The Spaniard lined up in third place on the grid behind the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel and after the first lap was still third, although behind Webber, who was overtaken by Vettel at the start.With the track drying a battle panned out between Webber, Alonso and the fast-approaching Lewis Hamilton. All the while they trio fought, Vettel led.
But it wasn't until lap 28 that the chinks began to show in the Red Bull armour when Vettel came in for his second stop of the afternoon.
His mechanics had a problem with their wheel gun and by the time they put on Vettel's new rubber and got him out of the pits, Alonso and Hamilton were up to first and second
Vettel was then held up badly by Hamilton for several laps and lost time lap by lap to Alonso. However, Vettel had better pace and after the next stops worked his way up into second place.
With Alonso scampering into the distance and vettel entrenched in second, disaster befell Jenson Button. He came in for his final stop on lap 40 and never quite got out as his mechanics did not put his front wheel on properly. He stopped at the end of the pits and retired.
But McLaren's woes were not over as Hamilton was running out fuel. He had to back off on his challenge from Vettel, was overtaken by Webber and came under attack from Massa as they fought for P4. At the same time, Webber was all over the back of Vettel in the battle for second.
And as Alonso crossed the line for Ferrari's first win since Korea last year, Webber was told to hold station but Massa, of course, was not.
He took P4 off Hamilton only to get a massive whack from the McLaren driver, who retook the position. Massa fought back, ran wide and Hamilton brought his MP4-26, sans a bit of bodywork, home in fourth place.
Results
01. Alonso Ferrari 1h28:41.194
02. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 16.511
03. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 16.947
04. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 28.986
05. Massa Ferrari + 29.010
06. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:00.665
07. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.590
08. Heidfeld Renault + 1:15.542
09. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:17.912
10. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:19.108
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:19.712
12. Petrov Renault + 1:20.600
13. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth -1
14. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth -1
15. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes -1
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth -2
17. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth -2
18. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth -2
19. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth -3
Button McLaren-Mercedes -11
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari -26
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari -28
Trulli Lotus-Renault -41
Kovalainen Lotus-Renault -49
Source: Planet-F1
