Spanish Grand Prix Race Report

(c) Octane Photographic

After a 3 week break F1 returns to the circuit scene, after a successful test in Mugello last week. The start of the European season arrives to the Circuit de Catalunya, a driver and fan favourite.

Spain is a very demanding and technical track. However the teams and drivers have plenty of practice thanks to it being a popular pre-season test destination. Spain is renowned for its football but F1 has grown in popularity over the years thanks to the success of the nations favourite, Fernando Alonso.

Whether Alonso can win is another story. I debated about the first 4 races and what we have seen and it is truly thrilling. The season is wide open at the moment as Mclaren, Red Bull, Lotus and Mercedes all look strong.

Here is my report of the Spanish Grand Prix, including reviews of Free Practice 1, 2, 3 and Qualifying.

FP1
Free Practice 1 signalled the start of the European F1 season. With a number of upgrades on the cars or being tested it was a busy time on track.

The circuit is a testing favourite with its mix of high, medium and low speed corners. Fernando Alonso looked strong on the morning, topping the session with a time of 1m24.430. It was a surprise due to the under performance of the Ferrari but FP1 can produce surprises as teams experiment with different fuel loads and runs.

Alonso knocked Vettel from the top spot and with the later part of the session being used for higher fuelled runs the order remained the same. Kobayashi, Button, Bottas (standing in for Senna at Williams) and Schumacher were next up. Other drivers having their chance to race in F1 during Free Practice was Alexander Rossi in the Caterham, Jules Bianchi in the Force India and Dani Clos in the HRT.

Hamilton finished the session 8th, the Mclaren sporting a strange ridge on the nose cone early on. Webber, Massa and Rosberg all finished outside the top 10 but seemed to be running different schedules.

It was a relatively clean session despite De La Rosa's HRT shedding some bodywork, however it was quickly retrieved by a quick footed marshal. 

FP2
Free Practice 2 saw a number of big disruptions ruining potential times, but Jenson Button still topped the session despite complaining about the cars balance at the start of the 1 hour 30 minute session.

He took control of the timings relatively early on, with his best time being a 1m23.399 being just 2 tenths ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. Fellow German Nico Rosberg finished 3rd in his Mercedes, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The Brit struggled to match his team mate and went off twice during his race simulation at the sector 3 chicane. A number of other drivers including Bruno Senna and Mark Webber struggled, the end result being off track excursions.

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean proved that the Lotus E20's Bahrain pace was no fluke, finishing the session 5th and 6th. Webber, Schumacher, Kobayashi and Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10, the latter two's teams looking strong in Spain.

Paul Di Resta, Heikki Kovalainen, Bruno Senna and Narain Karthikeyan took over their cars after the respective teams let their reserve drivers have a shot at driving in F1. They finished the day 14th, 19th, 18th and 24th respectively. Paul Di Resta was just 1 place behind session 1 time sheet topper Fernando Alonso.

The session was mainly split into shorter runs early on and race runs being put in towards the end.

FP3
Sebastian Vettel topped the final practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix, returning to the top after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix.

However can we really expect that? Anyone could of topped the session because the times are just so close. Vettel's best time of 1m23.168 (the fastest lap of the weekend up to that point) was just 1 tenth quicker than Pastor Maldonado in the Williams. There was 1 second separating the top 11, with those being Kobayashi in 3rd, followed by Webber, Perez, Alonso, Vergne, Button, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Massa.

Both Mclaren's we held up on their fast low fuel runs so their times are not really comparable, Button finished the session P8 and Hamilton was P16. But it looks like some teams are hiding their true pace, with Mclaren, Mercedes and Lotus having quiet sessions.
Lotus lost around 30 minutes of running on Romain Grosjean's car after a problem on the car led to him stalling when he went off track. They could not get him back out and the "perfect friday" the day before was a heavy contrast to Saturday morning.

The Caterham cars seemed to be even further away this weekend, both cars finishing the session around 1 second off the midfield. The Marussia's closed in but one of them stopped on track towards the end after a tyre was not fitted properly.

Qualifying
The first qualifying session of the European season and its just as unpredictable. After the numerous updates and upgrades were tested at Mugello the wait is over.

After a 3 week break qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix looked challenging. Dust, Pollen and hot conditions as well as a closing field mean the top drivers have to use up their tyres.

