Formula 1 star Fernando Alonso won the Spanish Grand Prix for Ferrari, sending his home crowd into rapture.
Alonso's victory owed much to his combative nature on a day when many of his rivals focused - with varying degrees of success - on tyre conservation.
Right from the start, the front row pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were in trouble, as their Mercedes racers struggled for race pace. Red Bull ace Sebastian Vettel split the pair off the line, and looked a potential winner for a while.
Alonso, meanwhile, also started well, moving around the outside of both Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) and Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap. He then tracked the leaders, passing Vettel during the first pitstop phase and then chasing down Rosberg. Rosberg's day swiftly became worse as Vettel and Raikkonen then dispatched him on the same lap.
Thereafter Alonso was able to stretch his lead, running fast enough to make a four-stop strategy work. Vettel, on the same strategy, fell prey to Räikkönen however, who stopped one less time. Räikkönen's pace and canny tyre tactics meant he briefly led into the closing stages, before having to cede the place to Alonso, who was on fresher tyres.
Felipe Massa crowned Ferrari's day, recovering from a penalised ninth on the grid (after impeding Red Bull's Mark Webber in qualifying) to take the final podium spot as Vettel's pace faltered as he struggled with tyre wear.
Spanish Grand Prix 2013 results:
1 Alonso (Ferrari); 2 Räikkönen (Lotus-Renault); 3 Massa (Ferrari); 4 Vettel (Red Bull-Renault); 5 Webber (Red Bull-Renault); 6 Rosberg (Mercedes); 7 Di Resta (Force India-Mercedes); 8 Button (McLaren-Mercedes); 9 Perez (McLaren-Mercedes); 10 Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari); 11 Gutierrez (Sauber-Ferrari); 12 Hamilton (Mercedes); 13 Sutil (Force India-Mercedes); 14 Maldonado (Williams-Renault); 15 Hulkenberg (Sauber-Ferrari); 16 Bottas (Williams-Renault); 17 Pic (Caterham-Renault); 18 Bianchi (Marussia-Cosworth); 19 Chilton (Marussia-Cosworth); DNF Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari); DNF van der Garde (Caterham-Renault); DNF Grosjean (Lotus-Renault).
World Championship standings:
Drivers: 1 Vettel 89; 2 Räikkönen 85; 3 Alonso 72; 4 Hamilton; 50; 5 Massa 45; 6 Webber 42; 7 Di Resta 26; 8 Grosjean 26; 9 Rosberg 22; 10 Button 17; 11 Perez 12; 12 Ricciardo 7; 13 Sutil 6; 14 Hulkenberg 5; 15 Vergne 1.
Constructors: 1 Red Bull-Renault 131; 2 Ferrari 117; 3. Lotus-Renault 111; 4 Mercedes 72; 5 Force India-Mercedes 32; 6 McLaren-Mercedes 29; 7 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8; 8 Sauber-Ferrari 5.
All results unofficial
