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29 March 2024

F1: Ferrari's Alonso roars to victory in Chinese Grand Prix

Published
By Staff with Agencies

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso roared to victory in the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, making amends for crashing out of the previous race in Malaysia.

In a dry race dictated by tyre choices and frequent pitstops, the Spaniard beat Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen by 10.1 seconds.

Lewis Hamilton completed a trio of world champions on the podium with third place for Mercedes after starting on pole.

The win was Alonso's first since Germany last July and was the 31st of his career, taking him to fourth in the all-time list alongside Britain's 1992 champion Nigel Mansell.

Red Bull's triple champion Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, just 0.2 behind Hamilton, to retain the overall lead, with McLaren's Jenson Button fifth to ensure five champions in the top five places.

"It was fantastic race for us from start to end. It's feel great after retirement in Malaysia. The 2013 campaign looking good," said Alonso.

"Great result for team. Very fortunate to get on the podium," said Hamilton who started on pole.

Lap 56 Alonso begins the final lap, as Hamilton falls back from Raikkonen and into the clutches of Vettel who runs slightly wide on the turn.

Lap 55 Hamilton now just 0.6 seconds behind Kimi Raikkonen.

Lap 54 Hamilton is closing on Raikkonen in the fight for second while Vettel rips three seconds out of the gap between him and Hamilton.

Lap 53  Vettel trails Hamilton by 11 seconds in the battle for third place.

Lap 52 Vettel pits for his set of soft tyres and rejoins in fourth and is told to put in four 'qualifying laps' in an attempt to close the gap on Hamilton and Raikkonen.

Lap 51 Button uses DRS to pass Massa for sixth.

Lap 50 Button pits in his McLaren for a set of soft tyres and rejoins in seventh.

Lap 49 Alonso extends his lead to seven seconds over Vettel and 12 over Kimi Raikkonen in third.

Lap 48 Vettel's hopes are second are fading fast as Raikkonen and Hamilton close in.

Lap 47 "You do not need to push," Ferrari tell race leader Fernando Alonso. "I am not pushing," comes the reply as he sets the fastest lap of the race - 1:39.506.

Lap 46  Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton are in pursuit of the reigning world champion Vettel.

Lap 45 Raikkonen passes Button at the hairpin for third. Hamilton quickly follows by at turn four and Button is down to fifth.

Lap 44 Button is catching Vettel and is fighting him for second position.

Lap 43 Alonso passes Vettel with ease at Turn One to take the lead. Vettel doesn't fight the Spaniard.

Lap 42 Vettel has a 10-second lead over Raikkonen, who leads Hamilton by a further second.

Lap 41 The race leader Alonso pits and rejoins Vettel who leads the grand prix, but still must stop again.

BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard says "Vettel has to stop again and he is on older tyres, so it is still looking good for Alonso."

Lap 40 Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race and closes to within 1.5 seconds of Raikkonen in the Lotus.

Lap 39 Alonso is now 19 seconds ahead of Vettel with Button a further 4.2 seconds adrift. Raikkonen is fourth and Hamilton fifth.

Lap 38 Hamilton pits but when he rejoins, has lost track position to Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Lap 37 Massa and Hulkenberg pit at the same time and rejoin side-by-side in the pit lane.

Lap 36 Button is not happy as Vettel races past him to take third.

Lap 35 Raikkonen comes into the pits and comes back out in eighth.

Lap 34 Vettel is now up to fifth, 19.7 seconds behind race leader Alonso.

Lap 33 Raikkonen closes up onto the back of Hamilton in the battle for second.

Lap 32 Vettel wastes no time with Massa after rejoining, bullying his way past for eighth.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, who retired on lap 23: "I had a lot of understeer out there from the start and after the pit stop it got worse. Then the front wheel started bouncing on the front corner - I don't know the reason for that."

Lap 31 Raikkonen is hovering behind the rear wing of Button and goes past the Briton at the second DRS zone.

Lap 30 Alonso takes the lead of the Chinese Grand Prix, sliding down the inside of Vettel at the same place he passed Hulkenberg.

Lap 29 Button cannot defend against Hamilton who slips down the inside of the McLaren at Turn One for fourth.

