Fernando Alonso took victory in the Spanish Grand Prix in front of a raucous home crowd at the Circuit de Catalunya this afternoon. The Ferrari driver came out on top in a battle of tyre strategies, a measured race ensuring he beat the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen by a comfortable margin of 9 seconds. The scarlet cars’ performance was underlined by a strong performance by teammate Felipe Massa coming in third.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fourth with the Red Bull not quite there on race pace, dropping out of contention mid-way through the race.

Fernando Alonso was on song as he drove a flawless race to hand the Maranello based Ferrari outfit its first victory of the season in an absolutely dominant performance in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Indeed, the Ferrari driver came into this weekend on the back of a DNF in Malaysia but the Spanish Matador beat his rivals into submission as he clinched victory by a huge 10 seconds over the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen.

Felipe Massa could not deliver a podium finish having started from 5th place on the starting grid, as the Brazilian capped a difficult race in a below-par 6th place.

Fernando Alonso demonstrated exactly why he stands head and shoulders above his championship rivals as the Spaniard mixed the right amount of caution with aggression to take an enthralling victory in the Chinese Grand Prix to win his first race of the season in Shanghai. The Ferrari driver capped an absolutely dominant performance by setting sparkling lap times towards the final laps of the race as he was clinched victory by a mammoth 10 seconds over 2nd placed man Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen drove a typically clinical race barring an incident with Perez where the Finn damaged the front nose of his Lotus but ‘’The Iceman’’ retained his usual cool to finish an excellent 2nd whilst Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in 3rd place with the Briton unable to convert his maiden pole position into victory as Sebastian Vettel ran the British ace ragged till the finish line as it was neck and neck between the two drivers.

Lewis Hamilton produced a blistering qualifying performance to finally deliver his first pole position of the 2013 season as the much-anticipated qualifying threat of Mercedes materialised into a 27th career pole position for Hamilton in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Kimi Raikkonen starts right alongside the Briton in 2nd place in his Lotus as the Finn set the first timed run in a Q3 session which saw very limited running.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso set the record straight as he arrested the slide of being out-qualified by his teammate Felipe Massa to qualify in 3rd place. Nico Rosberg was on an absolute flyer in his Q3 lap until the German pushed it a little too hard into the final corner which cost him a shot at pole position, as the Mercedes driver qualified in 4th place ahead of the sister Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

Fernando Alonso was at his very best as the Spaniard shrugged off suggestions that he could be outperformed by his Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa this season, as the Spaniard set the track on fire en-route to a 1:35.391 effort in the final practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix. Indeed, Alonso’s best effort was a massive 0.622 s up on his teammate Felipe Massa who had no answers to his teammate’s exhilarating pace as the Brazilian settled for 2nd place, ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton who was best of the rest in a distant 3rd place, 0.674 s down on the pace-setting Ferrari of Alonso.

Sebastian Vettel ended the session in 4th place ahead of his teammate Mark Webber who was over a second down on Alonso’s best effort. Adrian Sutil in his Force India was 6th fastest ahead of big names such as Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez. Nico Hulkenberg rounded off the top 10 with a 1:36.853 effort.

Felipe Massa was quickest in the second free practice session this afternoon at the Shanghai International Circuit ahead of this Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix. The Brazilian’s best lap was a 1.35.340, while in second was Kimi Raikkonen with a 1.35.492. In the other F138, Fernando Alonso was third in 1.35.755.

The weather got warmer today thanks to some sunshine, reaching 22 degrees, with the track hitting 31, as Massa and Alonso began the session on the Medium compound, completing the task of evaluating new aero components, as well as the usual set-up work. As the track rubbered in and a clean line emerged, all the teams then tried the Soft compound, seen for the first time this season.

The Ferrari team endured mixed fortunes during Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix as after qualifying in 2nd and 3rd places; Felipe Massa was the lone Ferrari driver to go past the chequered flag in 5th place. Fernando Alonso saw his race come to a premature end after the end of lap 1, on the start-straight finish as after kissing the rear-wing of Vettel’s Red Bull, the front wing plate of Alonso’s Ferrari got stuck underneath his F138.

The start of the Malaysian GP saw the Ferrari duo initially off to quick starts but Alonso coming into contact with Vettel’s Red Bull spelled the end of the race for the Spaniard, who was bullish in his aims for this weekend having said, Ferrari could fight for victory after a scintillating qualifying session on Saturday. For Felipe Massa the start of the race saw him losing 4 places to run in a lowly 6th position having started right alongside pole sitter Vettel.