Alonso wins remarkable European Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso took a extraordinary victory at the European Grand Prix as the Valencia street circuit finally provided a thrilling and impulsive race.

Alonso finished 6.4s clear of Kimi Raikkonen in second as tyre management became critical towards the end of the race and Lewis Hamilton, who had been running second but struggling with degradation, was taken out by Pastor Maldonado on the penultimate lap. Michael Schumacher inherited third - and the first podium since his return to F1 racing - ahead of Mark Webber, who came through went from 19th on the grid to fourth.

For the first 28 laps of the race it looked like Sebastian Vettel would win with ease, but a safety car period eliminated his early lead and then his chances evaporated completely with a consistency problem. Romain Grosjean was also in contention until a faulty alternator brought him to a halt on lap 40 as he closed on Alonso for the lead.

The surprise finish also provided a good points haul for Force India, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing fifth and Paul di Resta seventh, split by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg in sixth. Jenson Button struggled to eighth position in front of Sergio Perez and the recovering Maldonado in the final two points-paying positions.

At the start the race looked as though it would take a familiar path with Vettel streaking away into a 20-second lead as he chased his third uninterrupted victory at the street circuit. But the first sign he wouldn't have it all his own way came on lap 27 as Jean-Eric Vergne mysteriously veered into the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen, causing both cars to suffer punctures. The resulting rubber and debris brought out the safety car, and in the push of a button in race control Vettel's lead over Grosjean was abridged to nothing.

At the restart Alonso moved past Grosjean for second and he didn't have to wait long for a clear track to materialize ahead of him as Vettel's Red Bull came to a halt in the third sector of the lap. From that moment the race was all about tyre management, with the lead drivers all taking on a new set of tyres under the safety car and then faced with the confront of making them last to the end.

The Lotus of Grosjean looked best equipped for the task, but on lap 40 it dropped off the back of the Ferrari and eventually came to a halt on the straight following the swing bridge. That promoted Hamilton to second, but he had to manage his charge in the knowledge that Raikkonen was looming behind. In the end the McLaren proved hardest on its tyres and Raikkonen pounced, finding a way past under traction out of turn 17.

By that point Alonso's race was safe and the focus switched to Maldonado who was closing fast on Hamilton. After Raikkonen's easy pass it seemed predictable that the Williams would follow, but Hamilton was not going to grant the position easily. With just one and half laps remaining, Maldonado tried to find a way past Hamilton on the outside of turn 12, but he couldn't make it stick and found himself marooned on the kerbs on the inside of turn 13. As he rejoined the track he broadsided Hamilton in what was an unnecessarily-clumsy collision that pitched Hamilton into the barriers. Maldonado limped to the finish minus a front wing but was given a 20-second post-race penalty, demoting him to 12th and handing tenth to his team-mate Bruno Senna. The impact allowed Schumacher to finish on the podium for the first time since 2006 as he kept out of problem to come through from 12th on the gird.

With his two closest championship rivals failing to finish, Alonso now leads the drivers' title chase by 20 points from Webber. Hamilton is now 23 points off the Ferrari driver with Vettel 26 adrift.

Fernando Alonso predicts injure limitation for Ferrari at Bahrain Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso says there is no reason to anticipate anything but another weekend of damage limitation for Ferrari at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Spaniard lost his Formula 1 points lead in China last weekend, when he might only finish ninth as Ferrari's lack of pace proved insurmountable in dry conditions - preventing a repeat of Alonso's surprise Sepang win.

In his diary column for Ferrari's website, Alonso warned the team's supporters to anticipate more of the same at Sakhir, both due to the nature of the track and the lack of time to make progress stuck between the back-to-back races.

"I am well aware that in Sakhir, we can be expecting another difficult weekend, which is only natural, partly because of the track characteristics and also because the car is the same one we had in Shanghai," Alonso wrote.

"Both the Scuderia and I have a good record in Bahrain: the team has four victories here and I've got three, the last of which was also my first appearance race for the Prancing Horse. But the past counts for nothing in this sport and this weekend will be all concerning damage limitation for us."

Announcement regarding Formula One finances

Formula One Group has launched a process to expand its current financing facilities. This will involve raising $2.27bn of new services with maturities in 2017/18, replacing the company’s accessible $2.92bn facilities which are due to full-grown in 2013/14. The new facilities will offer the business with a secure, long term capital structure.

Proceeds raised will be kept within the Group for general business purposes and the company has no current plans to pay a bonus.

Raikkonen targets Malaysian podium

Kimi Raikkonen says he is confident of scoring his first podium since returning to F1 in this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix after picking up points in his maiden outing for Lotus in Australia.

The Finn suffered in qualifying at Albert Park and failed to make it past Q1, even though he came through the field to finish seventh and give Lotus its first point’s finish of the year.

Having managed to come from side to side the field on race day down under, Raikkonen said he was happy with the concert shown by the E20 and felt confident that he could he could fight for more during the second round of the year at Sepang.

“The car feels very good,” he said. “In the race I was wedged in traffic a lot so it didn't show so much, and who knows what strength have happened if we had a better grid a slot. There is a lot of speed in the car.

“We'll be trying to get better our performance in Malaysia for sure. We don't know how the car will behave there but it's been good everywhere so far so hopefully it'll be the same there. It'll be hot and humid which is a confront but we have a good car. As long as qualifying goes well we might be fighting for podiums. We'll have to wait and see.

“There's much more to come. We're learning concerning the car all the time and the last race didn't really give us the chance to use its full possible. Hopefully Malaysia will be a bit more straightforward.”

Raikkonen's seventh place stop in Australia came in his first F1 start since Abu Dhabi 2009, but the former Ferrari driver insisted he felt at home straight-away in spite of the changes that have taken place over the past two years while he has been competing in the WRC.

“To be honest it didn't feel any dissimilar to when I last raced,” he said. “There have been a few rule changes but the racing itself is very similar. The DRS is easier to use in the race than in practice or qualifying because there are only certain places you can set in motion it, whereas in the other sessions people will try to push the limits of how early they can use it which can easily lead to a mistake if you are too destructive.”