Ferraris Fernando Alonso rose from fifth on the grid to take a comfortable Spanish Grand Prix victory at the Circuit de Catalunya with Racecar clients Kimni Raikkonen and Felipe Massa joining him on the podium
Fernando Alonsos second Spanish Grand Prix victory flew in the face of precedent. No-one before had won at the Circuit de Catalunya from the third row of the rid but the Spaniard did not let that stand in his way, cruising around in the final laps to finish nine seconds ahead of Kimi Rikknens Lotus, who in turn was a comfortable margin ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari.
Behind the podium party, Sebastian Vettel failed to impress, though finishing fourth was sufficient to maintain his lead in the Drivers Championship. Behind him came team-mate Mark Webber to ensure Red Bull stay top of the Constructors Championship table also.
From pole position Mercedes Nico Rosberg fell to sixth at the flagbetter rewarded than team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who dropped from second to 12th but displaying Mercedes expected lack of long-run pace. He finished ahead of Paul di Resta for Force India, seventh and the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Sergio Prez were eighth and ninth respectively. Daniel Ricciardo took the final point for Toro Rosso, narrowly prevailing over Saubers Esteban Gutirrez on the final lap.
Tyre choice did not seem as critical as had been the case in Bahrain but nevertheless this was a race where strategy played its part. The majority of the points-scorers opted for a four-stop race but Rikknen, Rosberg and Button eked out their rubber and did only three. Once those choices became clear the question to be answered in the latter half of the race was whether Rikknens frugality or Alonsos pace would win out.
Alonso had put himself in a strong position, passing Rikknen and Hamilton at the start to move up to third behind the equally fast-starting Vettel and Rosberg. It was, said the Ferrari man speaking after the race in the FIA press conference, essential to his chance of winning.
I think we knew that to win the race we needed to pass people at the start. I saw Kimi and Lewis running a little bit wide in turn one so I changed trajectory and I had a clean exit in turn two. I passed Kimi and I said why not also Hamilton? I had a little bit of KERS that I saved from the start for turn three, so I used that to pass Hamilton and I think that was a lot in the race[but] also when exiting the first pit stop.
Alonso got ahead of Vettel in that first pit window and forced his way past Rosberg shortly afterwards as the Mercedes faded from contention. Rikknen, however, did not quite manage to do the same and got stuck behind a manifestly slower Vettel for several laps. The Finn, though, did not believe those laps were a significant factor in the races outcome.
Obviously I have to overtake and I took maybe a few laps more than I expected but I got past him and I really could pull away, said Rikknen. In the end I really dont think those were the decisions that were the deciding story of the race.
I think we deserved to be second and not really winning today. Its OK for the team, the guys did a good job and we go for the next race to try to do better and get the best out of it.
That Ferrari had genuine pace today was underlined by the form of Massa. Having qualified sixth and been demoted to ninth for blocking, the Brazilian recovered his position superbly to take his first podium of the season.
Our car was really superb for this track, said Massa. The degradation on the tyres was not [as minimal as] Lotus but I think we did the best as were supposed to do and we showed a good performance.
Having won in Bahrain, the previous round of the championship, more might have been expected from Red Bull, especially given Vettels good start which took him into second behind Rosberg. The World Champion, however, refused to be disappointed with finishing off the podium, claiming he ran a good race. Vettel also suggested that Red Bull arent completely comfortable with the behaviour of the tyres.
I think we can be happy with fourth today, he said. The first three cars were a little bit too fast for us and regarding looking after the tyres, they did a better job. We need to catch up; were not going the pace of the car, were going the pace of the tyres and obviously we do something to make the tyres wear more. We got some good points today, although of course we wanted more.
For Alonso, though, there were no such problems. His second Spanish Grand Prix victory and a third on Spanish soil took ahead of Nigel Mansell in the all-time list of F1 winners with 32 wins. Asked if he had ambitions to catch Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher ahead, Alonso suggested he had other priorities:
Id just be happy if I finish second in all the races and I win more championships.
He moves up to third place in this years battle.
2013 FIA Formula One Spanish Grand Prix result
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:39:16.596 25pts2 Kimi Rikknen Lotus +9.3s 18pts3 Felipe Massa Ferrari +26.0s 15pts4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing +38.2s 12pts5 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing +47.9s 10pts6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +68.0s 8pts7 Paul di Resta Force India +68.9s 6pts8 Jenson Button McLaren +79.5s 4pts9 Sergio Prez McLaren +81.7s 2pts10 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso +1 Lap 1pts11 Esteban Gutirrez Sauber +1 Lap12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1 Lap13 Adrian Sutil Force India +1 Lap14 Pastor Maldonado Williams +1 Lap15 Nico Hlkenberg Sauber +1 Lap16 Valtteri Bottas Williams +1 Lap17 Charles Pic Caterham +1 Lap18 Jules Bianchi Marussia +2 Laps19 Max Chilton Marussia +2 LapsRet Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso Collision damageRet Giedo van der Garde Caterham +45 LapsRet Romain Grosjean Lotus Suspension
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