It would be easy to say that Fernando Alonso’s victory at the Spanish grand prix was effortless and uncomplicated.

In reality it was the way he blitzed the start that set up his afternoon. A fifth place on the grid would have been considered below par for the Spaniard but the Ferrari driver always had his mind fully focused on the race.

A surprise attack from Mercedes had Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locking out the front row of the grid but the questions about their race performances would linger despite a complete domination of qualifying. Cautiously optimistic would have been the best way to describe Rosberg and Hamilton and with good reason. While Rosberg was able to momentarily hold off a charging Alonso and Sebastian Vettel teammate Hamilton was hastily shuffled through the pack. It wasn’t long before the same fate was dealt to Rosberg and after the first round of pitstops the two Mercedes boys ran the Spanish GP in relative obscurity. A forlorn radio message from Hamilton bemoaning the fact that he had been passed a Williams summed up the entire mood of the Silver Arrows camp. Mercedes’ race performance was no match for their qualifying domination as the team yet again endured a race day shattered by their ever present tyre wear issues.

You could call this victory commanding, controlled or even dominant but what it was, was vintage Fernando Alonso. From fifth on the grid he nearly surged into the lead of the race passing Hamilton around the outside of turn three along the way. He expertly managed a four stop strategy and clinically overtook when it was most needed. On lap fourteen he seized the lead of the race and meticulously powered his way to career victory number 32. To further underline the skill of the man it was confirmed that Alonso made the final pitstop of his race with a slow puncture thrown into the mix; though Ferrari maintain that it never put the race victory in jeopardy.

Logically, consistently scoring points is the right way to go about winning a world championship. But when you are Kimi Raikkonen, someone made to win races, second place can become a bit boring. “It’s only 5 races. We are here to win races and championships. I want to win, the team wants to win. 2nd is disappointing,” said Raikkonen. You wouldn’t expect anything less from a natural born racer.

Felipe Massa’s race performances continue to improve after the Brazilian overcame a three place grid penalty to finish on the third step of the podium. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber could only manage fourth and fifth as the current world champion placed the blame for Red Bull’s lack of performance squarely on the Pirelli tyres. “We are not going to the pace of the car, we are going to the pace of the tyre,” said Vettel.

Nico Rosberg was able to salvage sixth place from his pole position start but Lewis Hamilton was limited to twelfth. Paul di Resta snuck his Force India into seventh while McLaren, who had pinned much of their hopes on an upgrade package rolled out this weekend, delivered an improved performance. Still not delivering to the standard they would want Button finished in eighth ahead of Sergio Perez in ninth. Daniel Ricciardo did one better than his gridslot to finish in tenth place.

Thirteen years ago Fernando Alonso made his debut in Formula 1 with the Minardi team; since then he’s won two world titles and taken numerous breathtaking victories and through it all he has become one of the most impeccable drivers and certainly one of the hardest to beat.