2012 Spanish Grand Prix The Spanish Grand Prix

Lap 8: Vettel continues to harry Schumacher... and now heads in for a pitstop.

Lap 8: Pic has just passed Karthikeyan for 22nd place. Webber rejoins from that stop just behind them.

Lap 7: Webber gets out of the traffic jam and into the pits from 12th. He takes on hard tyres and is away.

Lap 7: Hamilton is already onto the back of Daniel Ricciardo and a fight begins for 15th place.

Lap 6: Alonso reports his left front is beginning to degrade, but his race pace out front remains strong in these early stages.

Lap 6: Alonso has a strong pace in the late 1m29s bracket at the moment, edging away from Maldonado to remain out of threat from DRS for the moment

Lap 6: Hamilton has passed Kovalainen and takes over 16th position.

Lap 5: Vergne in 10th is beginning to defend against Felipe Massa, with Webber holding a watching brief in 12th.

Lap 5: Nose-to-tail behind Grosjean at the moment, who has drifted slightly behind Rosberg's Mercedes. He's chased by Schumacher, Vettel and Button

Lap 4: Perez is at the back of the field, but sets the fastest lap of the race so far with 1m29.533s, some way quicker than the leaders.

Lap 4: Replays of the start show another great launch from Alonso, who remained staunchly committed to his move down the inside of Maldonado.

Lap 4: Hulkenberg is 14th with Ricciardo 15th, Kovalainen 16th and Hamilton has passed Senna for 17th place.

Lap 3: Behind the top eight it's Kobayashi in ninth then Vergne 10th, Massa 11th, Webber 12th and di Resta in 13th.

Lap 3: Hamilton is up to 18th position, having passed Petrov and Glock on the last lap.

Lap 3: Pic has spun at the exit of Turn 3 but is able to keep going. He runs in 21st, just behind Hamilton.

Lap 3: Maldonado sets the fastest lap, closing to just 0.9 seconds behind leader Alonso.

Lap 2: Perez pits and gets fresh tyres.

Lap 2: Schumacher is sixth as they begin the second lap and piling the pressure on Grosjean. Vettel runs seventh, with Button eighth.

Lap 2: A poor start from Perez and he has dropped down the field with a puncture. Hamilton is up to 19th.

Lap 1: Delight from the crowd as Alonso continues to build a lead from Maldonado, Raikkonen and a fast-starting Rosberg now ahead of Grosjean.

Lap 1: Rounding Turn 5 it is home hero Alonso leading from Maldonado and Raikkonen as the scrap continues behind.

Lap 1: Maldonado cuts off Alonso down towards Turn 1 and they are wheel to wheel ... the Spaniard takes it with Maldonado second and Raikkonen next

Lap 1: The five red lights go out and we are racing in Spain!

Lap 1: The field is taking some time to get into position, but eventually Hamilton lines up. We await the lights ...

Maldonado stops in the pole position slot and the pack begins to form up behind him.

Round towards the end of the lap now and Maldonado makes his way through the final right-hander onto the start-finish straight.

It is soft tyres all round, with no team going for an early gamble on the slower - but durable - hard rubber.

Round Turn 4 and downhill into Turn 5 they go as the field heads towards the spectator banks at Campsa.

Alonso briefly moves ahead of the Williams driver but the order is restored before they reach the first corner.

Soft tyres look to be the choice of the field for the opening stint.

The formation lap begins and Maldonado leads the field of 24 away from the grid.

Engines all fired up with moments to the formation lap.

Final preparations for the engineers now, with the track temperature up slightly in recent minutes as the sunshine breaks through.

A good crowd of approximately 80,000 is filling the grandstands and spectator banks ahead of the race - many hoping for an Alonso victory.

There are five minutes to go until the formation lap begins at the Circuit de Catalunya.

A single DRS zone available here, with detection at the final chicane before the wing opens down the long main straight.

Tyres

Tyres are set to be a major talking point once again, with team strategists having a difficult afternoon coping with the differing characteristics of Pirelli's soft and hard compounds.

Track conditions are ever-improving since the worrying evaluations of Friday, and pitstops should be more along normal lines with the lower temperatures this afternoon.

Those starting on the softer tyres, with a heavy fuel load, may look for an early switch to the durable and consistent hard rubber - but need to be careful about feeding out from the first stop in heavy traffic. Once again the counter strategy of starting on hards before using soft tyres late in the race when the track is at its best may pay off for those starting down the order.

Romain Grosjean takes a seat on the grass beside his car. The Lotus team are tipped by many to star today after strong race pace on Friday.

Today's jumbled grid in full: 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 * * Excluded from results of qualifying due to insufficient fuel

McLaren prepare Hamilton's car in the 24th and final grid slot, with the Brit saying he has "nothing to lose" after being demoted from pole.