Alonso dominates in Spain to win in front of home crowd

Alonso takes commanding home win

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12 May 2013 - 15:45
Alonso dominates in Spain to win (...)

Fernando Alonso has won the Spanish Grand Prix in front of thousands of his home-town supporters, showing dominant pace by an upgraded Ferrari from the start. Kimi Raikkonen finished second for Lotus, with Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa in third. It is Alonso’s first win in Barcelona, and at home, since 2006.

In what turned out to be yet another race dominated by tyre strategy, most teams would pit up to four times throughout the race in order to manage their tyres as best as possible. Graining was visible on the various compounds throughout the race, with degradation happening at sometimes alarming rates. Jean-Eric Vergne also suffered from a tyre delamination at the mid-race point, a problem that Pirelli has experienced before this season, and are obviously yet to figure out. The race will no doubt once again raise questions as to the level of quality, and even safety, Pirelli are bringing to Formula 1 in a season dominated by questionable tyres.

Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton started the race from first and second respectively, but with a severe lack of pace and an inability to manage their tyres, their starting positions would not last. As the Grand Prix got underway, Vettel quickly jumped from third to second, splitting the Mercedes’. Meanwhile, in what was arguably the manoeuvre of the season thus far, Fernando Alonso accelerated around the outside of both Raikkonen and Hamilton at turn 3 to move into third, up from fifth.

Nico Rosberg was able to hold on to the front runners throughout the first round of pit stops, but having pit one lap ahead of Vettel in order to jump the Red Bull, Alonso quickly became the main contender for first position. Alonso passed Rosberg on lap 12, quickly followed by Vettel and Raikkonen, further pushing the Mercedes down in the running order. With Alonso in front, the Ferrari started to pull away.

It soon became apparent that Sebastian Vettel was on the same four-stop strategy as Fernando Alonso, but the Red Bull was simply unable to match the pace of the Ferrari, putting Vettel out of contention. However, Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus’ took a gamble on a three stop strategy; a gamble that would soon pay off, allowing Raikkonen to breeze past Vettel on lap 33.

Lotus and Raikkonen looked as though they had the potential to edge Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in the second half of the race as Raikkonen led the race. With a fresher set of tyres though, Alonso quickly caught up Raikkonen at a rate of two seconds per lap, passed the Lotus, and then quickly established a lead of twelve seconds.

Raikkonen was then able to cruise to a second place finish, with Felipe Massa unable to push from third as tyre management forced the Brazilian to run cautiously.

Felipe Massa had an impressive race himself. Starting from ninth on the grid after a five place grid penalty yesterday from qualifying, Massa showed rapid pace and exceptional tyre management throughout the race. Sitting in second position at one point, third place and a return to the podium was a result to be proud of.

Further down the field, Vettel’s mid-race attempt at a long stint failed to succeed, meaning the triple world champion had to settle for fourth place, with teammate Mark Webber just behind in fifth. Rosberg’s pole starting demise ended after a three stop strategy came together and resulted in a sixth place finish. Teammate Lewis Hamilton was not so lucky, finishing out of the points in twelfth after losing several places following his very first pit stop.

Paul di Resta’s Force India placed seventh whilst the McLaren duo of Jenson Button and Sergio Perez finished eighth and ninth respectively. Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo scored the final World Championship point in tenth, fending off Sauber’s rookie driver Esteban Gutierrez who had a strong race following a weak qualifying performance.

Adrian Sutil was able to recover to a thirteenth place finish after a fault with the car almost brought his race to a premature end, whilst last years’ Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado placed fourteenth after receiving a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Raikkonen’s Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean retired from his first race of the 2013 season with a rear suspension failure.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne (tyre delamination) and Caterham’s Giedo van der Garde (wheel bbut failure) were the other two retirements of the Spanish Grand Prix. Caterham may also be at risk of a penalty due to van der Garde’s wheel coming off during the race. Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber may also face sanctions for unsafe release after a pit lane crash with Jean-Eric Vergne.

Kimi Raikkonen is now just four points adrift of Championship leading Sebastian Vettel, whilst the race win put Fernando Alonso firmly in third place with 72 points; just 17 points behind Vettel. Red Bull lead the Constructors’ Championship by fourteen points with Ferrari in second.

The Formula 1 calendar resumes two weeks from now on the weekend of May 24 – 26, for the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2013.

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Pos.DriverTeamGapPit
01 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 66 laps - 1h39m16.596s 4
02 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus Renault +9.338 3
03 Felipe Massa Ferrari +26.049 4
04 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Renault +38.273 4
05 Mark Webber Red Bull Renault +47.963 4
06 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG +68.020 3
07 Paul di Resta Force India Mercedes +68.988 4
08 Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes +79.506 3
09 Sergio Perez McLaren Mercedes +81.738 4
10 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso Ferrari +1 lap 4
11 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber Ferrari +1 lap 4
12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG +1 lap 4
13 Adrian Sutil Force India Mercedes +1 lap 4
14 Pastor Maldonado Williams Renault +1 lap 5
15 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber Ferrari +1 lap 6
16 Valtteri Bottas Williams Renault +1 lap 3
17 Charles Pic Caterham Renault +1 lap 3
18 Jules Bianchi Marussia Cosworth +2 laps 4
19 Max Chilton Marussia Cosworth +2 laps 3
20 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso Ferrari DNF 5
21 Giedo Van der Garde Caterham Renault DNF 3
22 Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault DNF 1

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