Alonso rises above tyre confusion

Alonso was flawless in the Chinese Grand Prix, three weeks after crashing out of the Malaysian Grand Prix with a front-wing failure following an opening-lap collision with Sebastian Vettel.

The race at the Shanghai International Circuit was always going to boil down to which car/driver/team combination could execute the ideal strategy given the number of variables on offer at the start.

There was exciting uncertainty as to who would emerge the winner but as the event unfolded and the lead consistently changed hands following an overwhelming number of pit stops, for the average viewer there must have been bewilderment as to what was going on at times.

There were no doubts about Alonso’s performance, however, en route to the 31st victory of his Formula 1 career, equalling Nigel Mansell’s feat and hauling the Spaniard up to fourth on the all-time winners’ list.

“It was definitely a fantastic race for us from start to end, without big problems with the car – a perfect Sunday,” said Alonso.

“The team did a perfect job with the set-up of the car for qualifying and the race, with perfect pit-stop times and the way they were executed. The victory is a good reward for the team, and well deserved after the disappointment in Malaysia. It feels great.

“With the two races we have finished this year, with a second place (in Australia) and the victory today, the start of this campaign is looking good.

“We are very optimistic, but we need to keep going like this in this direction, with good weekends, without any extra risk, and hopefully in Bahrain (next Sunday) we can again score some good points.”

Even Alonso, however, has admitted the race “was not so easy to understand sometimes”.

It was not helped by Pirelli’s choice of the soft tyre for this event as one of their two compounds as the rubber rapidly degraded, lasting for no more than three or four laps. “We were overtaking the McLarens, Hulkenberg, Sebastian, so it was a little bit of a mix and not easy,” said Alonso.

“There were some moments of action, let’s say, and the risk is there when you have to do an overtaking manoeuvre, which you have to manage as well.”

Lewis Hamilton and Ross Brawn both concede Mercedes are “not quite there yet” after wards.

Although Hamilton started from his maiden pole position for his new team, and the 27th overall of his Formula 1 career, the 28-year-old had to settle for third behind race winner Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

Even that position, however, was touch and go at the death of the 56-lap race as a charging Vettel finished within 0.2secs of the Briton come the chequered flag.

But with Hamilton standing on the podium for the second consecutive race, it is the first time a Mercedes driver has achieved such a feat for three years since Nico Rosberg in 2010.

Overall, though, Hamilton was smiling as he said: “It was a good race for me, and I’m quite happy with third.

“I would have liked to have won, but Fernando and Kimi were a little bit too fast for us. I was able to apply a little bit of pressure to Kimi, but not enough to get close to him and overtake.

“I could see his car getting bigger and bigger in my mirrors, so it was nice to be able to hang on for the third place, so I’m happy with the podium, happy with the points.”

Jenson Button finished a creditable fifth given the ongoing limitations of his McLaren, followed by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Paul Di Resta, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg in 10th.