Spanish GP 2012: Maldonado makes history for Williams

The 2012 Spanish Grand Prix went to a man hardly anyone had expected to win: Pastor Maldonado converted pole position into the first win of his career and the first for Williams since the 2004 Brazilian GP. Home hero Fernando Alonso finished second for Ferrari, while Kimi Räikkönen took third place for Lotus F1. The race was decided at the second round of pit stops, and in the end Maldonado brought his narrow lead over Alonso and Räikkönen home to the flag.

Lewis Hamilton had actually set the fastest time in qualifying in his McLaren. But he stopped on his in-lap, and there was no longer enough fuel in the car for the sample the FIA requires. The stewards therefore excluded him from the qualifying results, and Hamilton had to start from grid position 24. That handed Maldonado the first pole position of his career at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Alonso lined up alongside him, with the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean (3.) and Räikkönen (4.) right behind.

The weekend carried extra significance for Williams: the team was also belatedly celebrating the 70th birthday of team founder Frank Williams.

Maldonado made a poor getaway and squeezed Alonso towards the inside. The Spaniard stayed flat out, went past on the inside at Turn 1 and took the lead. Räikkönen overtook his team-mate Grosjean to run third. Grosjean also made contact on the opening lap with the Sauber of Sergio Pérez, who picked up a puncture and had to pit.

Alonso led the first phase, but the race turned in the second. Most of the front-runners made three stops. According to our data, Maldonado came in for his second stop on lap 24, Alonso not until lap 26. It was an undercut: Maldonado put in a quick lap on fresh tyres, while Alonso got stuck in traffic on his last lap before stopping, held up among others by the Marussia of Charles Pic. From lap 27 Maldonado was back in front and extended his lead.

Things got tense again at the third stop on lap 41. The Williams crew couldn't fit a rear wheel quickly enough, and Maldonado dropped to third. Alonso (laps 42–44) and then Räikkönen (laps 45–46) briefly took over the lead. Räikkönen was on a different strategy and didn't stop until lap 48. Before that, on lap 47, Maldonado used DRS to pass the Finn under braking into Turn 1 and never gave up the lead again. Alonso's tyres faded towards the end, and Maldonado took the chequered flag just over three seconds ahead of the Ferrari. Räikkönen crossed the line less than a second further back. The Lotus driver said afterwards, in essence, that with around ten more laps he could have fought for the win.

The most significant incident came at the end of the start/finish straight. According to our data, 12 laps had been completed when Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes ran into the back of Bruno Senna's Williams. Both ended up in the gravel. Schumacher was beached, and Senna retired shortly afterwards with a damaged car. The stewards blamed Schumacher, who was handed a five-place grid penalty for the Monaco GP.

The crash site had consequences of its own. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Felipe Massa failed to slow sufficiently there under yellow flags and both had to serve a drive-through penalty.

The other retirements:

• Charles Pic (Marussia): He received a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags and holding up Alonso. After 35 laps he had to retire with a technical failure.
• Sergio Pérez (Sauber): After his first-lap puncture, he retired after 37 laps. The official reason was a wheel nut problem.
• Narain Karthikeyan (HRT): He retired after 22 laps with a technical failure.

Winners:

• Pastor Maldonado: He became the first Venezuelan to win a Grand Prix, keeping both Alonso and Räikkönen behind him at the finish.
• Lewis Hamilton: From grid position 24 he came through to 8th, gaining 16 places – more than anyone else. Unlike the front-runners, he stopped only twice. He also lost time at his first stop because, according to reports, he drove over a piece of pit equipment on the way out.
• Kamui Kobayashi: He started ninth and finished fifth. Along the way he passed Jenson Button and kept Nico Rosberg behind him at the end.
• Romain Grosjean: He finished fourth and set the fastest lap of the race.

Losers:

• Michael Schumacher: He retired through his own fault and had to start five places further back in Monaco.
• Sergio Pérez: Starting from grid position 5, he had points in his sights but failed to finish.
• Mark Webber: He could only manage eleventh and left without points. Nico Hülkenberg took the final point in tenth for Force India.

The drivers' standings now had two men at the top: Vettel and Alonso both had 61 points. Behind them came Hamilton (53), Räikkönen (49) and Webber (48). Maldonado's 25 points lifted him five places to ninth on 29 points. In the constructors' standings, Red Bull (109) led McLaren (98) and Lotus F1 (84). Williams, on 43 points, were level with Mercedes. You can find all the tables in the 2012 standings.

Maldonado's victory meant the fifth race of the 2012 season produced a fifth different winner – a sign of just how open this season was. For Williams it was the first success since Juan Pablo Montoya's win in Brazil in 2004, some eight years earlier. Maldonado called it “a wonderful day” (Williams). It would, however, remain his only Grand Prix win.

Within hours the joy was overshadowed: around an hour and a half after the race, a fire broke out in the Williams garage. Helpers from Williams, Force India and Caterham worked together to put it out. According to Williams, 31 people were injured, all of whom later made a full recovery.