Alonso Wins Spanish Grand Prix

MOSCOW, May 12 (R-Sport) – Fernando Alonso charged to victory at his home Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday after a race-long battle with Kimi Raikkonen to revive his Formula One title challenge.
Alonso is third in the championship race, 17 points behind leader and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel, while second-placed Raikkonen closes to within four points of the German.
"It was fantastically emotional and the fans really helped because you feel the support from everyone," Alonso said in televised comments. "The whole team took care of every single detail because we want the success here but we don't want it to stop there."
Two key overtakes defined Alonso’s race, first on lap 11 when he passed Vettel, who was exiting the pits, and on lap 39 when he retook the lead from Raikkonen in a thrilling tussle.
"We didn't have a good start, but I don't think the end result was decided there," Raikkonen said in comments to specialist outlet autosport.com.
"It wasn't the win, and we are only happy with the win."
Third place went to Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa after a strong race for the Brazilian, as Vettel trailed in fourth.
Vettel said he had been let down by his car wearing out tires too quickly.
"We need to catch up; we’re not going the pace of the car, we’re going the pace of the tyres and obviously we do something to make the tyres wear more," he said on the team website. "We got some good points today, although of course we wanted more."
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was sixth after dropping as low as 12th at the start, ahead of pole-sitter Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. Paul di Resta of Force India was seventh, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Rounding out the top 10 was the other McLaren of Sergio Perez and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Lewis Hamilton was 12th for Mercedes, having started second. Tire problems plagued his race and the nadir came when he was passed by his former teammate Button.
There was controversy further down the field when Nico Hulkenberg was released unsafely from a pitstop by his Sauber team and collided with Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, who later retired due to damage caused by a puncture.
The Caterham team could face punishment for an incident in which Giedo van der Garde's car shed a wheel on track. This is an incident of a type that has historically killed several track marshals and drivers in various motor racing formulae, although no one appeared to be hurt by van der Garde's wheel.
1. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
5. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
6. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
7. Paul di Resta (Force India)
8. Jenson Button (McLaren)
9. Sergio Perez (McLaren)
10. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
11. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
12. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
13. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
14. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
15. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
16. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
17. Charles Pic (Caterham)
18. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
19. Max Chilton (Marussia)
20. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) – retired lap 55, damage from collision and puncture
21. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) – retired lap 24, lost wheel
22. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) – retired lap 10, suspension failure