Pastor Maldonado winner of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix

Seeing Pastor Maldonado on pole at the Spanish Formula Grand Prix was a surprise to many. To then see him hold off Ferrari’s Fernando Alsono to claim his maiden grand prix victory was shocking.

Maldonado driving his superbly balanced Williams FW34 took the chequered flag making him the fifth winner of the highly unpredictable 2012 Formula One drivers championship, he is also the first Venezualan driver to win a Formula One race.

Fernando Alonso had jumped Maldonado at the start to take the lead which he held onto for the first 27 laps. Just before the second pit stop Alonso was slowed and that gave Maldonado the chance to take the lead. Once back in the lead he held on until the end.

He was pressured again after his third pit stop. He lost a few seconds while in the pits as the left rear tyre was fitted and after Alonso took his third stop we saw Raikkonen just ahead of Alonso in second and third and they were just a few seconds behid Maldonado.

After Alonso used the DRS advantage to pass Raikkonen on lap 48 he then chased down the leader. By lap 50 Alonso was under a second behind Maldonado. On the 57th and 58th laps he had his best chances to take the lead but he could not quite get there. As the laps passed by Alonso lost a bit of grip and then right at the end found Raikkonen on his tail.

At lap 60 Maldonado started to move away and he drove on to a glorious victory for Williams and himself. It was the first win for the once mighty Williams team in eight years.

Alsonso held on for second, Raikkonen third and Romain Grosjean took fourth. Next came Kamui Kobayashi ahead of champion leader Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.

It was a good effort by Hamilton who had started at the back of the field following his penalty for not being able to get his car back to the pits after qualifying.

After another exciting race in what for me has been one of the best seasons I can remember, Vettel and Alonso lead the Formula One drivers championship with 61 points.

Back in 1983 the season also opened with five different winners from five different constructors. Do you think the trend will continue in race six or will someone grab their second win of the season? Lotus will be hoping they are next._3614″ align=”alignleft” width=”200″ caption=”Pastor Maldonado winner of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix”][/caption]

Seeing Pastor Maldonado on pole at the Spanish Formula Grand Prix was a surprise to many. To then see him hold off Ferrari’s Fernando Alsono to claim his maiden grand prix victory was shocking.

Maldonado driving his superbly balanced Williams FW34 took the chequered flag making him the fifth winner of the highly unpredictable 2012 Formula One drivers championship, he is also the first Venezualan driver to win a Formula One race.

Fernando Alonso had jumped Maldonado at the start to take the lead which he held onto for the first 27 laps. Just before the second pit stop Alonso was slowed and that gave Maldonado the chance to take the lead. Once back in the lead he held on until the end.

He was pressured again after his third pit stop. He lost a few seconds while in the pits as the left rear tyre was fitted and after Alonso took his third stop we saw Raikkonen just ahead of Alonso in second and third and they were just a few seconds behid Maldonado.

After Alonso used the DRS advantage to pass Raikkonen on lap 48 he then chased down the leader. By lap 50 Alonso was under a second behind Maldonado. On the 57th and 58th laps he had his best chances to take the lead but he could not quite get there. As the laps passed by Alonso lost a bit of grip and then right at the end found Raikkonen on his tail.

At lap 60 Maldonado started to move away and he drove on to a glorious victory for Williams and himself. It was the first win for the once mighty Williams team in eight years.

Alsonso held on for second, Raikkonen third and Romain Grosjean took fourth. Next came Kamui Kobayashi ahead of champion leader Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.

It was a good effort by Hamilton who had started at the back of the field following his penalty for not being able to get his car back to the pits after qualifying.

After another exciting race in what for me has been one of the best seasons I can remember, Vettel and Alonso lead the Formula One drivers championship with 61 points.

Back in 1983 the season also opened with five different winners from five different constructors. Do you think the trend will continue in race six or will someone grab their second win of the season? Lotus will be hoping they are next.

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Next we saw Lewis Hamilton record the fastest time to take pole only to find later he did not have enough fuel in his car to be able to provide a one litre sample as required by the FIA rules. That saw his result not count and he now finds himself starting the race at the back of the grid.

The other big surprise was to see Williams’ Pastor Maldonado record the second fastest time which at the end of the day gave him pole due to Hamilton’s exclusion from the results.

Championship leader Sebastion Vettel had used up all his new soft tyres before Q3 and he did not even record a time in Q3. He will start from 7th spot on the grid.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will start the race in P2, then the Lotus pairing of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez in his Sauber, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi and to round out the top ten we see McLaren’s Jenson Button.

It will be an interesting race.

Do you think the punishment for Hamilton was fair, or too extreme?

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Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso backed up from his last start win to again finnish on the podium, taking second spot ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber who had started from pole.

The 2011 Formula One drivers championship leader, Sebastian Vettel took fourth position after leap-frogging Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in the pits.

To read more about the German F1 Grand Prix visit F1.com

The top five in the Formula One drivers championship standings are shown below.

