Fernando Alonso thrilled his countrymen on Sunday as he took a big bite out of Sebastian Vettel's championship lead at home in Spain. The victorious Spaniard finished three places ahead of Red Bull's title leader Vettel, who suffered with tyre wear and saw his lead to Alonso reduce by a factor of 13 points, to 17 points after five races.
"We have only had five races and there have been some ups and downs but we know we have the car to fight with the top cars," Ferrari's Alonso said on the podium. "If we (continue to) do well we can compete for the championship." Lotus' ever-consistent Kimi Raikkonen finished second, and is now just 4 points behind Vettel for the championship.
As ever in 2013, and arguably even more so this weekend in Barcelona, the race was all about managing the heavily degrading Pirelli tyres. As predicted by many in the paddock, qualifying dominators Mercedes reversed down the grid in the race as they burned through the Italian rubber.
Pole sitter Nico Rosberg finished sixth, and Lewis Hamilton scored no points at all. "We both went backwards," Hamilton told the BBC, "but I went back a long, long way, and I don't know why. We have got a lot of work to do."
Four pitstops per driver, and nursing the disintegrating rubber in between, was the order of the day on Sunday, which added up to well over 80 pitstops for the entire race. "I've had enough of the 'T'-word," said Sky commentator and former driver Martin Brundle.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: "When you are telling drivers not to push because we are saving tyres, it isn't great for the sport of for the fans. "We need to push the drivers harder and allow them to drive properly."
Indeed, immediately after the chequered flag on Sunday, Pirelli's Paul Hembery acknowledged the problem and hinted changes are on the way. "Today was too many stops, we got it wrong, too aggressive," he wrote on Twitter. "We will make changes, probably from Silverstone." (GMM)
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Victory for Alonso as Mercedes tumbles down the order
- Published on 13 May 2013 08:45
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- By: Rob Veenstra
F1 News
Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton
Nico Rosberg
Sebastian Vettel
Lotus F1
Pirelli
Ferrari
Mercedes
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Test calendar
Circuit de Catalunya - Winter testing
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Jan 26
I. Hadjar
- 1:18.159
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Jan 27
M. Verstappen
- 1:19.578
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Jan 28
A. Antonelli
- 1:17.362
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Jan 29
G. Russell
- 1:16.445
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Jan 30
L. Hamilton
- 1:16.348
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Feb 11
L. Norris
- 1:34.669
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Feb 12
C. Leclerc
- 1:34.273
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Feb 13
A. Antonelli
- 1:33.669
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Feb 18
G. Russell
- 1:33.459
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Feb 19
A. Antonelli
- 1:32.803
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Feb 20
C. Leclerc
- 1:31.992
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Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
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Spain
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Bahrain
Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
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Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
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Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
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Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
6 - Mar 8
Australia
Albert Park
13 - Mar 15
27 - Mar 29
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
10 - Apr 12
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
1 - May 3
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
22 - May 24
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
5 - Jun 7
Monaco
Monte Carlo
12 - Jun 14
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
26 - Jun 28
Austria
Red Bull Ring
3 - Jul 5
United Kingdom
Silverstone
17 - Jul 19
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
24 - Jul 26
Hungary
Hungaroring
21 - Aug 23
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Driver profile
- Team Aston Martin
- Points 631
- Podiums 9
- Grand Prix 204
- Country ES
- Date of b. Jul 29 1981 (45)
- Place of b. Oviedo, ES
- Weight 68 kg
- Length 1.71 m
- 188,072 comments on Aston Martin
78 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Fernando Alonso
Team profile
- Team name Lotus F1
- Base Enstone, United Kingdom
- Daniel Ricciardo 3
- Kimi Räikkönen 7
- Romain Grosjean 8
- Kimi Räikkönen 9
- Romain Grosjean 10
- Pastor Maldonado 13
- Pastor Maldonado 13
- Kevin Magnussen 20
- Nico Hülkenberg 27
- Jolyon Palmer 30
- Esteban Ocon 31
- Carlos Sainz jr 55
- 65,124 comments on Lotus F1
- 17 members have this team as their favourite
- Tweets about Lotus F1
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