It was only a question of when, not if, Sebastian Vettel finally overtook Sir Jackie Stewart's tally of 27 Grand Prix victories and the German reigning world champion duly moved to sixth on the all-time winners' list with an emphatic triumph in Bahrain yesterday.

Yet, if one Scottish icon was slipping down the rankings, there were no such problems for Paul Di Resta, who equalled the best result of his Grand Prix career, finishing in fourth place, almost claimed his maiden podium, completed his most prosperous weekend since he advanced into the F1 milieu, and generally demonstrated that he possesses all the requisite gifts to progress to Red Bull or even Ferrari in the future.

In the build-up to the event, much of the controversy had surrounded the race being staged in a country with a dreadful human rights record – though one doesn't recall the same criticisms being raised before Bernie Ecclestone's caravan pitched up in China – but, on a curiously muted occasion, Vettel's success offered fresh confirmation that this fellow has no intention of relinquishing his crown. Indeed, such was the ease with which he swept to the chequered flag, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean that even Vettel seemed surprised by the manner in which Red Bull's travails in qualifying had merely been the prelude to another shining example of their supremacy.

"It was a faultless, seamless race from start to finish," said Vettel, who has now established a 10-point gap over Raikkonen in the championship standings, and is already an imposing 27 and 30 points better off than Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, both of whom struggled.

"I knew that it was crucial to get into the lead as soon as I could and look after the tyres, but our pace was phenomenal, the car was great and that allowed me to push on every single lap and look after the tyres. I lost out to Fernando at the first corner, but I soon got him back. I saved some KERS and out-accelerated him into Turn Six. I did the same on Nico [Rosberg, who started on pole position], and got him into Turn Five. It was incredible the pace we had today."

Di Resta, for his part, could reflect proudly on his significant role in the proceedings, and, nearly as importantly, was the margin between the West Lothian driver and his Force India colleague, Adrian Sutil, who crawled home in 13th.

The Scot, who was operating on the same strategy as Raikkonen, did one fewer pit stop than most of the other leading challengers, but even though he could not hold off the faster Lotus car of Grosjean, as the denouement beckoned, Di Resta has recently displayed a tougher edge to his jousts with anybody who dares to get in his way. That mixture of assertiveness and aggression was exactly what was required in the circumstances. He is aware that he is under scrutiny from other teams. Yet, on this evidence, he is being inspired, rather than pressurised by that knowledge.

"Overall, we can be positive. It is probably the strongest race I have had and I was strong throughout the whole weekend," said Di Resta, who refused to be downcast over being passed by Grosjean with six laps left. "I led for quite a while and we can be on the podium one day.

"It [the podium fight] was very close and fourth is a big credit to the boys. We didn't get the rewards in Malaysia, but to come away with one really good result before the European season begins [in Spain on May 12] is very good."

While Di Resta was earning rave reviews for another accomplished display, Hamilton was once again forced to toil for whatever spoils he could eke out and wore a mournful expression at the end. Jenson Button was even more disconsolate after slumping to 10th and his frustration was borne out by his testy exchanges with his McLaren mechanics.

Di Resta, in contrast, is gradually, inexorably, reinforcing his superiority over Sutil, and preparing himself for the next chapter in his career. It won't happen immediately, but it may be that he and Vettel are destined to resume their former rivalry as part of the same team in the future.