2013 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Fernando Alonso Shows Barcelona Brilliance
The Big Picture The biggest story to come out of this weekend is Fernando Alonso and Ferrari. After a raft of updates for all the teams, Ferrari have stepped out as the leaders in Spain, and while their one-lap qualifying pace still isnt where they want it to be, their race pace is. At a technical, aerodynamic track where Red Bull would be expected to be particularly strong, both Ferraris looked balanced and fast, and both Alonso and Massa were able to push hard and extract great pace from the car without destroying their tyres to take a 1-3 finish, and 40 constructors points that brought them back ahead of Lotus and just 14 points behind Red Bull. Alonso is 17 points behind Vettel in the drivers championship now, less than one second-place, and after seeing what Alonso could do in 2010 and 2012 with a vastly inferior car, you wonder how anyone can stop him winning this years title if Ferrari can keep up their development. Crucially Massa is on form and Ferrari are well in the hunt for the constructors title. The Small Picture A main feature of this race was Mercedes and their struggle with tyre wear. After sweeping to another pole position in a front row lockout, they were quickly exposed in the race as they tumbled back through the field as the race unfolded, especially Hamilton. After Bahrain, where they suffered badly with tyres and lost points, it would be clear that Mercedes would put an emphasis on setting the car up for the race at the cost of qualifying, given how strategic things are right now with Pirellis current rubber, and the success stories of teams like Lotus picking up big points in Bahrain by managing their strategy carefully to protect tyres. However it seems things went the other way entirely, with the car set up aggressively for one-lap pace as they blew everyone into the weeds on Saturday with a fantastic turn of speed to dominate qualifying, and then a car that ate its tyres on Sunday. Points are only handed out on race day, and Mercedes will need to turn things around quickly before they find themselves too far behind like McLaren did last season as they failed to capitalise on their early season pace. From Behind the Glasses Personally the Spanish grand prix delivered much what Id expected, with my tip Alonso taking an excellent win in front of his home crowd. I was surprised to see Red Bull unable to challenge the podium, but pleased to see the championship looking competitive again. It was excellent to see Massa onto the podium for the first time this year after a great drive from ninth place, behind Kimi as he quietly kept himself very much in the hunt, now only four points shy of leader Vettel. Overall however, Barcelona delivered what it has done for the last two decades; a processional, uneventful race for the most part despite having two DRS zones. Its shaken the championship up a bit more definitely, and shown the change in dynamic as new updates arrive on the cars, but Im excited to look forward now.