NO TIME FOR TITLE TALK

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso played down talk of a championship assault after his flawless drive on Sunday saw him storm to victory in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

The two-time world champion was in imperious form as he took the chequered flag ahead of the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who held off the charging Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel at the death.

Asked afterwards who his main rivals were for another world crown, the Spaniard said: “I think it’s a little bit too early to say.

“We need to wait until maybe after the summer break or something like that to clearly see the real contenders. Hopefully we are in that group after the summer.

“Hopefully Felipe (Ferrari team-mate Massa) can be in that group as well, that will mean that the car is going well, and I think at the moment Lotus, Red Bull and Mercedes are in the same position as us, let’s say.”

Alonso’s victory came on the back of an early retirement last month in Malaysia and a second place, behind Raikkonen, in the season-opener in Melbourne.

Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix this coming weekend, Vettel leads the standings on 52 points, ahead of Raikkonen on 49. Alonso, three times a winner in Bahrain, is third with 43 points, three more than Hamilton.

“I don’t see anyone has a clear advantage. Maybe Red Bull was very dominant in Australia in all free practices. In qualifying and the race they were suffering a little bit of degradation but definitely very fast,” Alonso said.

“In Malaysia, they were mabe a little bit more in the groove but here they were similar to the others so let’s wait and see what the updates of every car brings to the pace, and we will see how luck plays.”
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