Alonso elated while Hamilton suffers

The hordes of Spanish fans around Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, and the millions more watching on television, will not care it was a messy affair, complicated by a staggering 79 pit stops.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery at least held his hands up and admitted that an average of four stops per driver was not in their plans and nor should it be going forward, with changes likely.

But then that will not suit Ferrari nor Alonso if that happens after Felipe Massa was also on the podium, with the duo split by Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen, runner-up for the third consecutive race but just four points behind Sebastian Vettel in the title race.

To underline how the tyre complexities blew the race apart, Alonso set a new record for the circuit hosting its 23rd Spanish Grand Prix. In the previous 22, no driver had won from below third on the grid, with 21 of those from the front row and 17 from pole.

Alonso took the chequered flag having started from fifth, scoring his first Spanish GP win since 2006 to add to his European GP triumph last year in Valencia.

The elation amongst the fans was obvious come the conclusion, and for Alonso there was also a clear sense of instiling some national pride.

“To win here there is fantastic emotion,” said Alonso.

“You can feel the support from everybody, with every single member of the team taking care of every detail because we wanted to do well here, in front of our fans, with so many people supporting Ferrari. So we did it, and we’re happy for that, and naturally we don’t want to stop here obviously.

“Even if this is the third time I’ve won a home race, the emotion is still very strong, as if it had never happened before.

“It’s nice to be able to give the whole of Spain this win, especially at a time when the country is in crisis and for many people, it’s not possible to come here to bring their support.

After scoring the 32nd victory of his career, there was a moment of consternation for Alonso when he was summoned to see the stewards for ‘receiving an object at the end of the race’.

Alonso had picked up a Spanish flag from a marshal which he raised on his victory lap – banned in F1 – but mercifully the stewards decided not to take any action as common sense prevailed.

Alonso has closed the gap to Vettel to 17 points as the three-time world champion was fourth in his Red Bull, 30 seconds behind the 31-year-old, condeding he had no answer to him and Ferrari.

“We can be happy with fourth – at least we have to be,” said Vettel, whose team-mate Mark Webber followed in fifth.

“The first three cars were a little bit too fast for us, especially looking after their tyres, they did a better job.”

As for Mercedes, Nico Rosberg could only finish sixth and Lewis Hamilton disappeared out of the points altogether as he dropped to a harrowing 12th.

“That was tough, way too tough. I felt like I was going backwards, which I obviously did,” said Hamilton.

“It has to go down as one of the worst races I’ve had for a long, long time, and I really, really don’t know what the problem is. I’m lost.

“We were slow and I had no grip for some reason. I pushed as hard as I could, saved as much as I could at the times I needed to, but the grip, the tyres never came in, never arrived.

“So quite a disappointing weekend really.”