Alonso doubles up to take emotional home win

What a European Grand Prix that was; who’d have thought the Valencia venue had it in it to produce such a thrilling and frenetic race.

Sebastian Vettel looked like he was cruising to become the first double winner of 2012, but it was Fernando Alonso who ended up on top of the podium as the race changed dramatically half way through…Such is 2012.

Alonso’s qualifying hadn’t gone according to plan, when despite being only 2/10ths slower than the fastest time of Q2 he missed out on the top ten shoot out to line up 11^th. A brilliant start and opening lap left him in 8^th.

He fought hard during the opening half of the race, making the moves to push himself up the order ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came his way. He wasn’t too far away from Romain Grosjean’s Lotus in 2^nd with Lewis Hamilton 4^th, but Sebastian Vettel was reliving his 2011 glory days and had disappeared into the distance with a 20 second lead.

On Lap 28 an incident between Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham and the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne left debris all over the track, the safety car was deployed. Vergne later received a 10 place grid drop for Silverstone.

Everyone jumped into the pits, Alonso emerging ahead of Lewis as the McLaren driver suffered another slow pit stop. The race was beginning to come to him as he lay in third behind Vettel and Grosjean.

The safety car headed the field for five laps before they were allowed to commence battle once again. Alonso is seldom not ready to fight, he unleashed the Ferrari down the start finish straight, tight behind Grosjean, he went to the outside for turn two, hit his brakes as late as could be, nearly brushed the wall, but he was through into second place.

Next was Vettel, the dominant leader for so long in Valencia we’d not seen much of him on the television coverage apart from behind the safety car. But the next time we saw him the car was slowing, an alternator belt snapped in his Renault engine eliminating him from a Grand Prix that was surely his for the taking just half a lap after the restart.

Vettel had done everything right, pole, a brilliant start, dropping everyone behind him, he looked supreme. But it wasn’t to be for him today, Alonso swept by, a scarlet streak past the Red Bull as Vettel saw him vanish over a race win in points ahead of him.

Grosjean wasn’t about to disappear though, and filled the Ferrari’s mirrors before he too on lap 41 had a similar problem to Vettel with his Renault engine. Grosjean had looked threatening all weekend and would surely have mounted a challenge after a brilliant drive.

It wasn’t done for Alonso yet though, he pushed on ahead of the following Lewis Hamilton, but he had to make his tyres last. At one point it seemed the McLaren was cruising up to the back of him again just like in Canada.

But not this time, this time it was the Spaniard who just about kept his tyres together while the McLaren eventually faded before an accident took Lewis out of the race. Not even once Kimi Raikkonen was through into second place was Alonso really threatened and he reeled off the final laps to take his 29^th career victory ahead of the Lotus driver.

His car stopped on the slowing down lap, and with Spanish flag in hand was clearly emotional as he stepped from the car in front of his countrymen. He never gives up and when a door opens for him, he walks straight in. With retirements for both his main title rivals and with the consistency he’s shown so far this year, a 20 point lead in the title hunt looks very handy indeed.

Lewis Hamilton vs Pastor Maldonado

Both these drivers had qualified well, second and third for Hamilton and Maldonado respectively. Lewis maintained position at the start but after fighting hard his tyres began to fade in the closing stages. After holding off Kimi he eventually conceded the place, but Maldonado was straight on to the back of him and on lap 56 with just one lap left he made his move.

There’s two perspectives on what followed, the first is that Lewis knew his tyres were done, if he let Maldonado through he was far enough ahead of fifth placed Michael Schumacher to just about maintain fourth and take 12 points home with him and lie just 11 points behind Alonso. As it is he is now 23 points behind. Mr consistency that he has been this year might just have yielded.

But why should he do that, he was on the podium, he was racing, he is the ultimate racer and Maldonado wasn’t coming through without at least a fight. Lewis had been fighting all day, being passed, passing back, he was in the zone.

Entering the DRS zone Maldonado made the move on the outside into turn 12. Lewis Hamilton had the line, and squeezed the Williams driver off the track. Maldonado should have given up the corner, come back on the track and tried pass him down into turn 17. He still had plenty of opportunity, but he jumped over the kerb into the McLaren sending Lewis into the wall and dropping the Williams down to 10^th place at the finish.

Maldonado blames Hamilton for not giving him room but it was Lewis’ corner, Maldonado was off the track and was obliged to give way. The stewards thought the same and have penalised him 20 seconds dropping him to 12th.

