The complete Spanish GP review

PRACTICE

Practice one - Friday am

Fernando Alonso spent the first hour of his home grand prix weekend focusing on low-key data-gathering runs in the revised Ferrari and did no flying laps. But once he was ready to show his hand, he not only went quickest, but then went faster still to end the morning on a 1m24.430s and at the head of the order.

Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull was next up, with Sauber looking quick again as Kamui Kobayashi spent much of the session near the front and ended up third, followed by Jenson Button in the leading McLaren.

Valtteri Bottas was one of a horde of reserve drivers in action, as Dani Clos and Alexander Rossi made their grand prix weekend debuts with HRT and Caterham respectively, and Jules Bianchi got more Force India mileage. It was the Williams number three who really shone though, as Bottas held second for a long while and finished up fifth.

Practice two - Friday pm

Despite concerns with understeer and tyres, Button went quickest in the afternoon, as Vettel again held second place and Nico Rosberg popped up in third for Mercedes.

Both McLarens were in the top four, as Lewis Hamilton took fourth in front of the Lotus team-mates, with Kimi Raikkonen moved to suggest that it was the team's most competitive Friday performance of the year.

Alonso didn't string a lap together on softs, so slipped from his morning first place to 14th.

At the back, Narain Karthikeyan had electrical problems and failed to set a time - and given that it was his HRT that Clos had used on Friday, that made it a very quiet day for the Indian.

Practice three - Saturday am

It may have been world champion Vettel who actually set the quickest lap-time in final practice, but there was plenty of evidence that a weekend o upsets might be in prospect, as Williams's Pastor Maldonado and both Sauber drivers also battled at the front, along with Alonso.

In the end it was Maldonado on Vettel's tail, followed by Kobayashi, Mark Webber, Sergio Perez and Alonso, while Hamilton lost a lap that looked set to put him fastest until he encountered Raikkonen and Karthikeyan in the middle of the final chicane.

Romain Grosjean and Timo Glock both stopped on track with mechanical issues - a fuel pressure glitch halting the Lotus before Grosjean could set a time at all.

QUALIFYING

1st Pastor Maldonado

"All the guys in the factory did a wonderful job with the upgrades we have for this race. Our strongest point has always been in the race, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Our worst thing is qualifying pace, so I'm happy."

2nd Fernando Alonso

"Thanks to the updates we have had here, we definitely took a step forward because we could hardly get into Q3 in the first four races and now we made it comfortably. The Q3 lap was good. With another hundred tyres I would repeat the same time. I don't think there is any time left."

3rd Romain Grosjean

"It was a good performance from the team, especially as I didn't run in FP3 because of a fuel pressure problem. For the set-up we went from what we'd found out yesterday and it worked pretty well. Everyone did a good job to get the car ready for qualifying after the problems for this morning."

4th Kimi Raikkonen

"The result is probably one of our best this year in qualifying. We had the chance to do better but I made a mistake in Turn 9 and lost two tenths."

5th Sergio Perez

"In qualifying the car really felt good. The result is what we were hoping for and perhaps a little bit better than expected. The competition is so close that a tenth of a second can really make a big difference and you always think you could go a bit faster. In this regard, it is almost frustrating."

6th Nico Rosberg

"It was not an easy one, especially getting the best out of the tyres. That's the big challenge in qualifying and why we have seen some surprises with some slower than expected and some faster. It's going to be the same tomorrow in the race."

7th Sebastian Vettel

"We saw that we didn't have the pace so I think we did the right thing [not attempting a Q3 flier]. It was a question of battling with the Mercedes because they were in the same position, so we went out initially to try to cross the line and later to try to beat Nico's time. But we weren't quick enough so we came in again."

8th Michael Schumacher

"It was pretty straightforward from our point of view. It was a very tight qualifying as we saw but that was to be expected. In the end, it was just from my point of view about saving tyres and looking to the race."

9th Kamui Kobayashi

"We really had a good performance in qualifying and I could feel I had not extracted the maximum potential out of the car yet. After the chequered flag in Q2, I was told on the radio that I had to stop because of a hydraulic problem."

10th Jenson Button

"I thought we would at least get into Q3 but that's not the case. I struggled with a very different balance to yesterday. All through qualifying we had a lot of oversteer and then that final run when we added more front end I actually had a lot of understeer."

