Alonso wins strategy filled Chinese Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso has won the Chinese Grand Prix 2013, becoming the third different driver to win a race this season, and giving Ferrari their first win of the year. Kimi Raikkonen finished where he started the race, in second, with pole sitter Lewis Hamilton placing third overall.

As had been previewed during qualifying, today’s race was all about tyre strategy, with all cars at the front of the grid on different strategies in attempt to deal with the difference in performance between the soft and medium Pirelli compounds.

Alonso took the lead from Hamilton early in the race and bar losing position naturally during pit stops because of the various strategies, was able to pull away from the pack and ultimately win the race comfortably. Kimi Raikkonen crossed the finish line just 2.1 seconds ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who finished just ahead of a late charging Sebastian Vettel.

The race started with Lewis Hamilton easing into the lead from pole position. Kimi Raikkonen, second on the grid, quickly fell into fourth place when the Ferrari’s of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa got off to an extremely strong start as the red lights went out. Rosberg and Grosjean battled for fifth, whilst Sebastian Vettel struggled to progress from ninth place early in the race.

Hamilton’s lead would not last long though. The Mercedes continued to struggle early with tyre degradation and both Ferrari’s had passed Hamilton by just the fifth lap. Both Hamilton and Rosberg pitted a lap later for new tyres at the same time – Mercedes proving their strength in the pit stop department by double stacking their cars, and turning both around in an average of just 3 seconds per stop.

Fernando Alonso pit on lap 7 with relative ease, but a late call to the pits for Felipe Massa saw the Brazilian drop down the grid and struggle to make back the places over the coming race. Lap 13 saw the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg leading the race with Vettel just behind in second. Unable to pass the Sauber, Vettel lost what turned out to be considerably valuable time. Vettel and Hulkenberg pit at the same time a couple of laps later, leaving the McLaren of Jenson Button to lead the race with Fernando Alonso just behind, running in second.

In true Kimi Raikkonen ‘style’, upon running into the back of Perez, a driver who found himself involved someway with almost everyone today, barked over the radio “what the hell is he doing?”, being lucky to suffer only minor damage to his nose and front wing. Mark Webber, who started the race from the pit lane after the team opted to change his gearbox prior to the race, retired from the race after his rear right wheel came loose and fell off the car. Earlier Webber had also been involved in a collision with Red Bull Racing sister car Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso, forcing the Frenchman to spin on track. Nico Rosberg’s race was also brought to yet another premature end when the Mercedes team were forced to retire him citing a suspension failure.

Several series of position changes amongst the top ten (and racing pack as a whole) saw various positions battled for an exchanged throughout the entire race. It was during the later stages of the race that it became apparent that Fernando Alonso’s opted tyre strategy was superior than those around him. Shorter stints on tyres meant that Alonso would catch Vettel by lap 42, pass comfortably, and pull away in the knowledge that Vettel would have to stop once more to take on the mandatory soft Pirelli compound tyre.

Vettel went on to battle Kimi Raikkonen for second place, but stopping for his soft tyres just 5 laps before the end of the race saw the Red Bull re-join the race in fourth place, just behind the Mercedes of third placed Lewis Hamilton. Pushing until the end, Vettel would ultimately finish fourth after being unable to get past Hamilton before the chequered flag.

Further down the field, Jenson Button was able to pull off an impressive two stop strategy, a strategy which would reward him with a fifth place finish ahead of the poorly placed Felipe Massa. Despite an early unplanned stop for a new front wing, Daniel Ricciardo had another strong drive, successfully converting his seventh place qualifying result into a seventh place race result for Toro Rosso.

Paul di Resta finished in eighth, a much needed result for the Force India team after a collision with Esteban Gutierrez forced di Resta’s teammate Adrian Sutil out of the race, whilst Raikkonen’s teammate Romain Grosjean brought his Lotus home in ninth. After leading the race at one point, Sauber’s choice to put Hulkenberg on a short middle stint on the soft compound meant their car would cross the finish line in tenth, scoring the final available championship point of the race.

Out of the top ten, Perez, Vergne, Maldonado and Bottas took places eleven through fourteen, whilst the Marussia and Caterham drivers mixed for positions fifteen to eighteen, impressing again with both ‘back-marker’ team cars finishing the full race.

Sebastian Vettel continues to lead the Drivers’ World Championship standings with 52 points, just three points ahead of second placed Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso now sits third in the standings with 43 points whilst Lewis Hamilton continues to rack up the points for himself and Mercedes, comfortably fourth with 40 points to his name. Red Bull Racing lead the World Constructors’ Championship with 78 points – Ferrari are close behind with 73.

The Formula 1 calendar resumes one week from now on the weekend of April 19 – 21, for the 2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

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