Fernando Alonso Wins the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix

After a thrilling race in Shanghai, 2x World Champion Fernando Alonso was able to win his first race of 2013 and the 31st of his career. The Spaniard  is now tied for 4th on the all-time wins list with Nigel Mansell. This is the second time Fernando has won at the Shanghai circuit with the first time being back in 2005. Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton filled out the rest of the podium.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain leads the field into turn three at the start of the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai, China. Credit Eugene Hoshiko/AP

On the opening lap, the two Force India’s collided sending Paul Di Resta into the grass but he was able to continue. 5 laps into the event, the Ferrari’s went on the attack blowing by then leader Lewis Hamilton pushing him back to 3rd. Soon after, Esteban Gutierrez had a major lock up and plowed into the back of Adrian Sutil. He completely obliterated the front of his car ending his day and Sutil suffered major damage to his rear wing. Pit stops began and the next incident occurred while the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg was leading the race. Mark Webber made contact with the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne damaging his front wing. He pitted but soon after exiting pit lane, the Aussie slowed stating he felt something wrong. Suddenly, the right rear wheel detached from the car sending him spinning and three drivers had to make evasive maneuvers in order to avoid the rogue tire.

Kimi Raikkonen attempted to make a risky pass on Sergio Perez on lap 16 which didn’t work out well at all. Kimi went into the dirt and hit the back of the McLaren tearing the front of his nose off. It didn’t seem to hurt the car and the team never bothered to fix it. The defending race winner, Nico Rosberg retired from the GP on lap 23 with a mechanical failure. Late in the event, it became clear that it was Fernando Alonso’s race to lose as he held a 19 second lead over Sebastian Vettel. After making his final pit stop, the lead was briefly handed to Vettel before Alonso aggressively took it back on lap 43.

With 5 laps remaining, Vettel was forced to make his final stop of the event relinquishing 2nd spot. That is when things got very interesting. Sebastian was 14 seconds back of 3rd place Hamilton and he became a man on a mission as he began to tear apart the massive gap. On the final lap, he was all over the gearbox of the Mercedes but his soft tires started to give up as he went sliding sideways. He continued to push hard and Lewis had a lock up in the final corner bringing Seb right back on him. Vettel pulled out to make the pass just as the two crossed the line and Hamilton was able to barely hold on for another podium.

Fernando ended the race with a comfortable, 10.1 second lead over Kimi Raikkonen. There were a total of 4 retirements from the race and six different leaders. There were no safety car deployments during the Grand Prix but as you just read, that did not mean there were no incidents. Something everyone had to keep in mind is that the FIA was still investigating whether or not 8 drivers should be penalized for using DRS in yellow flag zones after the race. The drivers being reviewed are Vettel, Raikkonen, Webber, Bottas, Ricciardo, Button, Grosjean, and Chilton. No action was taken against these drivers. It was a great race and tire management was the word of the day.

The top 10 finishers in order were Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Massa, Ricciardo, Di Resta, Grosjean and Hulkenberg. Lotus was the only team to have both drivers finish in the points today while the rest saw split results for their drivers. Sebastian Vettel still leads the standings but just 12pts separate the top 4 drivers! 3pts back is Kimi, Alonso is 9pts behind and Lewis Hamilton finds himself 12pts out of the lead. Red Bull leads the constructor standings by 4 over Ferrari with Lotus 18pts back. The 4th GP of 2013 will take place in Bahrain next weekend.