Race Report: Spain - Alonso Gets Cheered Home First

Fernando Alonso won a mighty race ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and teammate Felipe Massa to win in front of his beloved home fans. Starting 5th, he in fine style swooped around the outside of Raikkonen and Hamilton going through turn 3, which was the benchmark for his race. 

Alonso Celebrates With The Spanish Flag

The Mercedes starting on the front row had a torrid race again, the champions of Saturday dropped from 1st to 6th, and 2nd to 12nd for Rosberg and Hamilton respectively. It must be truly horrible to be a Mercedes driver at high tyre wear circuits. Nevertheless, Monaco is next where tyre where is not so great and overtaking is considerably harder, so expect them to bounce back. I will be bold and predict Hamilton for the win already...

After jumping to 3rd, Alonso then jumped Vettel in the pits, before then passing Rosberg on lap 13 in turn 1. Vettel then got punchy not wanting Alonso to run away, and he along with Massa and Raikkonen then quickly passed the Mercedes. Behind, Perez had got as high as 6th and considering the performance gap wasn't too far behind for the early stages of the race. He dropped back to 9th behind Button in 8th however, as Button stopped one less time than the Mexican who it seems has firmly found his feet again in F1. 

di Resta for Force India had another strong race, starting 10th he steadily made his way up to 7th, unable to pass Rosberg on the final few laps. Bringing up the last point was Daniel Ricciardo who in the early stages was flying, but like most had to stop 4 times, but is showing his potential in a class top 10. 

Raikkonen & Massa Had Great Races From 4th and 9th on the Grid

Hamilton finished a lonely 12th behind an improved Gutierrez who for the first time showed promise, and before his first stop led the race for a couple of laps. There was to be no repeat story for Maldonado this year though, as his Williams updates still delivered no performance. At the back, the Caterham's updates are the most notable of the field, jumping them ahead of Marussia seemingly, van der Garde winning their teammate battle this week too for the first time.

In the previous 10 years at the Spanish Grand Prix, the winner had started 9 times from pole position, and once from 2nd. To start from 5th and win showed Alonso's ability for a countless time and was a well deserved victory with Ferrari in fine form. It seems Alonso and Raikkonen are stepping up the plate to once again challenge Vettel for this year's title...

Please check back for Teammate Battle Tracker: Spain & 10 Things We Learnt From: Spain articles soon...

Nick, F1 Hub



F1 Hub Overtake of the Race
Alonso on Raikkonen and Hamilton - Lap 1
Alonso was in contention for many of his moves, but as the race started though, Alonso's race line gave himself more speed coming out of turn 2, and as Raikkonen got boxed in behind Hamilton as the Mercedes struggled to grip, Alonso swooped around the outside of the both - he's a clever ol' boy and never stops to remind us of it (apart from Malaysia maybe).

Alonso Sweeping Around The Outside Of The Lotus & Mercedes Round Turn 3

F1 Hub Driver of the Race
It's hard to look anywhere else but Alonso really, Massa had a fab race but Alonso was just infatic. A great weekend for the Ferrari boys and despite the tyre debates, the championship between Vettel, Alonso and Raikkonen is shaping up nicely.


Full Race Result
1) Fernando Alonso [Ferrari]
2) Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus]
3) Felipe Massa [Ferrari]
4) Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull]
5) Mark Webber [Red Bull]
6) Nico Rosberg [Mercedes]
7) Paul di Resta [Force India]
8) Jenson Button [McLaren]
9) Sergio Perez [McLaren]
10) Daniel Ricciardo [Toro Rosso]
11) Esteban Gutierrez [Sauber]
12) Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes]
13) Adrian Sutil [Force India]
14) Pastor Maldonado [Williams]
15) Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber]
16) Valtteri Bottas [Williams] 
17) Charles Pic [Caterham]
18) Jules Bianchi [Marussia]
19) Max Chilton [Marussia]

Did Not Finish
Jean Eric Vergne [Toro Rosso] - Lap 52, Accident
Giedo van der Garde [Caterham] - Lap 21, Wheel Nut
Romain Grosjean [Lotus] - Lap 8, Suspension Failure