Lap 27 Alonso turns his attention to Vettel now. Vettel has been told not to waste time fighting Alonso.

Lap 26 Alonso passes Hulkenberg in the middle of the corner before the long straight.

Lap 25 Alonso has set the fastest lap of 1:40.973. Button and Grosjean are under investigation for using DRS under yellow flags.

Lap 24 Vettel in promoted to P1 as Alonso pits, as does McLaren's Button from second.

Lap 23 Lap 23 Alonso comes into the pits as does Button. Rosberg pulls into the Mercedes garage and retires for the second time this season.

Lap 22 Vettel into third position behind Aonso and Button.

Lap 21 Alonso takes the lead of the Chinese Grand Prix, putting a good move on Button into Turn One.

Lap 20 Hamilton is running third, one second clear of Raikkonen.

Lap 18  Webber's right rear wheel has come off almost hitting Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel who is chasing Felipe Massa for sixth.

Lap 17 Button is still leading but he has not pitted yet.

Raikkonen over team radio after hitting Sergio Perez: "What the hell is he doing?"

Lap 16 Raikkonen moves to the outside of Sergio Perez, but the McLaren driver squeezes him in defence. It forces contact with the back of Perez, damaging Raikkonen's front wing.

Lap 15 Button takes lead as Vettel and Hulkenberg pit together.

Lap 14 Hamilton in seventh is getting a bit of frustrated behind Di Resta.

Lap 13 Alonso gets by Di Resta as the gap with Vettel is now eight seconds.

Lap 12 Alonso takes 1.6 seconds out of Vettel on that last lap. Alonso is sixth, but nine seconds behind Vettel.

Lap 11 Valtteri Bottas and Jean-Eric Vergne are being investigated for overtaking under yellow flags.

Lap 10 Vettel continues to close on leader Hulkenberg at the front. The gap down to 0.6 seconds. Massa eases past Webber heading into turn 13 and takes 8th place.

Lap 9 Race Control confirm they are investigating the incident between Sutil and Gutierrez. Both drivers are out of the race.

Lap 8 Hulkenberg finds himself in the lead on the harder tyre, as Massa pits.

Lap 7 Alonso pits as does Raikkonen who comes out just in front of Webber.

Lap 6 Vettel passes Rosberg for sixth

Lap 5 Both Ferraris Alonso and Massa glide pass on Hamilton.

Lap 4 Sebastian Vettel has got past Jenson Button for eighth.

Lap 3 Hamilton has to defend from  Alonso down the back straight. Webber is the fastest car on track despite starting at the back.

Lap 2 Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race to increase his lead over Alonso to 0.8 seconds.

Webber has pitted and Massa is still ahead of Alonso.

Lap 1 Hamilton leading the Ferraris Alonso and Massa at the first corner.

Perez has dropped to 13th.

Sutil nearly hits Di Resta off the track.

Grosjean fails to go around Rosberg

Pit-stop strategy will be the key in this race.

Cars move away on the formation lap.

Cars on the grid and ready to go. Track temperature is 35 degrees.

The pit lane is now open for the drivers to make their way to grid except for Webber.

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain will start on pole for the first time as a Mercedes driver in the Chinese Grand Prix.

He will be ahead of former champions Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari).

Three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel starts ninth with Red Bull teammate from the pitlane after being send to the back of the grid for running out of fuel during qualifying.

Hamilton played down his chances of winning after his maiden pole on Mercedes.

He told BBC: "It's going to be hard to compete. The Lotus is very strong on the long run and so is the Ferrari."

Nico Rosberg is the defending Chinese GP Champion but will start in fourth position.

Sunday's grand prix takes place over 56 laps, totalling 305.066kms at the Shanghai International Circuit.

STARTING GRID

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
4. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
5. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
6. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
7. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
8. Jenson Button (McLaren)
9. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
10. Nico Huelkenberg (Sauber)
11. Paul Di Resta (Force India)
12. Sergio Perez (McLaren)
13. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
14. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
15. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
16. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
17. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
18. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
19. Max Chilton (Marussia)
20. Charles Pic (Caterham)
21. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham)
22. Mark Webber (Red Bull)