Fernando Alonso takes the chequered flag in front of his home fans in Barcelona. It was a race that Alonso had in his hands for the large majority of it with Kimi Raikkonen closing the gap to Sebastian Vettel to four points after second with the Red Bull in fourth. It was a superb day for Ferrari as, despite starting from ninth, Felipe Massa claimed the other podium and tells the world he's back to his best.
The Spanish Grand Prix has always been known more for its strategy rather than its overtaking and today was no different. Although this might have been a different story if Mercedes had any pace instead of finishing sixth, Nico Rosberg, and 12th, Lewis Hamilton. It was also a good day for McLaren as both drivers made it in to the points with Jenson Button eighth and Sergio Perez ninth.
As usual, the Ferraris made a fantastic start off the line; Alonso got himself up to third with Massa sixth. Mark Webber again failed to make the start which saw him fall to 11th from eighth. Vettel quickly moved ahead of Hamilton in to second and began to hunt Rosberg down. Perez was also a winner from the start, moving up to sixth.
Raikkonen's hunt came in to fruition on lap seven when he overtook Hamilton to take fourth. The difference in strategies was between a three and a four stop race but it was Webber who came in first on lap eight, presumably to find some cleaner air from 13th place.
Massa was the next to overtake Hamilton on lap nine to take fifth but then immediately came in to the pits. The first retirement came on that lap when Romain Grosjean came in to the pits with a broken suspension and had no choice but to go in to the garage. Adrian Sutil's race was also hampered on that lap when his rear was smoking during the stop, but he was able to continue.
Both Alonso and Hamilton pitted on lap ten before the top three, Vettel, Rosberg and Raikkonen, came in a lap later. The strategy paid off for Alonso as he ended up ahead of Vettel to go second. Massa also gained from the pit stops as he was now ahead of Raikkonen. It was probably a pit stop to forget for Pastor Maldonado as the only real action he partook in, in this race, was to serve a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Alonso took the lead of the race on lap-13 when he overtook Rosberg. Vettel and Massa quickly followed to see the Mercedes drop to fourth within a few corners. That became fifth two laps later when Raikkonen past the slow German. At this point in the race, Webber had managed to get himself up to sixth and Perez was seventh.
Lap-21 saw Massa come in first with Alonso pitting a lap later for the second round of stops. By lap-23, Alonso was able to overtake Rosberg once again without the Mercedes having its second pit stop. Lap-24 saw the second retirement of the race as Giedo Van Der Garde lost a wheel during his out lap, he did manage to get the Caterham back in to the pits but the damage to the chassis was too much to continue.
Massa also managed to re-overtake Rosberg on lap-24 before Vettel came in a lap later, giving Raikkonen the lead of the race. That only lasted for two laps though as the Lotus came in and ended up coming back out behind Vettel. At this point there was a Ferrari one-two.
Raikkonen finally managed to overtake the below par Red Bull on lap-33 to gain third. There was more drama in the pit lane on lap-36 when Nico Hulkenberg was unsafely released in to the path of the pitting Jean-Eric Vergne. But instead of getting off the throttle, Hulkenberg continued and drove in to the back of the Toro Rosso, causing front wing damage and would later receive a ten second stop/go penalty for the unsafe release.
Lap-37 saw both Ferraris come in for their third stops and Alonso came out second with Massa fourth. Vergne's race deteriorated a little more on lap-38 when he suffered a puncture and went off the track, fortunately the Frenchman made it back in the pits to continue. Alonso regained the lead on lap-39 by overtaking Raikkonen, who was a three stop strategy. Webber was also able to overtake Rosberg to claim fifth.
Vettel pitted again on lap-40 and a lap later Button had overtaken the impressive Esteban Gutierrez to claim seventh. The rookie Mexican just missed out on a point in the race but he did claim the fastest lap. Raikkonen's final pit stop came on lap-46 which saw him third as Alonso pitted for the fourth time on lap-49. Massa's fourth stop came on lap-52 which saw him come out behind Raikkonen in to third as Vettel also pitted in to the uncompetitive fourth spot.
Unfortunately, Vergne had to retire on lap-54 due to the damage seen from his earlier incidents. The rest of the race went on without any real action. It was a shame to see how poor the Mercedes cars were today and how off the pace Vettel was in fourth. It was also remarkable to see the time difference between the top six or so as Button was a minute behind in eighth. Race result:
1. Alonso (Ferrari), 2. Raikkonen (Lotus), 3. Massa (Ferrari), 4. Vettel (Red Bull), 5. Webber (Red Bull), 6. Rosberg (Mercedes), 7. Di Resta (Force India), 8. Button (McLaren), 9. Perez (McLaren), 10. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), 11. Gutierrez (Sauber), 12. Hamilton (Mercedes), 13. Sutil (Force India), 14. Maldonado (Williams), 15. Hulkenberg (Sauber), 16. Bottas (Williams), 17. Pic (Caterham), 18. Bianchi (Marussia), 19. Chilton (Marussia) DNF: Grosjean (Lotus), Van Der Garde (Caterham), Vergne (Toro Rosso)
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