Formula 1 star Fernando Alonso won the Spanish Grand Prix for Ferrari, sending his home crowd into rapture.
Alonso's victory owed much to his combative nature on a day when many of his rivals focused - with varying degrees of success - on tyre conservation.
Right from the start, the front row pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were in trouble, as their Mercedes racers struggled for race pace. Red Bull ace Sebastian Vettel split the pair off the line, and looked a potential winner for a while.
Alonso, meanwhile, also started well, moving around the outside of both Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) and Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap. He then tracked the leaders, passing Vettel during the first pitstop phase and then chasing down Rosberg. Rosberg's day swiftly became worse as Vettel and Raikkonen then dispatched him on the same lap.
Thereafter Alonso was able to stretch his lead, running fast enough to make a four-stop strategy work. Vettel, on the same strategy, fell prey to Räikkönen however, who stopped one less time. Räikkönen's pace and canny tyre tactics meant he briefly led into the closing stages, before having to cede the place to Alonso, who was on fresher tyres.
Felipe Massa crowned Ferrari's day, recovering from a penalised ninth on the grid (after impeding Red Bull's Mark Webber in qualifying) to take the final podium spot as Vettel's pace faltered as he struggled with tyre wear.
Spanish Grand Prix 2013 results:
1 Alonso (Ferrari); 2 Räikkönen (Lotus-Renault); 3 Massa (Ferrari); 4 Vettel (Red Bull-Renault); 5 Webber (Red Bull-Renault); 6 Rosberg (Mercedes); 7 Di Resta (Force India-Mercedes); 8 Button (McLaren-Mercedes); 9 Perez (McLaren-Mercedes); 10 Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari); 11 Gutierrez (Sauber-Ferrari); 12 Hamilton (Mercedes); 13 Sutil (Force India-Mercedes); 14 Maldonado (Williams-Renault); 15 Hulkenberg (Sauber-Ferrari); 16 Bottas (Williams-Renault); 17 Pic (Caterham-Renault); 18 Bianchi (Marussia-Cosworth); 19 Chilton (Marussia-Cosworth); DNF Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari); DNF van der Garde (Caterham-Renault); DNF Grosjean (Lotus-Renault).
World Championship standings:
Drivers: 1 Vettel 89; 2 Räikkönen 85; 3 Alonso 72; 4 Hamilton; 50; 5 Massa 45; 6 Webber 42; 7 Di Resta 26; 8 Grosjean 26; 9 Rosberg 22; 10 Button 17; 11 Perez 12; 12 Ricciardo 7; 13 Sutil 6; 14 Hulkenberg 5; 15 Vergne 1.
Constructors: 1 Red Bull-Renault 131; 2 Ferrari 117; 3. Lotus-Renault 111; 4 Mercedes 72; 5 Force India-Mercedes 32; 6 McLaren-Mercedes 29; 7 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8; 8 Sauber-Ferrari 5.
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Like sport it up no hold
Like sport it up no holds barred anything goes backsides without limits watching small men with big helmets give us your Peter Cavellini.
Matthew Tortellini.
Political stranglehold ruins 'real' racing
Started watching F1 in 1979 as my old man worked in the production side of the industry in Northants. Became a big fan throughout the 80's - 90's.
I continue today to be impressed by Alonso and his first rate racecraft, and love the dry / non corporate Raikonnen who backs up his 'I was taking a s**t / eating ice creams' philosophy with consistent solid results.
I think it's a farse that the driver / car is constrained to unnecessary levels by shabby tyres. Unless you have a car that's kind on it's tyres then you can't actually RACE due to fear of tyres falling off cliff (or worse dangerous delamination) and that's if you actually have enough fuel!
To me F1 should be the pinnacle in 'flat out' motorsport, it shouldn't be 90 minutes of fannying about plate spinning tyre and fuel management. Obviously too many people are employed behind the scenes at FIA meddling with rules / parameters (jobs for the boys), so that 'interesting' championship outcomes can be engineered. A shame for the public (paying TV licences or grandstand seats) and to some extent the 'real' drivers who just want to race.
Doesn't matter how you sell it.
Warren_S3@
Like any sport, it doesn't matter how you set it up or what rules you draw up,someone will try and drive round them, what your suggesting is a no holds barred,anything goes type of motorsport, a sport that would hark back to the days of Can-Am racing where you had Porsche kicking backsides with there 917-30 car, 1500 reliable BHP, no one had a chance,without fuel limits, a sure fire winner.Trying to keep people watching or going to GP has to be a top consideration for obvious reasons, the racing IS better,there's no processional stuff anymore,tyres loosing tread has only happened the last few races, you say you like Alonso's racecraft and Kimi's laid back atittude,well, that's what the sport needs,drivers who aren't just small men with big helmets(no pun intended),and, "real drivers", give us your definition of them.
Better than before!
Started to watch F1 again this season after a break of 3 or 4 seasons and have to say the BBC coverage is better and Suzi Perry and DC are a really good double act. Just wish they'd get rid of EJ - too opinionated even for a pundit - and cringeworthy at conducting interviews.
But well done to Alonso, he drove the best race for sure and deserved the win.