Q1
The first session in qualifying saw Hamilton top the times after a second run on the soft tyres. His time of 1m22.583 was over 7 tenths faster than Grosjean in the Lotus, the team looking strong.
Red Bull went for 1 run to save tyres for later on, while Mclaren, Ferrari and a number of others went out twice on the soft compound. Maldonado finished the session 5th after impressing in FP3.

Jean-Eric Vergne and Perez were on the bubble but it was Bruno Senna in the Williams that lost out in Q1. On a last gasp lap to the flag he spun into the gravel, ruining his chance. If it was any consolation going into that corner he was already 2 tenths off the P17.

Behind finished Petrov and Kovalainen, the Finn being outqualified by his team mate for the 3rd time this season. Charles Pic was next after beating his team mate Timo Glock, who was blocked on his fast time. De La Rosa and Karthikeyan rounded out the Q1 drop out zone.

Q2
Qualifying 2 could of taken the wind out of you. The times were so close that any margin for error will push you down the order.

Pastor Maldonado's late lap time topped the times with a 1m22.105, 3 tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Mclaren. However it was mixed fortunes for Mclaren in the 15 minute session as Jenson Button fell back to 11th. Mark Webber fared no better, dropping to 12th. 

At the front Grosjean, Perez, Raikkonen, Alonso and Rosberg all improved late on to drop the rest down the order. Vettel was just in and finished the session in 8th, with Kobayashi and Schumacher also progressing.

Out in that sesson were the big names of Button and Webber, while Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Vergne, Ricciardo and Massa failed to progress to the last session.

However Kobayashi will start 10th due to a hydraulics leak meaning he stopped on track at the end of Q2. This means he can not progress and drive in Q3 so he will line up 10th.

Q3
After the shock of Q2 the pole position shoot out was set to be hot, like the Spanish climate. However it started on a bum note as Sebastian Vettel coasted round to set some sector times, before coming in. 

However Hamilton was the first person to set a time with a 1m22.560. However the majority of the top 10 decided to stay in the pit garage. Schumacher mimicked Vettel's earlier antics, as did a few others. Rosberg went 2nd, some 5 tenths off. 

With 2 minutes left Hamilton, Maldonado, Alonso, Vettel and Perez went out to set a time. Raikkonen also joined them on the Circuit de Catalunya, with just 2 drivers having set a time by that point. Fernando Alonso moved up to 1st, 2 tenths in front of Hamiton. Raikkonen went 1 tenth down after setting a bad final sector. Perez then went 3rd but Grosjean moved up to 2nd.

Next up was Maldonado who went fastest, but Lewis Hamilton had an answer by 5 tenths. Vettel was on a quick time but he abandoned his time, leaving him 8th. So Hamilton starts on pole, from Maldonado, Alonso, Grosjean, Raikkonen and Perez. Rosberg finished the session 7th, with Vettel 8th, Schumacher 9th and Kobayashi 10th. 

After a stunning pole position lap Hamilton's pole position was taken away from him after his Mclaren stopped on track on the out lap. It was found that the Mclaren did not have enough fuel to get round to the weigh in so stopped to leave the 1L of fuel needed. The stewards deemed this unacceptable and the punishment will see Hamilton start from the back of the grid. This gives Pastor Maldonado his maiden pole position.

Pos    Driver               Team                             Time            
1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.707s* Will start from the back after penalty
2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m22.285s (new pole position)
3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.302s
4.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m22.424s
5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m22.487s
6.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.533s
7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m23.005s
8.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     No time
9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             No time
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       No time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.904s        Gap **
11.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.944s   +  0.839
12.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.977s   +  0.872
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s   +  1.020
14.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s   +  1.072
15.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.265s   +  1.160
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.442s   +  1.337
17.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.444s   +  1.339
Q1 cut-off time: 1m24.362s Gap *
18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m24.981s   + 2.398
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m25.277s   + 2.694
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m25.507s   + 2.924
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.582s   + 3.999
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.032s   + 4.449
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m27.555s   + 4.972
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m31.122s   + 8.539

The Race
After one of the most controversial qualifying sessions and rumours visciously circulating the F1 world, it was finally race day in Spain. The first race of the European season is all set to be a stunning race, with the Mclaren cars starting from the back, Maldonado, Alonso and the Lotus drivers at the front and Webber looking to charge through the field, these are the ingredients we could only dream off.

