Alonso Wins On Home Turf

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso sent his home crowd into raptures by beating Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen to win the Spanish Grand Prix.

He took his second victory of the year and moved into third place in the championship with a four-stop strategy while Raikkonen did three.

Fernando Alonso's victory was certainly helped as he made a good start (up to third jumping Raikkonen and Hamilton in turn three). Though Nico Rosberg managed to hold onto the lead for the first stint as Hamilton dropped backwards, and at the first round of pit stops he retained the lead with Alonso emerging ahead of Vettel after stopping a lap earlier. From that point onwards though, the Mercedes dropped away as Rosberg went for a three-stop strategy and Alonso and Vettel pushed harder on a four-stop.

The only potential alarm for Alonso came late in the race when the team noticed a slow puncture on one of his tyres, but team principal Stefano Domenicali said "it was not a serious problem" as Alonso pit a few laps earlier to cover off Raikkonen.

Aloso had to bide his time after failing to get past either Nico Rosberg's Mercedes or Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull at the start but as Rosberg and Vettel stopped on the 10th lap for tyres (temporarily leaving Esteban Gutierrez in the lead for Sauber as he had yet to pit) and though Rosberg resumed in second place behind the Swiss car, Alonso was able to slot into third ahead of Vettel.

That was Alonso's first crucial move. His next came on lap 13 when he overtook Rosberg. That move triggered a fateful slide from second place to fifth for the youg German as both Vettel and Massa overtook him.

Alonso became the leader on the road on the 14th lap when Gutierrez pitted, and thereafter he managed his race brilliantly, taking a set of medium tyres on his second stop on lap 21, mediums again on lap 36, then more hards on lap 49.

Vettel was never really a threat to Alonso as he struggle to manage his tyres, with only Raikkonen seeming likely to challenge the Ferrari for victory as he came through on a three-stop strategy. Having led a number of times in the race, Raikkonen had to pit earlier than Alonso for the final time, allowing Alonso to retain a comfortable lead and ease home on fresher tyres.

To make it a great day in total for the Ferrari team, Massa fought brilliantly from ninth on the grid (after a grid penalty for impeding Mark Webber in qualifying) and took a well-deserved third, 16.7 seconds adrift of Raikkonen. Vettel and Red Bull were well beaten for the first time in quite some time. Red Bull had to be content with fourth and fifth, as Webber battled back from a terrible start to follow his team mate home.

Paul di Resta and Force India continued to impress with a smooth (and understated) drive to seventh place behind Mercedes Nico Rosberg. Di Resta had closed right in on Rosberg in the final laps of the race, but failed to pass the Mercedes (despite getting alongside him on the run to Turn One with three laps to go).

Jenson Button, meanwhile, moved up from his poor 14th place on the grid with a three-stop strategy to finish eighth, just ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez (who did four from eighth on the grid) while Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo took the final point in 10th.

Sebastian Vettel still leads the points table with 89 to Raikkonen’s 85, while Alonso’s win moves him up to third with 72 from Hamilton on 50, Massa with 45 and Webber with 42.

In the constructors’ battle, Red Bull have 131 from Ferrari on 117, Lotus with 111 and Mercedes with 72.

Fernando Alonso	Winner
Kimi Räikkönen	Second
Felipe Massa	Third
Sebastian Vettel	P4
Mark Webber	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Paul di Resta	P7
Jenson Button	P8
Sergio Perez	P9
Daniel Ricciardo	P10
Estaban Gutiérrez	P11
Lewis Hamilton	P12
Adrian Sutil	P13
Pastor Maldonado	P14
Nico Hülkenberg	P15
Valtteri Bottas	P16
Charles Pic	P17
Jules Bianchi	P18
Max Chilton	P19
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired (Tyre)
Giedo van der Garde	Retired (Wheel)
Romain Grosjean	Retired (Suspension)