Alonso Wins Emphatic Home Grand Prix

After a very disappointing qualifying session yesterday, a win was looking less likely... To the non believers! Fernando Alonso drove a master class and he was only one half of a Ferrari fairy tale as Felipe Massa also aided his penalty disaster by a podium finish. It would have been a Ferrari 1-2 had it not have been for an icy intervention. Kimi Raikkonen drove a tyre controlled race to bring his Lotus 2nd, however from the words of a very critical super fan, he could have got the win.



C'mon Kimi!

Raikkonen started 4th behind the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel and the two Mercedes cars. As previous races have shown us, the race pace of the silver arrows was disastrous from lap 1 to lap 66, and a blistering start from both Vettel and Alonso did not help Kimi as he fell back behind the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

What I would love to know is; why can everyone else but Kimi fly by either of the Mercedes cars? It happened countless times last year when Kimi got stuck behind Michael Schumacher and today was no different. Raikkonen struggled for 7 laps behind Hamilton and by the time he eventually got around him, the rest of the pack had moved on. Rosberg was leading up until he pitted and that's when his car fell off the pace. 

As standard, Alonso and Vettel both sail right by him but oh no, Kimi has to go and dick about behind him again. I understand his careful and planned overtaking style, no one respects it like me. But at the same time you have got to show the hunger that (for example) Alonso showed when he got by Rosberg. It might get you the name of Mr. Consistent, but it may cost you the name of Mr. 2013 World Champion.

That being said, Raikkonen did get better as the race went on. When battling with Vettel, Kimi's driving style is so much more efficient that the German's. Vettel loves the wide line, but by the time he's snapped back, Kimi has gained. Unfortunately when it comes to 'close but no cigar,' Kimi drops way back to line himself up all over again. He got by on lap 32 Vettel on the end of the 2nd DRS zone, but Vettel squeezed him off to take position back. 

Come lap 33, Kimi makes a sensational move past Vettel at the end of turn one, Essentially, he recovered his race at this point. Whenever he leads, there's always a chance he'll win. But it was not meant to be. Less time behind the Mercedes cars please Kimi. It's costing you valuable points.

Fantastic Ferrari.

No matter what anybody done, no one was for stopping Fernando Alonso. At the half way point, the Ferrari's were just controlling their own race. At lap 38, Alonso was cutting into Kimi's lead with a vengeance, but they both still had a stop remaining. Kimi pitted first leaving him with 20 laps on the hard compound tyre. 

The focal point was coming out in front of Vettel. That was key to a strong finish. 3 laps later Alonso decided to come in but he was split up by Alonso's team mate Massa. Whenever Massa came in for his last stop, he slotted back in behind Kimi for 3rd, a very respectable finish after a difficult starting position. Goes to show you that the Massa of old his nearly back, once he gets that critical win again, we'll see his true master-class.

Getting two drivers on the podium helped Ferrari overhaul Lotus in the constructors table, although this was aided by Romain Grosjean suffering a freak suspension failure.

At what point are Mercedes going to realise that winning qualifying is not good enough? Is it when you're being overtaken by a Williams? Or when the world champion in your team has to take 'driving lessons' from his less experienced counter part? The no race pace issue needs sorted IMMEDIATELY because they are turning into a real joke on race day.

What happens in Monaco whenever they get pole but suddenly feel the force of the pack behind them? They'll cause accidents. Hamilton even got overtaken by Jenson Button, ex McLaren team mate. That was an hilarious moment, although Button was lucky not to be out raced by his current team mate Sergio Perez who looked a lot tidier this weekend.

A big shout out to Esteban Gutierrez! I've been very hard on him and I will continue to be if he makes more poor choices, but today he drove a very clean race, steady improvements will help him gain valuable experience.

I do have to mention my dissatisfaction with BBC's Ben Edwards. Last year he commentated like his eyes were painted on, and he always got the Lotus's mixed up, even though their helmets were completely different. When Grosjean came in to retire he started screaming "Raikkonen's retired!" and I was eating a yoghurt at the time, which then proceeded to go all over the floor. Actually, as I write this it's still there. It's all hardened... Eww...

It was a great spectacle, even Vettel didn't annoy me today. In terms of the drivers championship (and I am having another go at Kimi here), it's all well and good getting more points than Vettel on 1 race weekend. But what happens when he flukes the next 3 and this pattern continues? If you're not taking chunks out of his lead, then what the f**k is the point? We've learnt over the last two seasons that Vettel will literally hold back until his gift circuits in Asia. If you're not going to consolidate that loss now then you're leaving yourself with a marathon to run come the end of the season.

Glad to see Alonso back on top with Felipe improving all the time. Epic drive from Kimi Raikkonen but I still think he lost the race on lap 7. On a plus note, on the Castrol Predictor I gained a total of 100 points! What Up!!!!

FINAL RESULT (BBC):

1. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1hr 39mins 16.596secs

2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus +00:09.338

3. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 00:26.049

4. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 00:38.273

5. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 00:47.963

6. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 01:08.020

7. Paul di Resta (GB) Force India 01:08.988

8. Jenson Button (GB) McLaren 01:19.506

9. Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 01:21.738

10. Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1 lap

11. Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber 1 lap

12. Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1 lap

13. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1 lap

14. Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1 lap

15. Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1 lap

16. Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1 lap

17. Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1 lap

18. Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 2 laps

19. Max Chilton (GB) Marussia 2 laps

ret. Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 14

ret. Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham

ret. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus