Chinese Grand Prix (2013) RESULT

With Lewis Hamilton on pole and Alonso and Raikkonen behind, will the three former world champions manage to keep Red Bull at bay?

Qualifying for the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix produced a fascinating grid, with three former world champions at the front on soft tyres, two more world champions lurking down the grid on mediums – hoping a different strategy would see them rise to the top – and Red Bull’s Mark Webber starting from the pit lane after running out of fuel in qualifying.

And the three world champions who started at the front – Hamilton in the Mercedes, Raikkonen in the Lotus and Alonso in the Ferrari – did indeed make it to the podium, but not in the order they started.

Alonso had a cracking start, overtaking Raikkonen for second place at the start and taking Hamilton for the lead by lap five, but stopped two laps later to change his softs for mediums and coming out behind Vettel and Button, who had started on mediums, and Hulkenberg.

But Alonso soon saw off the rest to lead the race once more and, with one more stop for tyres required he came out behind Vettel – who hadn’t yet stopped for his final tyre change – and overtook the Red Bull with thirteen laps still to go to take the lead.

That left Vettel – still needing to stop one more – ahead of Raikkonen and Hamilton and he pitted with five laps to go, coming out 11 seconds behind Hamilton and lighting up his new set of softs as he gave chase in what seemed an impossible two second a lap gain quest – but he did it.

By the final lap Vettel was all over the back of Hamilton, but Mercedes’ newest driver managed to keep his nose ahead, finishing third behind Raikkonen’s Lotus with Alonso’s Ferrari taking a dominant and impressive win.

Behind the main protagonists, Button managed to get his McLaren home in fifth for some much needed points by driving a controlled race with fewer tyre changes, even managing to push Massa in the Ferrari in to sixth by overtaking him after his final pit stop.

Ricciardo managed to take his Toro rosso from seventh on the grid to seventh at the end, Paul di Resta used the same tyre strategy as Button to come home eighth ahead of Grosjean in the Lotus and Hulkenberg in the Sauber.

It was a good race with lots going on and an impressive win for Alonso in the Ferrari.