota’s Jarno Trulli during the second stint, allowing Button to establish a race winning lead.

Vettel managed to close the gap to Button late, but his attempts proved futile as the Briton extended his lead in the Drivers Championship.

Trulli rounded off the podium with a solid third place, while Lewis Hamilton, Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso completed the top eight.