Following the Spanish conquest by Fernando Alonso in Barcelona, Formula 1’s next destination is a short hop up the Mediterranean coast to the azure waters of Monte Carlo. The streets of the seaside principality of Monaco host round six of the season, arguably the biggest and most prestigious event of the year.

What le Tour de France is to cycling, the Superbowl is to American football, the Indianapolis 500 to Indycar, Wrestlemania  to wrestling entertainment, the Monaco Grand Prix is to Formula 1. The race is one of the oldest events on the calendar, and indeed the longest running Grand Prix to be held on the same circuit. And coupled with the setting in the millionaires’ playground that is Monte Carlo, the blue riband event invariably is unparalleled in terms of glamour and atmosphere surrounding the race.

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.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row of the grid in Barcelona today for Mercedes, with the former scoring his second consecutive pole position and the team's third in a row at the Circuit de Catalunya this afternoon. With Lewis in second place, both Mercedes will start from the front row for the first time since the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix. Rosberg recorded a time of 1:20.718 and was more than 0.2 seconds quicker than Hamilton

Sebastian Vettel was in third place for Red Bull Racing just 0.082 seconds behind Hamilton, with his teammate Mark Webber further down the grid in 8th place. Kimi Raikkonen will complete the second row of the grid in his Lotus with a time of 1:21.177. The third row was all Ferrari with Alonso edging out Felipe Massa by just 0.001 seconds.

Sebastian Vettel brought home career win number 28 at the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir this afternoon, in a race he controlled from the front in an unbeatable Red Bull. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean flanked the German on the podium, underlining the black and gold cars’ pace on the weekend. The result is a repeat of the event from 2012, but the coming together of that outcome was a rather different race to a year ago.

It was an entertaining race with battles up and down the field right upto the last corner, action that was afforded by different pit-stop strategies employed by the teams. The favoured plan was a three-stopper for the majority of the front-runners, but Raikkonen proved a two-stop strategy was not far off by finishing 9 seconds adrift in second.

Mercedes were the surprise package in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir this afternoon, with German Nico Rosberg dominating proceedings through clinical one-lap performances. The result is Mercedes’ second pole in a row, and only the second in Rosberg’s career.

Initial expectations pointed to a three way battle between Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, with the Mercedes struggling in practice sessions. Steady improvements through the Saturday and cooler conditions however came together perfectly for the German marque’s first consecutive pole since the 1950s.

Kimi Raikkonen grabbed the headline time for Lotus in free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir this afternoon. The Finn, who clocked 1:34.154, lead a close pack of drivers with the top four covered by one and a half tenths of a second. Mark Webber was ahead of Red Bull teammate and world champion Sebastian Vettel, a mere three hundredths off the Lotus at 1:34.184.

The form book seemed to have carried over from the Chinese Grand Prix, with the Shanghai victor Fernando Alonso putting his Ferrari fourth on the timesheets. Notably, this time was set on the hard compound tyre - not the preferred compound for 1-lap pace. The other Ferrari of Felipe Massa came in sixth on the faster medium compound rubber, the scarlet cars sandwiching Paul di Resta’s Force India which enjoyed a strong outing in the either session.

Sebastian Vettel finished the Chinese GP in 4th place after a late dash to the finish line saw the reigning World Champion narrowly missing out on a 3rd placed finish, as Lewis Hamilton held firm forcing the Red Bull ace to settle for a 4th placed finish. Mark Webber who started the race from the pit-lane saw his hopes of a points-scoring finish evaporate following a shunt with Jean-Eric Vergne which resulted in his right-rear wheel coming off forcing the Aussie to park his car safely at the end of turn 14.

The start of the race saw Vettel maintaining his starting position on the medium tyres and after the front running cars made their pit-stops, the German climbed up into 2nd place behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg with both drivers yet to pit.