11th Mark Webber

"In Q2, how much the track was improving caught us out. As soon as I got back they said 'Mark perfect lap, get ready for Q3', but with 60 seconds to go I started to s**t myself and that was it."

12th Paul di Resta

"It has been quite a difficult weekend so far trying to get the car dialled in to the circuit. In fact, it was only during my final qualifying run that we made a change to the aero balance and I felt that the car was really hooked up."

13th Nico Hulkenberg

"I'm pretty satisfied with my final lap in Q2 because I don't think I could have achieved much more from the session today. That's just where we are at the moment in terms of qualifying pace."

14th Jean-Eric Vergne

"I have mixed feelings about this qualifying. I did a better job than I have done in the other sessions this year and for the first time I have outqualified my team-mate. On the other hand, I think we were lacking something from the car."

15th Daniel Ricciardo

"It was not an ideal session for me. From yesterday, we were trying to chase a better balance front and rear and although we made a substantial change overnight, it did not have as much of an effect as we hoped for in terms of lap-time or feeling in the car."

16th Felipe Massa

"I had traffic on my lap with many cars going slow on their out-lap. I had to change completely my braking points and lost four tenths or half-a-second because of this. That's a lot of positions looking at how competitive qualifying is."

17th Bruno Senna

"We struggled with traffic. On my prime run today I had to overtake five cars, which makes a difference. On the option run I had Felipe Massa in front of me. I caught him during the lap and lost performance and had to back off and try again. By then, I'd asked too much from the tyres and pushed hard but paid the price for that [and spun off]."

18th Vitaly Petrov

"Finally, we have outqualified Heikki. We did a lot of work with the KERS mapping and finally it's giving me the car that I want. We took a hard decision about the mapping for this session and this is the result."

19th Heikki Kovalainen

"We could have definitely got more out of the car this afternoon. I made a mistake in Turn 3 that cost me some time but overall I've not really been able to find a set-up I'm happy with all weekend. We couldn't find a compromise for qualifying today."

20th Charles Pic

"It was a good qualifying for me. Our main target was to try to close the gap to Caterham today. We maintained the gap. I know that our car has improved but their car improved as well.

21st Timo Glock

"Qualifying wasn't great for me. I made a mistake on my first flying lap, which was then no quick enough. On the second flying lap on the first set of tyres I ran into yellow flags. On the second set of tyres I just couldn't get the lap together."

22nd Pedro de la Rosa

"We completed two very good laps in qualifying, getting under the 1m28s mark which we hadn't achieved either yesterday or this morning. In terms of performance, we have progressed."

23rd Narain Karthikeyan

"It's been an unlucky weekend for me so far. In the afternoon, with the first set of tyres I was pushing really hard and spun on Turn 3 and, as a result, I flat-spotted a tyre so I had to come back into the garage. We were going to go on the second set of tyres but we discovered some problems."

24th Lewis Hamilton*

"It was a fantastic qualifying session for me. I think it's one of the best [poles] that I've ever had. When I stopped on track, I was told to stop. I don't really have any idea why."

* Hamilton was fastest in qualifying but was subsequently excluded under Article 6.6.2 of the technical regulations for not having enough fuel to drive back to the pits under his own power and provide a fuel sample.

Spanish GP grid:

 1.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault
 2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari
 3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault
 4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault
 5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes
 7.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault
 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes
 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari
10.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth
24.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes

RACE

In this season of endless surprises, the Spanish Grand Prix delivered shocks both fantastic and terrifying for one of the most popular teams in the paddock.

Even Williams's most ardent followers would not have predicted that it would be in a position to win a grand prix again on merit just five races into 2012 given the abject campaign it had endured last season, when ninth places were its limit.

But after the very pleasant surprise of Pastor Maldonado's maiden victory, came shocking scenes in the pitlane. Just as the team was lining up for its celebratory photographs, an explosion took place within the garage. Personnel from up and down the pitlane hurried to assist, with members of Force India and Caterham as well as Williams requiring treatment for smoke inhalation and burns afterwards.

For that to happen to any team was cruel and unfortunate, but it was particularly unpleasant for Williams on what should have been a well-deserved day of uncompromised joy.

