Alonso brings Ferrari to victory at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai

Spaniard Fernando Alonso cruised to win his second Chinese Grand Prix held at the Shanghai International Circuit, after a flawless start and some cunning overtaking manoeuvres.

While much happened during the 90-over minute race, it was defending champion Sebastian Vettel's rapid charge on Lewis Hamilton during the closing laps that was much talked about - even after the race concluded.

Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton of Lotus and Mercedes AMG respectively defended their turf to finish second and third while Vettel crossed the line in fourth - just 0.2 seconds from Hamilton and ahead of Jenson Button in his McLaren for a respectable fifth.

The other Ferrari piloted by Felipe Massa finished sixth while Daniel Ricciardo finished an impressive seventh for Scuderia Torro Rosso.

Vettel's team mate - Mark Webber whom started from the pit lane - had a short race as he retired with a loose right rear wheel, after a presumable error in a pit stop for a new front wing and change of tyres following a collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in the other Scuderia Torro Rosso on lap 15. Webber has since been slapped with a three-place grid penalty at the forthcoming grand prix in Bahrain.

Last year's race winner Nico Rosberg retired with a suspension problem - his second retirement in just three races this season thus far. A collision between Esteban Gutierrez of Sauber and Adrian Sutil at Turn 14, took out both cars as well.

Despite finishing a high second, Raikkonen's race was not as smooth as Alonso's after a launch error saw him drop to fourth place on top of rear end contact with Sergio Perez's McLaren that damaged the front nose of the Lotus.

Impressively, despite a damaged front wing and a hole in the nose of his Lotus, Raikkonen still managed to finish the race for podium position.

Vettel pitted for soft tyres with just four laps to the dance of the chequered flags. Squeezing out as much as he can from the Red Bull-Renault, Vettel proceeded to reel in on Raikkonen and Hamilton, for an epic finale.

Interestingly the first five places were captured by the world championship winning drivers from different constructors. Post-race, Vettel leads the championship boards at 52 points, just three points ahead of Raikkonen and nine points ahead of Alonso. Red Bull leads the constructor's championships at 78 points with Ferrari and Lotus coming in at 73 and 60 points respectively.

The F1 circus is all set to resume the high octane action this Sunday in Bahrain.