Valencia has hosted the European Grand Prix since 2008 and has been coined as one of the most boring races on the calendar.
The 3.4 mile circuit, lined by barriers, is like Monaco in some respects. A slight error can punish the driver heavily, it is surrounded by ocean but the Monte Carlo sky scrapers are replaced by the surrounding dock lands and cranes. The circuit has a mix of permanent public roads and areas designed by Herman Tilke.
But could the 2012 F1 season bring some sparkle to a race where overtaking is low? Read on to find out..
The adjective "boring" can often be seen in the same sentence as "Valencia" when discussing F1, but the addition of KERS, DRS and Pirelli tyres spiced the racing up in 2011, so can 2012 do the same?
FP1
The wind was strong and cloud covered up the Spanish sky as the green light went off for First Practice. The 1 hour 30 minute session started off on a green and dusty track, the European GP weekend being the only use for the circuit.
Pastor Maldonado put behind him a string of below average performances to top the first practice session. By the chequered flag all we could take from the session was that the track was green, the temperature was below the previous few years and that Maldonado's lap of 1m40.890 was the fastest of them all.
The top 4 were separated by just 1 tenth of a second, Vettel, Webber and a rejuvenated Jenson Button's attempts to top Maldonado's time failing by the narrowest of margins. It was a good sign for Jenson Button after he struggled in Canada.
Alonso, Di Resta, Schumacher, Hamilton and Rosberg followed close behind, despite the long lap time and the most corners of any F1 circuit (25), within 3 tenths of Maldonado. The Lotus drivers continued to mix in the midfield with Raikkonen and Grosjean in 10th and 11th respectively. Both Sauber's and Massa were also close behind, with the former 2 still within the 1 second mark of the time topper.
Drivers struggled for grip on a "green" track and considerable head wind which meant lock ups were a common occurrence. The yellow flag made an appearance on more than 1 occasion due to the corner cutting and off track excursions suffered by the drivers.
FP2
The second 1 hour 30 minute practice session held at the Valencia street circuit was basked in sun shine as the earlier cloud cover cleared. Sebastian Vettel was also shining around the barrier lined track and topped the session with a best lap time of 1m39.334.
The drivers switched between the hard tyres at the start of the session and the softer compound towards the end. Long and short runs meant the order was mixed, with Nico Hulkenberg ending the session in 2nd. He was 1 tenth off his German compatriot Vettel, with Kobayashi and Schumacher in 3rd and 4th.
Bruno Senna showed that William's are on the pace in Spain, like they were in Barcelona, by finishing the session in 5th. Di Resta, Alonso and Grosjean rounded out the top 8, while Webber finished 5 tenths down on his team mate in 9th.
Nico Rosberg had a relatively mistake free session on route to 10th place, ahead of Lotus driver Raikkonen. Jenson Button put the soft tyre on early and slid to 12th as the session went on, not a real representation of his pace. Lewis Hamilton finished the session behind his team mate in 14th, with Felipe Massa just behind him in 15th; 9 tenths off the front running pace.
With the pace so close throughout the field Caterham would of felt confident, with Kovalainen just 1 tenth off the 18th place Toro Rosso of Ricciardo and Petrov just ahead of them both, a fan of the circuit after winning twice in GP2.
The yellow flag came out midway through the session, ruining a number of quick runs. The culprit was De La Rosa in his HRT after he crashed at turn 14. It was an odd crash which had many people in the paddock scratching their heads, driver error or mechanical the team were given alot of work to do.
FP3
The last hour of practice for the European Grand Prix in Valencia ended with Jenson Button back at the front.
The Brit set his best time of 1m38.562 towards the end of the hour, where the teams emerged on the faster soft tyre. This showed true qualifying form from the troubled driver. Lotus had an encouraging session and moved up the order when they put on the softy tyres, Grosjean ending the session 2nd 1 tenth behind Button and Raikkonen in 3rd.
Force India were also encouraged by their form, with Hulkenberg in the groove around the street circuit. He took 4th place when the chequered flag fell ahead of his team mate Di Resta. Both drivers ended the hour within 3 tenths of the time topping racer.
Sauber also looked strong in Spain, with Perez ending the session 6th and Kobayashi finishing 11th. Schumacher, Hamilton, Massa and Maldonado were in between. Alonso ended the session in a lowly 12th position. He was on a fast lap but encountered traffic.
Red Bull had a woeful session which did not show their true form. Vettel finished the session in 13th and left it late for 1 flying lap on the soft tyres. However he had to slow at the last turn to give him some clear space but that meant he had cold tyres. He had barely started his only flying lap when he went straight on a turn 2, ruining his chances to move up the order.
Webber fared no better. He managed to fit in just 4 laps before a brake problem sidelined him for the rest of the session. He ended the day 19th.
Qualifying
With low overtaking levels being a feature of the Valencia circuit, qualifying is one of the most important factors of the weekend. Who will be on pole? Read on to see..
Q1
Mark Webber started Saturday on the back foot with a brake problem. As qualifying approached Red Bull found another problem and he only managed a few flying laps on the soft tyres. With limited qualifying set up Webber could only manage 19th behind Jean-Eric Vergne. Webber did not use his DRS during his laps, the possible source to his problems.
The session was topped by Maldonado in the Williams and the Force India boys, Di Resta stole the honours from his team mate in 2nd, with Hulkenberg 3rd. Hamilton finished the session 5th, his team mate Button was down in 13th. Vettel was 14th and moved safely into Q2.
Heikki Kovalainen out qualified his team mate Petrov yet again but on this occasion he was also faster than Jean-Eric Vergne and Mark Webber. This meant he progressed through to Q2 in 17th place and responded on the radio "Yes, this is what were talking about guys."
Along with Vergne and Webber, Petrov, De La Rosa, Karthikeyan, Pic and Glock failed to make it into Q2. Glock did not set a lap time after going to hospital with a stomach upset.
Q2
The second quallifying session is where it counted. The cars were seperated by just a few tenths of a second, a perfect lap was key. Lose a tenth and they would fall a number of places.
The top 13 were seperated by just 3 tenths of a second. Grosjean topped the time sheets despite an average middle sector, nipping Rosberg to 1st at the end of the session. Di Resta and Hulkenberg finished in 3rd and 9th, safely through. Vettel, Raikkonen and Button also made it through, Button's best qualifying result in a while.
Maldonado and Hamilton also progressed, as did Kobayashi. The drivers were out till the very end battling for the final few spaces in Q3.
Out in Q2 were Alonso and Schumacher, 2 favourites for the race. Crowd favourite Alonso could not find that Spanish crowd's momentum. Schumacher split the Ferrari's, with Massa also departing. Senna and Perez followed close behind.
Kovalainen decided to come out and pipped Ricciardo to 16th place. Ricciardo rounded out the top 17. The session was one of the closest of the year so far, despite the 3.4mile circuit being longer and having the highest number of corners.
Q3
The final 10 minute session of qualifying was a battle of the toughest, and fastest. With 3 tenths separating the top 13 in the previous session, 1 slip up could of dropped a driver back.
The first runs saw Rosberg top the times on a 1m.8.6, with Button 2 tenths back. Hamilton and Raikkonen were both in the 1m38.9's as the second runs started, or first runs for others.
Grosjean moved to the top of the times on his first run, 1 tenth ahead of Rosberg. It was toughening up and another man took the top of the time sheets, Maldonado. Di Resta set the times alight but lost 5 tenths in the final sector, taking 7th. That moved to 8th as Hulkenberg moved to 4th.
Vettel went top in his first run, but the battle was not over. Vettel did a 1m38.0 to move to the front, with Raikkonen losing time to go 4th. Hamilton went 2nd and missed out by 2 tenths.
Last across the line was Kamui Kobayashi as he went 7th, pushing Button down to 9th. So the order was Vettel from Hamilton, Maldonado, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Kobayashi and Hulkenberg. British drivers Button and Di Resta rounded out the top 10.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m38.086s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.410s
3. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.475s
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m38.505s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m38.513s
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.623s
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.741s
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m38.752s
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.801s
10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m38.992s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.703s Gap **
11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m38.707s + 0.218
12. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.770s + 0.281
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.780s + 0.291
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m39.207s + 0.718
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.358s + 0.869
16. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m40.295s + 1.806
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.358s + 1.869
Q1 cut-off time: 1m40.087s Gap *
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.203s + 1.378
19. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m40.395s + 1.570
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m40.457s + 1.632
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.171s + 3.346
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m42.527s + 3.702
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m42.675s + 3.850
The Race
Alonso was far from the favourite as the race reached half distance. Fernando picked off places from Maldonado and Hulkenberg, before being promoted up the order. This was first thanks to Sebastian Vettel retiring shortly after the first safety car restart. Mechanical gremlins led to the dominant German's RB8 to slow. Later on in the race Romain Grosjean also pulled off the circuit with mechanical issues, an alternator failure costing him a possible podium.
Alonso inherited the lead and battled through a safety car period, due to debris on track following contact between Kovalainen and Vergne. They were not the only ones to collide, Kobayashi hit Senna on the run to turn 7 and spun the Williams around. Kobayashi also later collided with Massa.
Picking his way through the pieces was also Kimi Raikkonen. After dropping back at the start he managed to stear clear of incident and bring his car home in a creditable 2nd. However he was aiming for the win, with the main talking point being about the teams chances before the race. Michael Schumacher started 12th but also picked his way through the chaos. He was elevated late on in the race to the 3rd place position after Hamilton and Maldonado collided. They were battling over 2nd when Maldonado went off track as he tried to hang on to Hamilton around the outside at turn 11. He hit the kerb at turn 12 and clattered into the Mclaren, momentarily causing the silver arrow to go airborne. The MP4-27 landed and clattered into the barrier to retire.
Behind Schumacher, who claimed his first podium in his return, finished Webber. He dived and weaved past the slower cars early on and used well timed pit stops (especially when the safety car came out) to move up the order. Behind him was Nico Hulkenberg, showing strong pace from the Force India. After moving up the order at the start he settled into a consistent rhythm and moved up when others faltered. He fell back towards the end, being passed by Maldonado and Webber, but it was still a decent result. Rosberg managed to split the Force India's, the Mercedes driver not happy after starting in the same position.
Behind Rosberg was Di Resta, a good haul of points for the Silverstone based squad. His strong pace showed and after moving up at the start and a long 1st stint meant he leapfrogged drivers towards the end. Jenson Button had a low key race to 8th. He dropped to 13th at the first corner after being crowded out. He then pitted early and managed to pick of a few cars before eventually crossing the line just 2 seconds behind Di Resta. Perez and Maldonado rounded out the top 10, the later continuing on in the race despite missing a front wing from the contact with Hamilton a lap earlier. He blamed Hamilton for the clash but his rookie error of not backing off cost him points. However after the race Pastor was given a 20 second time penalty for causing the incident with Hamilton, moving him back.
Senna recovered from a puncture in a "crazy" race to finish 11th, which after the race became 10th, with Ricciardo just behind. Petrov and Kovalainen were the last to finish on the same lap as the leaders, benefiting from the safety car. Petrov had run as high as 10th before having to pit for a new nose cone. Kovalainen also lost time after crashing with Vergne, giving them both a puncture. He said it was a "rookie" error on Vergne's behalf.
The lone Marussia of Pic finished 15th, with Massa finishing 16th. He pitted late on and dropped down the order. Both HRT cars finished, all be it a lap down. Hamilton was classified as 2 laps down.
So Alonso broke the "7 winners in 7 races" story and became the first double winner of 2012. It is fair to say that Hamilton, Grosjean and Vettel would of all been challenging for podiums had they not been involved in incidents or had car failures. Despite the impression of the Valencia street circuit being a "boring" race, it certainly switched it up today.
After one of the most dramatic races of the 2012 season (I know, at Valencia!) the next stop is my home Grand Prix, Silverstone.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h44:16.449
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 6.421
3. Schumacher Mercedes + 12.639
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 13.628
5. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 19.993
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 21.176
7. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 22.866
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 24.653
9. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 27.777
10. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 34.653*20s penalty
11. Senna Williams-Renault + 35.961
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 37.041
13. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1:15.871
14. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1:34.654
15. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1:36.551
16. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:42.163
Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 41
Vettel Red Bull-Renault 34
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 34
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 27
Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
But could the 2012 F1 season bring some sparkle to a race where overtaking is low? Read on to find out..
The adjective "boring" can often be seen in the same sentence as "Valencia" when discussing F1, but the addition of KERS, DRS and Pirelli tyres spiced the racing up in 2011, so can 2012 do the same?
FP1
The wind was strong and cloud covered up the Spanish sky as the green light went off for First Practice. The 1 hour 30 minute session started off on a green and dusty track, the European GP weekend being the only use for the circuit.
Pastor Maldonado put behind him a string of below average performances to top the first practice session. By the chequered flag all we could take from the session was that the track was green, the temperature was below the previous few years and that Maldonado's lap of 1m40.890 was the fastest of them all.
The top 4 were separated by just 1 tenth of a second, Vettel, Webber and a rejuvenated Jenson Button's attempts to top Maldonado's time failing by the narrowest of margins. It was a good sign for Jenson Button after he struggled in Canada.
Alonso, Di Resta, Schumacher, Hamilton and Rosberg followed close behind, despite the long lap time and the most corners of any F1 circuit (25), within 3 tenths of Maldonado. The Lotus drivers continued to mix in the midfield with Raikkonen and Grosjean in 10th and 11th respectively. Both Sauber's and Massa were also close behind, with the former 2 still within the 1 second mark of the time topper.
Drivers struggled for grip on a "green" track and considerable head wind which meant lock ups were a common occurrence. The yellow flag made an appearance on more than 1 occasion due to the corner cutting and off track excursions suffered by the drivers.
FP2
The second 1 hour 30 minute practice session held at the Valencia street circuit was basked in sun shine as the earlier cloud cover cleared. Sebastian Vettel was also shining around the barrier lined track and topped the session with a best lap time of 1m39.334.
The drivers switched between the hard tyres at the start of the session and the softer compound towards the end. Long and short runs meant the order was mixed, with Nico Hulkenberg ending the session in 2nd. He was 1 tenth off his German compatriot Vettel, with Kobayashi and Schumacher in 3rd and 4th.
Bruno Senna showed that William's are on the pace in Spain, like they were in Barcelona, by finishing the session in 5th. Di Resta, Alonso and Grosjean rounded out the top 8, while Webber finished 5 tenths down on his team mate in 9th.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
With the pace so close throughout the field Caterham would of felt confident, with Kovalainen just 1 tenth off the 18th place Toro Rosso of Ricciardo and Petrov just ahead of them both, a fan of the circuit after winning twice in GP2.
The yellow flag came out midway through the session, ruining a number of quick runs. The culprit was De La Rosa in his HRT after he crashed at turn 14. It was an odd crash which had many people in the paddock scratching their heads, driver error or mechanical the team were given alot of work to do.
FP3
The last hour of practice for the European Grand Prix in Valencia ended with Jenson Button back at the front.
The Brit set his best time of 1m38.562 towards the end of the hour, where the teams emerged on the faster soft tyre. This showed true qualifying form from the troubled driver. Lotus had an encouraging session and moved up the order when they put on the softy tyres, Grosjean ending the session 2nd 1 tenth behind Button and Raikkonen in 3rd.
Force India were also encouraged by their form, with Hulkenberg in the groove around the street circuit. He took 4th place when the chequered flag fell ahead of his team mate Di Resta. Both drivers ended the hour within 3 tenths of the time topping racer.
Sauber also looked strong in Spain, with Perez ending the session 6th and Kobayashi finishing 11th. Schumacher, Hamilton, Massa and Maldonado were in between. Alonso ended the session in a lowly 12th position. He was on a fast lap but encountered traffic.
Red Bull had a woeful session which did not show their true form. Vettel finished the session in 13th and left it late for 1 flying lap on the soft tyres. However he had to slow at the last turn to give him some clear space but that meant he had cold tyres. He had barely started his only flying lap when he went straight on a turn 2, ruining his chances to move up the order.
Webber fared no better. He managed to fit in just 4 laps before a brake problem sidelined him for the rest of the session. He ended the day 19th.
Qualifying
With low overtaking levels being a feature of the Valencia circuit, qualifying is one of the most important factors of the weekend. Who will be on pole? Read on to see..
Q1
Mark Webber started Saturday on the back foot with a brake problem. As qualifying approached Red Bull found another problem and he only managed a few flying laps on the soft tyres. With limited qualifying set up Webber could only manage 19th behind Jean-Eric Vergne. Webber did not use his DRS during his laps, the possible source to his problems.
The session was topped by Maldonado in the Williams and the Force India boys, Di Resta stole the honours from his team mate in 2nd, with Hulkenberg 3rd. Hamilton finished the session 5th, his team mate Button was down in 13th. Vettel was 14th and moved safely into Q2.
Along with Vergne and Webber, Petrov, De La Rosa, Karthikeyan, Pic and Glock failed to make it into Q2. Glock did not set a lap time after going to hospital with a stomach upset.
Q2
The second quallifying session is where it counted. The cars were seperated by just a few tenths of a second, a perfect lap was key. Lose a tenth and they would fall a number of places.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
Maldonado and Hamilton also progressed, as did Kobayashi. The drivers were out till the very end battling for the final few spaces in Q3.
Out in Q2 were Alonso and Schumacher, 2 favourites for the race. Crowd favourite Alonso could not find that Spanish crowd's momentum. Schumacher split the Ferrari's, with Massa also departing. Senna and Perez followed close behind.
Kovalainen decided to come out and pipped Ricciardo to 16th place. Ricciardo rounded out the top 17. The session was one of the closest of the year so far, despite the 3.4mile circuit being longer and having the highest number of corners.
Q3
The final 10 minute session of qualifying was a battle of the toughest, and fastest. With 3 tenths separating the top 13 in the previous session, 1 slip up could of dropped a driver back.
The first runs saw Rosberg top the times on a 1m.8.6, with Button 2 tenths back. Hamilton and Raikkonen were both in the 1m38.9's as the second runs started, or first runs for others.
Grosjean moved to the top of the times on his first run, 1 tenth ahead of Rosberg. It was toughening up and another man took the top of the time sheets, Maldonado. Di Resta set the times alight but lost 5 tenths in the final sector, taking 7th. That moved to 8th as Hulkenberg moved to 4th.
Vettel went top in his first run, but the battle was not over. Vettel did a 1m38.0 to move to the front, with Raikkonen losing time to go 4th. Hamilton went 2nd and missed out by 2 tenths.
Last across the line was Kamui Kobayashi as he went 7th, pushing Button down to 9th. So the order was Vettel from Hamilton, Maldonado, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Kobayashi and Hulkenberg. British drivers Button and Di Resta rounded out the top 10.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m38.086s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.410s
3. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.475s
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m38.505s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m38.513s
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.623s
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.741s
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m38.752s
9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m38.801s
10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m38.992s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.703s Gap **
11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m38.707s + 0.218
12. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.770s + 0.281
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m38.780s + 0.291
14. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m39.207s + 0.718
15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.358s + 0.869
16. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m40.295s + 1.806
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.358s + 1.869
Q1 cut-off time: 1m40.087s Gap *
18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.203s + 1.378
19. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m40.395s + 1.570
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m40.457s + 1.632
21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.171s + 3.346
22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m42.527s + 3.702
23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m42.675s + 3.850
The Race
Fernando Alonso wins the European Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso took an impressive win in Spain, his home country. Despite starting down in 11th Alonso had a smooth start and picked of places as others squabled. He benefited from the faultering of rivals machinery to take the victory infront of an adoring crowd. Fernando seemed very emotional after crossing the chequered flag and had to pull over before he arrived to the pits. Clutching a Spanish flag he jumped out of the cock put, overjoyed.Alonso was far from the favourite as the race reached half distance. Fernando picked off places from Maldonado and Hulkenberg, before being promoted up the order. This was first thanks to Sebastian Vettel retiring shortly after the first safety car restart. Mechanical gremlins led to the dominant German's RB8 to slow. Later on in the race Romain Grosjean also pulled off the circuit with mechanical issues, an alternator failure costing him a possible podium.
Alonso inherited the lead and battled through a safety car period, due to debris on track following contact between Kovalainen and Vergne. They were not the only ones to collide, Kobayashi hit Senna on the run to turn 7 and spun the Williams around. Kobayashi also later collided with Massa.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
Behind Schumacher, who claimed his first podium in his return, finished Webber. He dived and weaved past the slower cars early on and used well timed pit stops (especially when the safety car came out) to move up the order. Behind him was Nico Hulkenberg, showing strong pace from the Force India. After moving up the order at the start he settled into a consistent rhythm and moved up when others faltered. He fell back towards the end, being passed by Maldonado and Webber, but it was still a decent result. Rosberg managed to split the Force India's, the Mercedes driver not happy after starting in the same position.
Behind Rosberg was Di Resta, a good haul of points for the Silverstone based squad. His strong pace showed and after moving up at the start and a long 1st stint meant he leapfrogged drivers towards the end. Jenson Button had a low key race to 8th. He dropped to 13th at the first corner after being crowded out. He then pitted early and managed to pick of a few cars before eventually crossing the line just 2 seconds behind Di Resta. Perez and Maldonado rounded out the top 10, the later continuing on in the race despite missing a front wing from the contact with Hamilton a lap earlier. He blamed Hamilton for the clash but his rookie error of not backing off cost him points. However after the race Pastor was given a 20 second time penalty for causing the incident with Hamilton, moving him back.
Senna recovered from a puncture in a "crazy" race to finish 11th, which after the race became 10th, with Ricciardo just behind. Petrov and Kovalainen were the last to finish on the same lap as the leaders, benefiting from the safety car. Petrov had run as high as 10th before having to pit for a new nose cone. Kovalainen also lost time after crashing with Vergne, giving them both a puncture. He said it was a "rookie" error on Vergne's behalf.
The lone Marussia of Pic finished 15th, with Massa finishing 16th. He pitted late on and dropped down the order. Both HRT cars finished, all be it a lap down. Hamilton was classified as 2 laps down.
So Alonso broke the "7 winners in 7 races" story and became the first double winner of 2012. It is fair to say that Hamilton, Grosjean and Vettel would of all been challenging for podiums had they not been involved in incidents or had car failures. Despite the impression of the Valencia street circuit being a "boring" race, it certainly switched it up today.
After one of the most dramatic races of the 2012 season (I know, at Valencia!) the next stop is my home Grand Prix, Silverstone.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h44:16.449
2. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 6.421
3. Schumacher Mercedes + 12.639
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 13.628
5. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 19.993
6. Rosberg Mercedes + 21.176
7. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 22.866
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 24.653
9. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 27.777
10. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 34.653*20s penalty
11. Senna Williams-Renault + 35.961
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 37.041
13. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1:15.871
14. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1:34.654
15. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1:36.551
16. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:42.163
Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 41
Vettel Red Bull-Renault 34
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 34
Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 27
Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1
No comments:
Post a Comment