Maldonado's pole position may have been inherited via Lewis Hamilton's demotion, but his pace was very real. So far this season, qualifying had been Williams's weak point and the race its strength. Teams members were quietly confident that the qualifying gains had not come at the expense of race pace, and it wasn't as if there were McLarens and Red Bulls looming in Maldonado's mirrors on the ground. Fernando Alonso was obviously not an opponent to discount lightly, but Ferrari's gains remained unproven. A Williams win was clearly on.

Still when Alonso squeezed into the lead at the start by virtue of a better getaway, there remained a feeling that Maldonado's big chance was gone. Yet he was not letting the Ferrari get away - lurking within one to three seconds through the first two stints, and occasionally edging closer.

It didn't take much for this race to slip through Ferrari's fingers. Williams brought Maldonado in for his second stop on lap 24, two laps before Alonso pitted. In those two laps, Maldonado delivered a new best of the race, and Alonso got blocked by Charles Pic's Marussia, which would get a penalty for being inattentive. By the time the pitstops were complete, Alonso's 1.4-second cushion had become a 6.2s deficit to the race's unlikely new leader.

Maldonado initially pulled away, getting his lead over 7s for a while. Then Alonso started edging closer again, trimming a few tenths at a time from the Williams's advantage, then benefiting from both a stubborn left-rear on Maldonado's car at its final stop, and both getting caught for a while behind Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus.

The crowd sensed a spectacular Spanish home success. Their man was hunting down his sophomore rival, with traffic ahead, and both needing to nurse their tyres through final stints longer than they had managed so far in the weekend. When Alonso got within DRS activation range of Maldonado's tail, it seemed like only a matter of time before the lead changed hands.

But it was the double champion who faded, and the young, often ragged, relative unknown and his hitherto struggling team who held firm when it mattered. Alonso's pace tailed off, Maldonado was able to cruise into a three-second lead, and Williams's first victory since Interlagos 2004 was secured.

"I think it's a wonderful day, not just for me but for all the team," said Maldonado. "We have been pushing so hard since last year to try to improve race by race and here we are. It's my first podium and my first victory and you can imagine what I feel."

Alonso wondered how the crucial pitstop phase might have turned out had he not got caught behind Pic - but also graciously acknowledged that had he and Ferrari really deserved victory, they would've been able to overtake the Williams at the end.

"We had a Marussia but I think he got a penalty at the end," said Alonso. "It's more of a penalty the penalty we paid - maybe [losing] the race win - but yeah a little bit disappointed.

"But they [Williams] did a great job and they had the pace, because in the last stint, if we were faster than the Williams we had the opportunity to overtake but they were quicker than us so they deserve the victory."

As Alonso was dropped by Maldonado, it briefly looked like his second place was going to be in jeopardy. Raikkonen waited until lap 48 out of 66 to make his final stop - four later than Alonso and seven later than Maldonado. Lotus informed its man that the two leaders would have to make fourth pitstops... and even when it became clear they wouldn't after all, the pace advantage from Raikkonen's newer tyres still saw him gain on Alonso by up to 1.5s per lap. With just six tenths between them at the flag, lap 66 came just in time for Alonso.

Until that strategy brought Raikkonen into play, it had been a quiet race for Lotus, with Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean mostly in lonely third and fourth places, the latter struggling with some damage from the first lap.

The rest were a full minute behind Grosjean, and there was plenty of spectacular wheel to wheel racing between them as miscellaneous variations of mostly three-stop strategies played out and cars with differing levels of tyre health crossed paths.

As usual in these situations, Kamui Kobayashi was one of the most assertive participants, and some very bold passes on Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg helped the Sauber to an impressive fifth place.

Rosberg started to go into freefall, and while he speculated that the problem was just Mercedes' occasional issues with tyre management, the team felt a car problem has caused a loss of downforce and exacerbated his Pirelli angst.

The Mercedes would also lose out to a flying Sebastian Vettel, whose race was compromised by a penalty for not slowing enough under yellows and the need to change his front wing. But in the closing stages, the Red Bull came alive, and stormed past the McLarens and Rosberg to claim sixth.

Rosberg nearly lost seventh to Lewis Hamilton, who was delighted to dismiss his reputation as a tyre-destroyer by making a two-stop strategy work as he jumped up the order from his back of the grid start.

The second McLaren of Jenson Button remained off the pace all day, with Button admitting that he had issues with the car and set-up that he needed to resolve. Ninth was the best he could do.

