Alonso powers to China winposted in F114 | 04 | 2013
DOUBLE WORLD CHAMP Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari its first win of the season when he dominated the 56-lap Chinese Grand Prix.
In a race which was dominated by tyre strategy, as Pirelli's stranglehold on influencing F1 threatens to turn into something akin to WWF wrestling, the Spaniard was in a class of his own.
The Ferrari driver eventually backed-off to win by more than 10secs ahead of the Lotus of Aussie GP winner Kimi Raikkonen, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton a further two-seconds further back.
And it was a mixed day for Red Bull. While three-times world champ Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, team-mate Mark Webber — who started from the back of the grid after fuel problem in qualifying — was forced to retire when the rear right wheel fell off his car as he nursed it back to the pits.
To further compound Webber's misery, stewards slapped a three-place grid penalty on him for this weekend's race in Bahrain after they deemed him responsible for the on-track clash with the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne.
Alonso though, who heads into the Bahrain race third in the championship, six points behind second-placed Raikkonen, and a further three behind leader Vettel, was delighted with his performance.
"Obviously it's a long time since the last victory here, eight years, and it definitely was nearly a perfect result for us," he said.
"The team did a perfect job with the set-up of the car. We had perfect pitstop times and pitstop execution so at the end of the race the victory is a good reward for all the team and well deserved after the disappointment in Malaysia.
"We need to keep going in this direction with no extra risk and hopefully in Bahrain get another podium again."
Scotland's Paul di Resta also returned to point-scoring form, three weeks after the nuts fell off the wheels of his Sahara Force India.
The 26-year-old from Bathgate finished eighth, despite being unceremoniously barged on to the grass on the opening lap by his team-mate Adrian Sutil.
Ironically, the German was forced to retire later in the race when the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez ran into the rear of the Sahara Force India and destroyed the rear win.
QUOTES:
Fernando Alonso: Ferrari:
“It couldn’t have gone better than this today! I hadn’t won since Germany and this has a special feeling because it was a tricky race full of action.
"Along with the second place I got in Australia, this result shows that the car is competitive and that we are working in the right direction to always be in the fight for the podium.
"For that, I have to thank the team for the huge efforts it has made both here and back in the factory. They have worked so hard to put me in this position from which I can fight with the others on equal terms. We had a good feeling all through the weekend and qualifying third gave us the possibility of fighting for the top places.
"On top of that, maybe we were owed some good luck. Along with that all the important factors worked perfectly, such as set-up, strategy, calling the pit stops and the stops themselves.
"All together it produced a win that wasn’t easy at the end of a race in which we made the most of our pace and did a good job of managing the tyres, which was definitely the most dangerous aspect.
"With no one dominating the championship, it makes it extremely interesting, even if we are aware this is only the third race. We are under no illusions and we must continue to concentrate and do all we can to improve still further.”
Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus:
“Second wasn’t quite what we wanted, but in the circumstances it was the best that we could manage today. I’m not 100% happy because we didn’t win, but it is what it is and second place is a good result after a bad start and the incident with Sergio [Perez].
"It was quite difficult out there; obviously the car is not designed like that otherwise we would use it all the time, but I was surprised how good it was still.
"Of course there were some handling issues which was not ideal, but we just had to try to live with it and we still had pretty okay speed.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes:
"I am not really sure where we are losing out. Today just the overall pace was not there, and there are definitely a couple of areas we can focus on on the car.
"We have some updates and need to keep improving. We have to work out where we are losing the time, try and zone in on that and improve that.
"I am quite happy with third, though I would have loved to win. They were a little bit too fast for us during the race. I was able to apply a little bit of pressure to Kimi but not overtake."
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull:
“After the last stop, the team told me there was quite a big gap to the cars ahead, but also a big gap behind, so we thought we should go for it in the closing stages. When I came on to the long straight and saw Lewis at the other end turning into the hairpin, I thought ‘well, that’s a bit too far’, but obviously we had much more speed on the fresher tyres.
"It was a little bit disappointing to lose out by such a tiny bit; a few corners more and we could have tried something. Nonetheless, our strategy seemed to work today.
"We knew it would be difficult and that it was crucial to get clean laps, but we didn’t in the first stint. I was faster than Nico (Hulkenberg) but if you follow another car you lean on your front tyres too much and it was hard to find the right compromise, but overall we can be happy.”
Mark Webber, Red Bull:
“The start of the race was going okay; we elected to get rid of the soft tyre quite quickly and then came back through the field pretty well.
"Regarding the incident with Jean-Eric, I was coming from a reasonable distance behind, Jean-Eric was really wide, but when we came close to the apex he wanted to hit it, which he is entitled to do, but by then I was committed to the inside and the incident happened.
"It was a couple of laps before our pit stop window, so I had to come in early. The guys thought the tyre was fixed when we left the stop, but it came off on the out lap.
"We have had a few problems this weekend; I think we could have done something from our start position today, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Paul di Resta, Sahara Force India:
“A good result in the end and a strong recovery after a difficult start to the race. I was battling with Nico [Hulkenberg] on the opening lap, but unfortunately there was some contact with Adrian [Sutil] down at the hairpin, which put me on the grass and set us back three or four places.
"After that I was stuck in the pack, my tyres were graining, and I couldn’t really make much progress. It wasn’t until the third stint that I was in some clean air and the pace of the car was very strong.
"I was pushing all the way and I knew it would be very close after the final stop with Grosjean and Hulkenberg. But the pit crew did a top job; they kept their nerve and we managed to stay ahead of both of them.
"If everything had gone to plan I’m sure we could have done an even better job, but it’s good to pick up more points and to see our race pace right up there once again.”
F1 Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai (Rnd 3 of 19) — Results:
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h36:26.945;
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +10.168s;
3. Hamilton Mercedes +12.322s;
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +12.525s;
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes +35.285s;
6. Massa Ferrari +40.827s;
7. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +42.691s;
8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +51.084s;
9. Grosjean Lotus-Renault +53.423s;
10. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +56.598s;
11. Perez McLaren-Mercedes +1m03.860s;
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m12.604s;
13. Maldonado Williams-Renault +1m33.861s;
14. Bottas Williams-Renault +1m35.453s;
15. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap;
16. Pic Caterham-Renault +1 lap;
17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap;
18. van der Garde Caterham-Renault +1 lap.
Fastest lap: Vettel, 1m36.808s
Retirements:
Rosberg Mercedes Lap 22
Webber Red Bull-Renault Lap 16
Sutil Force India-Mercedes Lap 6
Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari Lap 5
World Championship standings:
Drivers:
1. Vettel 52
2. Raikkonen 49
3. Alonso 43
4. Hamilton 40
5. Massa 30
6. Webber 26
7. Button 12
8. Rosberg 12
9. Grosjean 11
10. Di Resta 8
11. Ricciardo 6
12. Sutil 6
13. Hulkenberg 5
14. Perez 2
15. Vergne 1
Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault 78
2. Ferrari 73
3. Lotus-Renault 60
4. Mercedes 52
5. Force India-Mercedes 14
6. McLaren-Mercedes 14
7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
8. Sauber-Ferrari 5
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Jim McGill