The result? As unpredictable as ever. Who wins this is any ones guess so keep reading to see.

The sun was peaking through the clouds as the engine revs rose. Who will be the first into turn 1? Its anyone's guess.

The light sequence began, look but never stare. We were racing in Spain. Off the line it was an equal start but Alonso pushed forward ahead of Maldonado. Grosjean fell back and Perez was given a puncture. The midfield was close and Button moved up to 8th place. Webber fell back in the Red Bull, behind Felipe Massa.

Hamilton's progress on lap 1 saw him move ahead of the Marussia and HRT cars. By the time the cars come round the crowd cheered loudly as their hero Alonso leads. Raikkonen moved up to 3rd on the first lap as his team mate fell back into the clutches of Schumacher.
Charles Pic got in a spin as Massa and Webber duel way up ahead. Hamilton moves up  to 18th by the second lap. Up at the front Maldonado kept Alonso in his sights, impressive driving from the Venezuelan. 

Tyre degredation was the big talking point on the radio, from as early as lap 6. The front runners had detatched themselves from the rest as a long train formed behind Grosjean. Mark Webber was the first to pit, on lap 7. It was a clean pit stop but Webber needed to get into clear air, being held up by Massa.

Webber's team mate Vettel pulled into the pit lane at the end of lap 8, the team hoping to leap frog the slower cars infront. Red Bull had certainly made an interesting strategic choice. Kobayashi followed the following lap, tyre degredation being slightly higher than expected. Hamilton's progress meant that he had moved up to 12th by lap 9.

The pit stops were in full flow by lap 10, Mclaren bringing in Jenson Button and Mercedes bringing in Rosberg. Vettel kept his position ahead of Button, as did Kobayashi behind the Brit. The leader Alonso pitted at the beginning of lap 11, Pastor Maldonado took over the lead. Grosjean and Schumacher followed suit, as did Force India and Toro Rosso. However it was just 1 lap before the leading two, Maldonado and Raikkonen, took their stops.

The following lap we saw Grosjean tap Bruno Senna. The Brazilian had yet to stop and was backing Schumacher into Vettel and Button behind. This was lap 12 of 66, still a long way to run. The next lap Schumacher flew into the gravel trap, seemingly colliding with Bruno Senna. The replay slowed Michael Schumacher ran right into the back of Bruno Senna, possibly the superior grip of Schumacher meaning he was shocked with the early braking of Senna.

Hamilton took his first stop on lap 15 but it was a delayed exit. He emerged back in 14th place but it seemed like he hit one of his tyres, Lewis radiod in concerned he had hit one of hit pit crew but that was not the case.

It seemed like Webber had a problem, he lost 4 or 5 positions in just a few corners. He radioed in saying there was a problem with the front loading on his car, another stop for the Aussie. This was on lap 18 and following Hamilton's progress, he was up to 12th at that point. Moving back to the front Alonso was just keeping Maldonado at bay, with Raikkonen and Grosjean falling further behind.

5 laps later and Hamilton closed in on Massa. Rosberg pitted on that lap for the harder tyres, the German struggled in the early stages. The following lap and Hamilton tried his luck getting past Massa. He could not on that attempt, bouncing on the rev limiter. At the front Maldonado chose to pit on lap 25 and as he emerged from his pit stop in 3rd we glimpsed a HRT stopped on track.

After flat spotting his tyre on lap 26 Jenson Button came into the pits. The following lap Alonso pitted, his in lap being comprimised by Charles Pic. Maldonado took the lead from Alonso due to the baulking of Pic. Grosjean pitted on the same lap and emerged just ahead of Massa in 5th. The frenchman's team mate Raikkonen was next up to pit, with Vettel following his friend in. On the same lap Sebastian Vettel was given a drive through penalty for ignoring yellow flags, as did Felipe Massa for the same offence.

It was another Mclaren on the move by lap 30, Jenson Button attacking Nico Rosberg. By half distance on lap 33 Maldonado had extended his lead to 7 seconds. The top 5 were spread by 42 seconds, Hamilton being the latter. Kobayashi showed his aggressive nature at turn 5 and lunged up the inside of Jenson Button. Martin Brundle saying "you know when you've been KK'ed."