Vettel wasn't the only Red Bull needing a new front wing, with Mark Webber having to change his as well. Both men were baffled - not realising they had picked up any damage before their handling went awry and the team spotted odd signs on the telemetry. Webber didn't manage to emulate Vettel's late resurgence, and spent most of the second half of the race trying in vain to snatch the final point from Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.

The Toro Rossos of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo were next up, with the second Force India of Paul di Resta fending off Felipe Massa for 14th. Once again, while one Ferrari fought for victory, points were out of reach for the other - though Massa was adamant that this time the problem was not a lack of race pace, but what he felt was an undeserved penalty for not slowing sufficiently for yellows.

Vitaly Petrov may have been pleased to outqualify Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, but the Finn turned the tables in the race and had the edge throughout, finishing 25s clear in 16th. Timo Glock and Pedro de la Rosa brought up the rear, with a pitstop issue ending Narain Karthikeyan's race and Pic's driveshaft breaking.

They joined several bigger names on the retirement list. Sergio Perez's shot at the podium ended with a first-corner brush with Grosjean that punctured the Sauber's tyre, and his transmission later broke while his fightback was underway.

The race's other two retirements departed together on lap 10, when Michael Schumacher speared into the back of Bruno Senna's Williams at Turn 1. Schumacher was adamant Senna's defensive driving was to blame. The Williams driver, who had been ahead of the Mercedes by virtue of not having pitted at all yet, felt he was minding his own business under braking when he was rammed. Given that it's Schumacher who will take a five-place grid penalty to Monaco, the stewards' opinion was clear...

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

RACE RESULTS

The Spanish Grand Prix
Catalunya, Spain;
66 laps; 307.104km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           1h39:09.145
 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     3.195
 3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +     3.884
 4.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +    14.799
 5.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:14.641
 6.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +  1:17.576
 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:27.919
 8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:28.100
 9.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:25.200
10.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     1 lap
12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-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

Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               38
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            36
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 23
Senna         Williams-Renault             13
Schumacher    Mercedes                     13


World Championship standings, round 5:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel        61        1.  Red Bull-Renault          109
 2.  Alonso        61        2.  McLaren-Mercedes           98
 3.  Hamilton      53        3.  Lotus-Renault              84
 4.  Raikkonen     49        4.  Ferrari                    63
 5.  Webber        48        5.  Mercedes                   43
 6.  Button        45        6.  Williams-Renault           43
 7.  Rosberg       41        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             41
 8.  Grosjean      35        8.  Force India-Mercedes       18
 9.  Maldonado     29        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
10.  Perez         22       
11.  Kobayashi     19       
12.  Di Resta      15       
13.  Senna         14       
14.  Vergne         4       
15.  Hulkenberg     3       
16.  Schumacher     2       
17.  Massa          2       
18.  Ricciardo      2       
       
All timing unofficial

TEAM BY TEAM

Red Bull

Fastest time in final practice suggested Vettel and Red Bull could pick up where they left off in Bahrain - but when it came to qualifying, Vettel sat out Q3 because he didn't think he had the pace to get into the top six anyway, so was better off saving tyres. Webber didn't even reach Q3 - the team feeling his initial Q2 time was safe, then finding out it wasn't after all as he was edged down to 12th.

Neither made much progress in the race, and both were surprised to find themselves needing front wing changes after picking up damage. Vettel also had a penalty for not slowing enough under yellows, but superb late-race pace got him up to sixth. Webber couldn't find the same speed and was mired in 11th.

McLaren

Hamilton flew to a dominant pole position with a half-second cushion, only to be put to the back of the grid because he didn't have enough fuel to get back to the pits and give a fuel sample, parking on his slowing down lap instead. From the back, he made a two-stop strategy work well - despite his reputation as a man not over-kind to tyres - to take eighth place, right on Rosberg's tail.

Fastest time in Friday afternoon practice was as good as it got for Button. Uneasy with set-up and tyres all weekend, he was only 11th in qualifying then finished a muted ninth.

Ferrari

The big question going into the weekend was whether Ferrari's upgrades would transform its situation - with the drivers suspecting it wouldn't be too revolutionary. Yet Alonso was fastest on Friday morning, qualified third (which became second when Hamilton was penalised), then stormed into the race lead at the start.

But he wouldn't stay there. Maldonado's impressively competitive Williams clung to his tail and jumped ahead in the second stops, when Alonso ran two laps further and got delayed a little by Pic. Although Alonso came back at Maldonado as the race progressed, in the end the Williams was just too quick and second was his limit.

