2012 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

Race

From 1 to 3 May, the teams conducted a three-day test at the Mugello Circuit in Italy ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The test allowed teams to assess major aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades as well as tyre behaviour. The HRT team chose not to participate in the test, instead focusing on establishing their new headquarters at the Caja Mágica in Madrid . Alonso was fastest on the first day of testing on a drying circuit. Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Sauber 's K... The championship had been tumultuous thus far, with four different drivers winning the first four rounds. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he felt consistency across races which teams could not win would determine the championship winner: There were no changes from the season entry list for the 12 teams (each representing a different constructor ). There were four driver changes for the first practice session. Dani Clos , a HRT test driver , was allowed to drive Narain Karthikeyan 's HRT F112 car in an official Formula One session for the first time by team principal Luis Pérez-Sala . Alexander Rossi of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series made his practice debut in Heikki Kovalainen 's Caterham CT01 car. He ... At the first lap's conclusion, Alonso led Maldonado by 1.3 seconds with Räikkönen third, Rosberg fourth and Grosjean fifth. Pérez made a pit stop to switch to the hard compound tyres and rejoined the race at the back of the field. Pic lost control of his car exiting turn three but continued without other drivers striking his car. At the front, Maldonado spent the first laps trailing Alonso, not attempting to pass him but staying as far back as possible to avoid being ... Hamilton forced Hülkenberg into a driving error at turn nine and moved into 11th on lap nine. Alonso led Maldonado by 1.1 seconds at the end of lap ten and made his first pit stop for new hard compound tyres. He rejoined in third, while Maldonado took the lead. At the end of the 11th lap, Maldonado made his first pit stop to replace his old soft compound tyres, with Räikkönen in second. As Alonso retook first, the two exited the pit lane second and third on hard and so... On the 15th lap, Hamilton had a problematic pit stop from fourth. He struck a detached left-rear tyre leaving his pit box, lifting his car into the air and dropping him to 14th in the race order. Grosjean used DRS to pass Rosberg on the outside for sixth into turn one on the next lap; Rosberg's delay meant Grosjean was 20 seconds behind teammate Räikkönen. Webber lost front load on his front wing, slowing him and dropping him from 9th to 14th behind di Resta, Ve... Pic's slower car delayed Alonso into turn one, and he made his second pit stop at the end of lap 26. Williams's strategy enabled Maldonado to pass Alonso who was six seconds behind him exiting the pit lane. At the end of lap 27, Räikkönen made his second pit stop from the lead for hard compound tyres and rejoined the track in third. On lap 28, Vettel and Massa were given drive-through penalties for ignoring yellow flags telling them to slow for turn one for Schumacher's... Räikkönen, third, made his final pit stop for hard compound tyres in an attempt to force Maldonado and Alonso to race past the life expectancy of their tyres, allowing him to win at the last minute. He reemerged in fourth on the 49th lap. By lap 49, Alonso drew to within a second of Maldonado and could use DRS through tyre overuse after the latter was told to slow to preserve his compounds and keep the former in second. Grosjean made a pit stop from fourth on lap 52, ha... At the front, Maldonado extended his lead to more than three seconds after Alonso fell back due to a sudden loss of rear grip, which slowed him after mounting the kerbs exiting turn seven with nine laps remaining. He won his first Formula One race, and the first for a Venezuelan driver. It was the Williams team's first victory in 130 Grand Prix starts; their previous race win was Juan Pablo Montoya 's victory at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix , and their last one, as of 2024 [r... The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in the subsequent press conference. Maldonado described the race as "a wonderful day" and a validation of his team's progress over the previous season: "It was a tough race because of the strategy as well, it was hard especially because of rear tyres, after a couple of laps we were struggling with them, but I need to say I am pretty happy because car was so competitive since the first lap." [ 55 ... Maldonado's victory was widely celebrated in Venezuela, with photographs of him celebrating appearing in the Venezuelan press and television. He became a national hero and residents of Venezuela's capital Caracas celebrated his victory by unfurling banners reading "Maldonado, pride of Venezuela!" and blasting car horns. Hugo Chávez , Venezuela's president and a friend of Maldonado's, telephoned the driver that evening, congratulating him "in the name of Venezuela." Toto Wolf... The final result meant Vettel and Alonso shared the World Drivers' Championship lead with 61 points each. Hamilton slipped from second to third with 53 points, while Räikkönen's third-place finish moved him from seventh to fourth with 49 points. Webber's inability to score points dropped him from third to fifth place with 48 points. Red Bull maintained their World Constructors' Championship lead with 109 points. McLaren and Lotus maintained second and third with 98 and 84 points, re... Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .

Practice

Conditions warmed in the second session on Friday afternoon. Button, driving with a chronic understeer , set the day's fastest lap of 1:23.399 seconds on the soft compound tyres with 55 minutes remaining. Vettel duplicated his first practice result in second, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg was third and Hamilton improved to fourth. The Lotus duo of Räikkönen and Grosjean were fifth and sixth and Webber, Schumacher, Kobayashi and Hülkenberg followed in the top ten. Teams conducted simulatio... The third session took place in warm and dry weather on Saturday morning. Several drivers led before Vettel set the session's fastest time, a 1:23.168 on the soft compound tyres. Williams driver Pastor Maldonado was second and Kobayashi improved to third. Webber, Pérez, Alonso, Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne , Button, Räikkönen and Rosberg made up positions four to ten. Grosjean's Lotus car lost power due to a sudden loss of fuel pressure, causing his engine to stall 17 minutes...

Qualifying

Button, 11th, was the fastest driver not to qualify for the final session due to an unbalanced car with understeer in high-speed corners and an unstable rear entering slower-speed turns when McLaren added angle to his front wing. Red Bull misjudged how much the track would improve and Webber was told to not exit the pit lane for a second timed lap, leaving him 12th after going second early in the second session. Force India's Di Resta and Hülkenberg were 13th and 14th; Di Res... Hamilton was instructed to stop his car en route to the pit lane due to a lack of fuel to provide the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) a sample, since the refuelling mechanic mistakenly turned a switch to drain Hamilton's car of fuel rather than add some in. The FIA technical delegate reported Hamilton to the stewards for the irregularity. McLaren technical director Sam Michael argued to the stewards that force majeure caused Hamilton to ... The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold .