Spanish Grand Prix 2012

Maldonado made it look easy but of course it wasn’t; nothing in Formula 1 is easy nowadays, every win a fight, every point a bit of gold to be chased and cherished. The fire may have taken some of the glory off of Maldonado’s superb victory which is indeed unfortunate, but he effectively shut down the critics who complain that he is a paid for driver and doesn’t deserve an F1 seat. Of course it may be a fluke and he could never win a race again and that’s why we still enjoy watching F1 racing.

It was almost “Maldonado’s Race”. But his pole position was inherited from Hamilton who was forced to the back of the grid because of a fuel rule infraction. Still, a Williams (RENAULT we say again, RENAULT) hasn’t enjoyed a win since 2004 with Montoya in Brazil. Maldonado nearly blew the start, pushing on Alonso where it was very brave or foolhardy to do so in light of the zillions of Spaniards whooping it up for a very determined and experienced Spanish World Champion. The first turn was a bit hairy and the Spaniard came out on top, where he stayed until lap 11 when Maldonado took the lead and basically kept it to the finish. Hence, a bit of drag. There were seven lead changes but they were as a result of pit stops not actual dicing.

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Back on the grid, the Lotus team was again in top form with Grosjean and Kimi. Did we say Lotus and forget the RENAULT? Oh hell, why not, everyone else does. Then came Perez who will win the next Grand Prix if the season holds true, making it six constructors and six drivers. Sitting next to Perez was Rosberg who has already had his win, and on row four was the German duo of Vettel and Schumacher.

Schumacher is driving us nuts. Here is, without too many doubts, the greatest driver who ever donned a Nomex. You can argue that but stats are stats. By lap 16, the seven time World Champion was off the road and out of the race…again. Being old ourselves, we have held high hopes for the aging champion; yes, let Schumacher show the world that one needn’t be still wet behind the ears to be competitive in Formula 1. Alas, he has let us down. Time, methinks, to either quit or drive a truck.

Elsewhere on the grid was Kobayashi and Button, Webber and Di Resta, then I lost track. Hamilton, who started at the back and by lap 27 had worked up to 6th position in what we consider the drive of the race, particularly given another poor pit stop performance by the McLaren team. Did you see that car hop out of the pits? And what was that he ran over? Hamilton finished 8th, not a bad performance indeed. Now freed from the often devastating and dangerous pit stops to refuel, the teams are doing their best to make tire changes dangerous. That’s something that will occur when four tires are changed in less than three seconds. There is a limit here, when speed and safety intersect. As we’ve stated before, the tire games are getting tiresome, and now downright dangerous.

Alonso had a chance to win his home Grand Prix. On lap 42 or thereabouts Maldonado, still in the lead, pitted and the Ferrari took the lead again only to lose it on lap 45 when he got fresh tires. By lap 56 Maldonado was again three seconds in front of Alonso and with only ten laps to go Alonso could not catch up.

No doubt frustrated but the poor handling of the Ferrari, Alonso has done well this year against the odds. If they could get it right Ferrari may still have a chance at the title.

The fate of Massa remains unsure, no matter what one might hear or read. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ferrari has two different drivers next year, and there is a growing field of hopefuls; Grosjean, Perez, Maldonado, Kobayashi, Di Resta. But what is different this year is that the young hopefuls no longer have to wait for a seat with McLaren, Ferrari or Mercedes to win; their own teams, once mere field fillers, are now more than capable of defeating the traditional top ranked manufacturer supported teams. So hey, Koby, (who finished a good fifth) maybe you will do better if you stay with Sauber after all. Who needs Ferrari?

Race Results

1	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	1h39m09.145s
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 3.1s
3	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	+ 3.8s
4	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 14.7s
5	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 64.6s
6	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 67.5s
7	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 77.9s
8	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 78.1s
9	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 85.2s
10	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
11	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 1 lap
12	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
13	RICCIARDO	STR-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
20	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 29 laps
21	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 31 laps
22	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 44 laps, mechanical
23	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 54 laps, accident damage
24	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 54 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	1m26.250s

Note – Hamilton originally qualified on pole, but was excluded for failing to return to the pits under his own power and supply a fuel sample. Karthikeyan failed to meet the 107% requirement, but raced at the stewards’ discretion.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	61 Points
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	61 Points
3	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	53 Points
4	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	49 Points
5	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	48 Points
6	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	45 Points
7	ROSBERG	Mercedes	41 Points
8	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	35 Points
9	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	29 Points
10	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	22 Points
11	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	19 Points
12	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	15 Points
13	SENNA	Williams-Renault	14 Points
14	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	4 Points
15	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	3 Points
16	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	2 Points
17	MASSA	Ferrari	2 Points
18	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	2 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	109 Points
2	McLAREN-MERCEDES	98 Points
3	LOTUS-RENAULT	84 Points
4	FERRARI	63 Points
5	MERCEDES	43 Points
6	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	43 Points
7	SAUBER-FERRARI	41 Points
8	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	18 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	6 Points