Massa was 17th in qualifying and 15th in the race, blaming traffic for the former result and a yellow flag penalty for the latter.

Mercedes

Mercedes was one of the teams that chose to conserve tyres in Q3, with Schumacher not running at all and Rosberg sticking to one early lap.

But it didn't do them too much good in the race. Rosberg looked set for fifth for a while, but then his tyres faded and he tumbled to seventh - though the team reckoned a curious loss of downforce was a contributing factor.

Schumacher didn't get far enough into the race to see if he would have encountered the same problem. While trying to pass the yet-to-pit Senna following his first stop, the seven-time champion ploughed into the Williams and took both out, earning a penalty for Monaco in the process.

Lotus

Lotus was many people's tip for race victory following practice and qualifying, with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen lining up third and fourth on the grid and looking good in race trim.

But the anticipated Sunday pace didn't materialise in time, as Raikkonen and Grosjean initially fell away from Maldonado and Alonso.

Leaving his third stop until 18 laps from the end allowed Raikkonen to surge forward on fresh tyres in the final laps, but he couldn't quite deprive Alonso of second. Fourth was Grosjean's limit in a car bruised by clashes with Perez and Senna.

This was one of those weekends when Force India was not exactly off the pace, but neither was it really quick enough to get in the sort of position it really wants to be.

Di Resta and Hulkenberg were 13th and 14th in qualifying, and the German had the stronger pace - dismissing the Toro Rossos and getting up to 10th, which he retained despite big pressure from the delayed Webber. Di Resta wasn't happy with his car's behaviour on hard tyres and finishing behind the Toro Rosso duo in 14th, although he did beat Massa.

Sauber looked quick all weekend and was a dark horse for a podium given the unusual grid, with Perez starting fifth. But the Mexican's race was ruined almost immediately when a touch with Grosjean caused a puncture. A transmission failure would later end his day.

Kobayashi didn't run in Q3 as a hydraulic problem had sidelined him at the end of Q2. Although he produced a typically entertaining charge to fifth, he felt more had been possible and he could have got through the traffic faster.

A quiet weekend for Toro Rosso - which was quick enough not to be despondent, but had little to get really excited about.

Vergne was at least happy to get beyond Q1 after a run of three early exits, as he beat Ricciardo to 15th. The Frenchman got into the top 10 for a while in the race, but didn't have the pace to stay there, so fell to 12th - again one place ahead of his team-mate.

Finally, Williams is a winner again. Maldonado was rapid from final practice onwards, found himself on pole once Hamilton was penalised, and then didn't let Alonso get away when the Ferrari took the lead off the line. Superb out-lap pace helped Maldonado hit the front during the second stops, and he was more than a match for Alonso thereafter as he notched up a stunning surprise win. Adding to the generally encouraging Williams form, test driver Bottas was a strong fifth on Friday morning.

Team-mate Senna couldn't emulate Maldonado as he had left himself 17th on the grid after ending Q1 in the gravel, then was taken out by Schumacher early on while trying an alternate tyre strategy.

Sadly this day of triumph was marred by the garage fire after the race in which several people were injured.

Petrov was thrilled to outqualify Kovalainen for the first time, but the Finn clearly had the edge in the race - storming ahead and doing some brief giantkilling before finding himself comfortably ahead of his team-mate in 16th at the flag. The team also gave Rossi his grand prix weekend debut on Friday morning.

De la Rosa was the final finisher, and needed to make four tyre stops to get to the end. But his otherwise uneventful weekend was preferable to team-mate Karthikeyan's miserable one. After moving aside for reserve driver Clos on Friday morning, Karthikeyan couldn't manage any laps in practice two due to electrical problems. The Indian then failed to make the 107 per cent cut in qualifying due to a spin and subsequently a safety issue with his on-board camera in Q1, though the stewards gave him permission to race. Not that his Sunday was any better, as he had to retire with a wheel issue after a botched pitstop.

Pic impressed by outqualifying Glock again, but in the race he attracted the disapproval of Alonso and a blocking penalty, then retired with a driveshaft problem. Glock finished in his usual position between Caterham and HRT, which this week meant 18th place.

RACE DATA

The Race in Action

Full race lap times (H)

Full race lap times (V)

Lap chart (positions)

Lap chart (gaps)