2012 Spain F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Spanish Grand Prix
Track: Catalunya Circuit

Weather: dry, warm, sunny

Pastor MALDONADO won his 1st F1 World Championship race at the 2012 Spain F1 GP, Williamss first victory since Juan Pablo Montoya at Brazil 2004 and one of the seasons defining shocks. The Williams driver started from pole after Hamiltons exclusion and won at Barcelona by 3.195 seconds from Fernando Alonso for Ferrari. It was Williamss 114th F1 win.

Maldonado inherits pole, Williams FW34 in form

Barcelona on 13 May 2012 saw Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap in Q3 but the McLaren was excluded for insufficient fuel to return to the weigh-bridge, dropping him to the back. Maldonado inherited pole with a 1:22.285, Alonso second by 0.017 for Ferrari on home soil, Grosjean third for Lotus, Raikkonen fourth. The five-drivers-five-races opening of the season was about to become six-in-six.

Race day: Maldonado holds off Alonso for a fairytale win

Alonso jumped Maldonado at the start to lead early, but the Williams was quicker and Maldonado calmly retook the lead in the pit stops and held on to the flag for a first Williams win in more than seven years. Alonso settled for second in front of his home crowd, Raikkonen third for Lotus, Grosjean fourth, Kobayashi fifth for Sauber, Vettel sixth, Rosberg seventh. Grosjean set the fastest lap on lap 53 at 1:26.250. A fire in the Williams garage that broke out at parc ferme after the race injured seven mechanics and destroyed much of the teams equipment; the celebration was cut abruptly short.

Championship: Alonso 61, Vettel 53, Webber 48

Six different winners in six races. Alonso took the championship lead. Monaco in two weeks would be next.

Classification 2012 Spain F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Car & Engine	Grid	Laps	Led	Time	Pts
1	18	PastorMaldonado	Williams	Williams FW34Renault RS27	1	66	37	1:39:09.145	25
2	5	FernandoAlonso	Ferrari	Ferrari F2012Ferrari 056	2	66	27	1:39:12.340+3.195s	18
3	9	KimiRäikkönen	Lotus F1	Lotus E20Renault RS27	4	66		1:39:13.029+3.884s	15
4	10	RomainGrosjean	Lotus F1	Lotus E20Renault RS27	3	66		1:39:23.944+14.799s	12
5	14	KamuiKobayashi	Sauber	Sauber C31Ferrari 056	9	66		1:40:13.786+1:04.641	10
6	1	SebastianVettel	Red Bull	Red Bull RB8Renault RS27	7	66		1:40:16.721+1:07.576	8
7	8	NicoRosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes W03Mercedes FO 108	6	66		1:40:27.064+1:17.919	6
8	4	LewisHamilton	McLaren	McLaren MP4/27Mercedes FO 108	24	66		1:40:27.285+1:18.140	4
9	3	JensonButton	McLaren	McLaren MP4/27Mercedes FO 108	10	66		1:40:34.391+1:25.246	2
10	12	NicoHülkenberg	Force India	Force India VJM05Mercedes FO 108	13	65		1:39:09.709+0.564s	1
11	2	MarkWebber	Red Bull	Red Bull RB8Renault RS27	11	65		1:39:09.928+0.783s
12	17	Jean-EricVergne	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR7Ferrari 056	14	65		1:39:16.101+6.956s
13	16	DanielRicciardo	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR7Ferrari 056	15	65		1:39:20.967+11.822s
14	11	Pauldi Resta	Force India	Force India VJM05Mercedes FO 108	12	65		1:39:25.660+16.515s
15	6	FelipeMassa	Ferrari	Ferrari F2012Ferrari 056	16	65		1:39:27.047+17.902s
16	20	HeikkiKovalainen	Caterham	Caterham CT01Renault RS27	19	65		1:39:51.054+41.909s
17	21	VitalyPetrov	Caterham	Caterham CT01Renault RS27	18	65		1:40:06.205+57.060s
18	24	TimoGlock	Manor	Marussia MR01Cosworth CA2010	21	64		1:39:23.541+14.396s
19	22	Pedrode la Rosa	HRT	HRT F112 Cosworth CA2010	22	63		1:39:46.180+37.035s
DNF	15	SergioPérez	Sauber	Sauber C31Ferrari 056	5	37		Transmission
DNF	25	CharlesPic	Manor	Marussia MR01Cosworth CA2010	20	35		Halfshaft
DNF	23	NarainKarthikeyan	HRT	HRT F112 Cosworth CA2010	23	22		Wheel
DNF	19	BrunoSenna	Williams	Williams FW34Renault RS27	17	12		Collision
DNF	7	MichaelSchumacher	Mercedes	Mercedes W03Mercedes FO 108	8	12		Collision

Fastest lap: 1:26.250 min. by Romain Grosjean

About the author

Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

Related topics