Webber set the best time of 1:30.079 with Hamilton 0.055 behind and Vettel third at 0.137 behind the time set by Webber. Fernando Alonso the winner of the last F1 race took fourth, then Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, Vitaly Petrov and Michael Schumacher rounded out the top ten.

This time around he was again on pole position and got off to a good start. He moved out into the lead and held on to easily complete the win.

Mark Webber who started in second position on the grid managed to hold his position at the start for a change and chased his teammate until Fernando Alonso was able to make a passing move on lap 21 much to the delight of the local crowd.

Webber took back P2 later in the race only to see Alonso again get P2 after the two pitted and Alonso did a better job getting in and out. Webber blamed himself for losing second position.

For the first time in a f1 race all cars completed the race.

Behind the top three we saw Lewis Hamilton come home in fourth position, Felipe Massa was fifth and Jenson Button was sixth.

Vettel leads the Formula One drivers championship with 186 points, Jenson Button 109, Mark Webber 109, Lewis Hamilton 97 and Fernando Alonso 87.

The constructors championship is all Red Bull with them on 295 to 206 for McLaren.

Vettel recorded 1:36.975 to grab pole ahead of Mark Webber who just scraped into Q2. Webber recorded a time of 1:37.163 late in Q3 to push Lewis Hamilton onto the row of the grid. Hamilton’s time was 1:37.380.

The Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa claimed fourth and fifth spots on the grid, Jenson Button took sixth.

Vettel took just one hot lap to secure top spot on the grid after Hamilton set the early pace.

Button was towards the back of the field at one stage, he suffered a punctured tyre, had to complete a drive through penalty and was involved in a minor crash with his teammate that saw Lewis Hamilton forced to retire. Despite all that he won the race.

It was an amazing race not just for Button but for all F1 fans. It had everything. Safety cars, passing, rain and Michael Schumacher was almost back on the podium for the first time since his comeback. The race started behind the safety car thanks to steady rain.

In the end Button grabbed the win just ahead of Vettel and Mark Webber was third after a good recovery from an early spin.

Vettel still has a huge lead in the Formula One drivers championship. He is on 161, Button 101, Webber 94, Hamilton 85.

Fernando Alonso failed to complete the race after beaching his car on a trackside mound.

Sebastian Vettel has put that aside and haas yet again claimed pole position. He is now six from seven in 2011.

Read all the details at F1.com – Qualifying – Vettel on pole but Ferrari on form in Canada

In qualifying for the Monaco F1 grand prix Sebastian Vettel was helped out by someone else’s misfortune. Following a crash involving Sauber’s Sergio Perez with less than three minutes left in Q3 plans were thrown into disarray and Lewis Hamilton was caught out. Hamilton had been quickest in the earlier qualifying and with the disjointed qualifying session he was not able to perform at his best.

That left Vettel on pole for the race.

Vettel started well in Monaco however a bad pit stop handed the advantage to Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Button was driving well and looking after his tyres and found himself later in the race with a 15 second lead, from there you would have expected him to win but the safety car came into play and helped Vettel.

Later in the race Vettel again found himself in the lead however his tyres we going off and Button was looking the better of the two. Still to pass Vettel was another thing.

In the end another crash allowed Vettel to get a fresh set of tyres while a red flag allowed all teams to access their cars on the grid. Without the tyres maybe Button had the edge.

At the end of the day it was Vettel who won his fifth race from six starts, Alonso was second, Button third and Webber who recovered from a messy pit stop who came home in fourth.

Red Bull twice had egg on their face early in the race when Vettel and Webber pitted without the pit crew being ready. For Webber it really hurt his chances.

Vettel has a huge lead in the Formula One drivers championship with 143 points to 85 for Lewis Hamilton in second. Mark Webber is third with 79 then Button on 76, Alonso 69. It then drops away to Nick Heidfeld on 29, Nico Rosberg 26, Felipe Massa 24, Vitaly Petrov 21. Kamui Kobayashi rounds out the top ten with 19 points.

The start of the race saw Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso squeeze past Hamilton, Vettel and Mark Webber who started on pole, to take the early lead. Webber was busy fighting off Vettel and Alonso took advantage of this to squeeze down the inside of Webber and snatch the early lead. He kept this lead until his second pit stop on lap 19.

As Alonso faded the battle for top spot unfolded between Lewis Hamilton and Vettel. From the 20th lap to the final lap Hamilton was always pressing Vettel and in the end he crossed just 0.6 seconds behind the 2010 F1 world champion.

Webber never recovered from losing ground at the start and ended the race in fourth position.

Button’s effort to grab P3 was impressive as he slipped down to 10th position early in the race. He used a 3 stop strategy to fight his way back into the race.

Michael Schumacher got his best result for the season with sixth, which was ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg.

Vettel leads the F1 drivers championship with 118 points to Hamilton’s 77, Webber’s 67, Button’s 61 and Alonso’s 51. The constructors championship sees Red Bull leading the way with 185 from McLaren’s 138 and Ferrari’s 75 points.

The next race is on May 29 in Monte Carlo.