Could this cost Lewis the championship? Too early to tell yet, but it’s given Alonso a mighty advantage with which to play with.

Schumacher back on the podium

What a wonderful moment it was to see Michael Schumacher back on the podium for the first time since he won the Chinese Grand Prix back in 2006. That it should come with a hint of controversy too seems perfectly apt.

He passed some double waved yellow flags on the final lap, Schumacher was seen to open his DRS which isn’t illegal but seems to show him still pushing. Luckily the stewards ruled that he had slowed down enough to avoid a penalty.

Still, it was a fighting drive to the podium; he looked adrift during the opening half of the race after 

starting 12^th, he was one of the few to start on the medium harder compound so expected to run longer than most. He worked his way up the order as others pitted but soon had a train of cars behind him as his tyres drained their grip.

The safety car turned the race for him. Most of the front runners had pitted for the second time so Schumacher found himself lying just behind his team mate Nico Rosberg in eighth.

With the safety car gone you can overtake into the final corner and ever the opportunist, Schuey dived around Rosberg. It wasn’t caught in the coverage but he was through and away.

He pitted on lap 42, exiting ahead of Webber and from then on they were in tandem as they fought through the field from 11^th and 12^th places. One by one they picked them off with their fresher rubber; Button, Perez, the Force India’s fell to the wayside. Schumacher had to be incisive with his overtaking as he never had Webber more than a second adrift.

Having just passed Nico Hulkenberg for fifth, Hamilton and Maldonado were in the wall and suddenly for once luck was on his side and he crossed the line for a fighting third place. He was ecstatic and it was nice to see Schumacher back where he belongs, a great result.

Lotus

If one of their drivers is going to win, you have to say it’s going to be Romain Grosjean. He fought valiantly all race with some good passing and was unlucky to suffer a rare mechanical failure just as it looked like he had victory for the taking.

Kimi Raikkonen needs to sort out his qualifying, he is being outshone by Grosjean in that department but also in recent races when it really counts on the Sunday. Still it was a good second place but again one he was unhappy with as he felt he should have had the win.

That’s about the third race he reckons should’ve been his, it’s time for him to step up a bit because Lotus should have won by now, but if and when they do win you wouldn’t put your money on Kimi at the moment.

Rest of the top 10

Mark Webber had various problems in practice and he couldn’t resolve them in time for qualifying. He started 19^th and through the pit stops made some progress. After the safety car he followed Schumacher through the field to earn a brilliant fourth place and second in the championship.

Nico Hulkenberg scored his best result of his career with fifth for Force India maximising his strategy but just not able to hold off Schumacher or Webber to score what could have been a podium.

Nico Rosberg was dropped a lot of places after the restart but after pitting for a second time used that fresh rubber to charge back into the points with sixth.

Paul di Resta reckons he should have started from fourth but tenth was what he got so seventh on the only one stop strategy wasn’t a bad result and showed Force India really getting back into contention in the midfield constructors battle.

Jenson Button has had a terrible time over recent races, he was happy with his race pace but the result wouldn’t have been what he wanted, although it wasn’t so bad after he’d been pushed down the order at the start so it was a decent enough recovery but he needs more points quickly if he wants to be a title contender.

Ninth went to Sergio Perez in the Sauber so they at least got two points after Kamui Kobayashi was running fourth but an incident with Bruno Senna then Felipe Massa forced him to retire.

Bruno Senna finished 11th but claimed the final point after his team mates penalty.

Caterham moved forward this weekend with Kovalainen getting into Q2 on merit while Petrov ran as high as tenth. HRT also outpaced Marussia but Timo Glock didn’t race due to illness.

Title battle: Advantage Alonso, but Vettel confident

The British Grand Prix is next up where Alonso took his only race win of 2011. He now has a decent lead to defend, while what he considers his two main title challengers have ground to make up.

Lewis Hamilton will be angry to have lost big points when Vettel had retired. He’ll desperately want to get back on track at his home race after what had previously been a very consistent points gathering season.

Vettel was disappointed with retirement but he remains confident. He has every reason to be, despite how close qualifying appeared to be he took pole by 4/10ths, and was well ahead when the safety car appeared. The Red Bull has certainly found an extra turn of speed that will help both Vettel and 2^nd placed Webber.

It’s still very open, but none of them can afford another bad weekend, especially not Vettel or Hamilton; the fight continues at Silverstone.

all photo's taken from autosport.com