Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso thrilled his countrymen by winning his home race, the Formula One European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain, becoming the first F1 driver to win more than one Grand Prix in 2012The win is the more notable because Alonso had a terrible day in qualifying and started 11th. The Ferrari driver got a boost from a timely safety car and the retirement of several rivals.
Alonso advanced through the retirement of Sebastian Vettel, whose Red Bull quit while leading on lap 34. Alonso inherited third, overtook Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, whose Lotus died several laps later, and managed to preserve his tires and his lead.
Lewis Hamilton pushed his McLaren too hard while chasing, and was then pushed into the tire barrier by Pastor Maldonado who hit Hamilton while pushing hard to pass the ill-handling McLaren.
Alonso got a huge boost in the standings, as all the other championship contenders dropped out before the finish.
“Winning a home grand prix is something unique—a very special feeling,” Alonso told the post-race press conference on BBC. “Very proud to be a Spanish sportsman—winning in Spain this race is probably the best victory I ever felt in terms of emotions.
Kimi Räikkönen of Lotus nearly became the eighth driver in eight races, pushing through the field in the closing laps, to finish second. Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher finished third, his first podium finish since coming back to F1 racing.
Next: Vettel Escapes
Vettel Escapes
The race started in predictable fashion: Sebastian Vettel made a great start and pulled away by a second per lap, opening enough of a gap that when he pitted on lap 17 the Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead.
After 20 laps Vettel was 19 seconds ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, with Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren 3.8 seconds further back. Alonso was fifth, nearly 30 seconds behind the leader and pushing hard. On lap 25 Grosjean, still second by 20 seconds, was lapping faster than Vettel, and Alonso had moved into fourth.
On lap 28 Jean-Eric Vergne is the Toro Rosso collided with Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham-Renault spreading debris across the track and bringing out the safety car. Grosjean quickly dove into the pits while the rest of the field had to do a slow lap behind the safety car before following him in for fresh rubber.
Vettel still got back out ahead of the Lotus, while Lewis Hamilton had the most disastrous of a long string of terrible pit stops: the front jack failed twice, and the whole stop took 14 seconds, dropping the McLaren to sixth
The safety car disrupted everyone’s strategies except Paul di Resta, who had his Force India on a one-stop plan. Daniel Ricciardo in the other Toro Rosso moved to fourth, but he hadn’t used the harder tire and owed another stop.
Vettel Retires
The race restarted on lap 32, and Fernando Alonso lost no time forcing his way past Grosjean to take second. A lap later the Ferrari driver was in the lead, as Sebastian Vettel parked his Red Bull with a rare engine failure. On lap 35 Hamilton passed Ricciardo and by lap 37 the top three were within 2.5 seconds of each other with 20 laps to go.
Kamui Kobayashi collided with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari on the restart, a maneuver which cost the Sauber driver a penalty of five grid spots at the next race.
The question for the race leaders then seemed to be, who could push right to the limit of tire wear without going too far? None of the leaders wanted to pit; there wasn’t enough time to get back through traffic on the tight Valencia street circuit.
Grosjean looked to be in the best shape; he was lapping faster than Alonso and had been quicker all day. The Ferrari driver responded by picking up his pace; a great battle seemed to be building. All that ended on lap 41 when the Lotus’s alternator packed in. This moved Kimi Räikkönen’s Lotus into third.
Michael Schumacher, who had started 12th and run most of the race in or near the top five, chose a three-stop strategy. He pitted for the final time on lap 42, and rejoined in 11th, out of the points and seemingly not a factor. The Mercedes driver made the most of his fresh rubber, passing Vitaly Petrov, Nico Rosberg, and Jenson Button in the next seven laps
Petrov then rear-ended Daniel Ricciardo, knocking the nose off the Caterham. The Toro Rosso continued undamaged.
Up front, the question of tire wear was being answered as Lewis Hamilton started losing time. With only two laps to go Kimi Räikkönen made an overtaking attempt as the McLaren ran wide; Hamilton fought him off initially but couldn’t keep it up on worn tires. The Lotus driver pushed through into second.
Pastor Maldonado was next in line to test the fading McLaren. Maldonado, not the craftsman that is Räikkönen, tried around the outside but couldn’t keep control; he rode wide off the track, cut right to get back, and T-boned the McLaren, sending Hamilton into the tires.
Maldonado was penalized 20 seconds, which dropped him from 10th to 12th.
Räikkönen and Schumacher were each six second behind the car ahead; neither could make a move, but then, neither could get wrecked trying. The two finished the last lap and secured their podium finishes.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber turned in an amazing drive, coming from 19th after a transmission failure in qualifying to finish fourth in the race. Force India also had a stellar day: Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth and Paul di Resta, seventh.
Next: Alonso Expands His Lead Alonso Expands His Lead
