"Do they have many horses in Spain? Yes some of the best and most beautiful." This was a dialogue in the movie Gladiator - though at the Spanish Grand Prix the horse was Italian and the 'Gladiator' was a Spaniard.

After technical glitches hindered him a better finish back in Bahrain Grand Prix three weeks ago, Alonso became a local hero thanks to team strategy that led him to the dance of the chequered flags at the end of 66 laps. He finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus and team mate Felipe Massa.

Outside the podium followed Vettel, Webber and pole sitter Rosberg. McLaren - though finished with the points - had another disappointing weekend after finishing eighth and ninth.

Despite starting fifth, a good start set up and a fast Ferrari ensured a four stopping prancing horse was sufficient to finish ahead of a three stopping Raikkonen.

Massa, who started at ninth, could not match his team mate's pace but still managed to finish a best of third. Vettel had to settle for fourth ahead of team mate Webber in fifth for their Austrian-U.K. team.

German team Mercedes also had to face the prolonging tyre degradation problems - a common topic since the start of the season. Despite starting from the front row, Rosberg came home sixth while Hamilton who qualified second plummeted down out of the points classifications to finish in twelfth place.

Alonso propelled to third place after jumping Raikkonen and Hamilton in turn three. Rosberg meanwhile, managed to hold onto the lead for the first stint as his team mate dropped backwards. Alonso emerged ahead of Vettel after stopping a lap earlier.

From then on Rosberg dropped away as Alonso and Vettel pushed on a four-stop strategy. Vettel with his tyre issues was not really a challenger to Alonso but Raikkonen was strong as he came through on a three-stop strategy. After leading a number of laps, Raikkonen had to pit earlier than Alonso allowing Alonso to retain a comfortable lead and ease home on fresher tyres. But post-race the championship fight is tied even closer with the Finn four points behind Vettel - while the Spaniard is 17 points away.

The F1 circus will be back in the rich man's playground of Monaco in the beautiful French Riviera in two weeks' time.