Hamilton pitted on lap 36, it was a clean stop but it dropped him back to 14th place. The Mclaren strategy was to go for a 2 stop but Hamilton still had just under half the race to go. 3 laps later Vettel moved ahead of Jenson Button. The Brit struggled with his tyres and pitted for his final stint, the tyres having to last 27 laps. That put him behind Hamilton, who passed both Toro Rosso cars in 2 corners.

The replay showed Sergio Perez being delayed in his stop and as soon as it cut back to the live racing we saw Perez stopped out on track. Jenson Button was making progress and passed Di Resta and Massa on the same lap. On that same lap Maldonado stopped and his pit stop was delayed, could he of lost the lead? A problem with the left rear left the door open for Alonso.

Vettel stopped for a new nose on lap 44 due to a problem experienced by both Red Bull's. They waited for a few laps but Alonso pitted on lap 45. He emerged in a net 2nd place again, dropping back abit more. However new leader Raikkonen held up Maldonado and Alonso moved within 2 seconds off the Williams driver. Alonso was, himself, held up slightly by the Iceman, the top predicted winner in the JLF1 poll. 

Alonso closed in by lap 51 but despite DRS he was too far behind. He continued to stay behind him as the racing settled down. Button was struggling with 6 laps to go and Vettel overtook him into turn 10. Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi was on a charge and he took a late lunge at turn 10 on the inside of Nico Rosberg, into 5th place. Behind them, with 3 laps to go, Hamilton lost out to Sebastian Vettel. The Mclaren driver could not hold the 2010 and 2011 champion behind him and was left behind to look after his tyres. Vettel then disposed of Nico Rosberg for 6th place at turn 9.
Out front Maldonado started to push forward and extend the gap to Alonso. Raikkonen was closing in on them both. If someone had told me the top 5 would look like this, I would of laughed. A stunning shake up in Formula 1 as the top teams struggled.

Pastor Maldonado wins his debut Grand Prix in Spain
The Williams driver took his maiden win in Spain after claiming pole position. He held off fan favourite Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen finished off the podium position places in the Lotus E20. His team mate Romain Grosjean took 4th position ahead of Kamui Kobayashi.

Next up finished Vettel, with Rosberg and Hamilton next up. Jenson Button finished the race 9th, the Mclaren drivers advancing from 24th and 10th. Nico Hulkenberg just held off Mark Webber for the final point. Jean-Eric Vergne, Daniel Ricciardo, Di Resta, Massa and Kovalainen were next up.

It was a massively popular turn around for the Grove based team after a poor 2011 season. Despite Bruno Senna crashing out it was a great drive by Pastor to win. Alonso did well to finish 2nd after saying he "over performed" in qualifying. Kimi Raikkonen got his 2nd consecutive podium position.

So many great drivers but it was Maldonado and Williams' day in Spain. His win in Spain means we have seen 5 different winners in 5 races, a crazy start to the 2012 season.

However around 1 and a half hours after the race, while the Williams F1 Team were celebrating, it has been reported that an explosion at the back of the garage created a fireball in the pit garage. Soon there was thick black smoke billowing from the Williams team garage, where Bruno Senna's car was sitting. Soon there was a rush of mechanics with fire extinguishers bravely running into the garage.

Everyone was evacuated and the fire was put out just before emergency crews came in to help. On Sky Sports F1 footage from when Ted Kravitz was interviewing ex-Williams F1 driver Alex Wurz where in the background you could see the explosion at the back of the garage.

It is reported to be either a KERS explosion or linking to fuel. The fire was reported to of spread to the Caterham and Sauber garages but not to the extent of the Williams crew. Frank Williams and the rest of the team are all ok but a few mechanics from numerous teams were taken to the medical centre.

Charred equipment was being dragged from the scene and it seems Bruno Senna's car has been damaged. It was a terrifying and horrific scene but thankfully no one was hurt and the bravery of the mechanics and people at the circuit is highly commendable.

Classified:
Pos Driver      Team           Time
1.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           1h39:09.145
2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     3.195
3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +     3.884
4.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +    14.799
5.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:14.641
6.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +  1:17.576
7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:27.919
8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:28.100
9.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:25.200
10.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     1 lap
12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
14.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
17.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
18.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
19.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250

Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap
Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               38
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            36
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 23
Senna         Williams-Renault             13
Schumacher    Mercedes                     13