Pastor Maldonado Wins Spainish GP 2012

So Maldonado is on pole to start this race, Hamilton dropped to dead last. Can he make a big push from there? Doubtful, Barcelona tends to be a very difficult place to overtake. Can Maldonado keep Pole into Turn 1? Last time he was on Pole here was in GP2 and he stalled the car at the lights! The lights come on, and we're away. Maldonado moves to block Alonso but fails and is pushed out, Alonso leads. Perez gets a puncture through turn 2 and goes off. Alonso is building an awesome lead already. Grosjean has had a bad start dropping back to 5th, Webber too dropping to 14th. A massive shout of delight as the Spanish fans see Alonso leading after the first lap. Perez has now made it to the pits and changed what was left of that tyre to a new set of Hard tyres. Maldonado, after starting 1st and losing it rather quickly is catching Alonso but the Ferrari driver is fighting for his life to get Maldonado out of the DRS zone. Massa is sizing up Vergne in the DRS zone but can't quite get there, Webber is right on Massa so he needs to be careful when he attacks Vergne. Lap 7 and Webber is into the pits, these tyres must be taking a beating to need to be changed that early. He was also tucked up behind Massa and Vergne so it could be strategy. Vettel follows into the pits for a change on Lap 8. Both drivers onto new Hard tyres. Alonso is still holding this gap to Maldonado and they have dropped the Lotus of Raikkonen by a fair distance. Hamilton throws himself into the gap created by Hulkenberg going wide and he takes 11th. Most people dropping into the pits now apart from the leaders, all for the preferred hard tyres. Alonso now comes in on lap 10 for hard tyres followed by Grosjean and Schumacher. A few people opting to stay on softs here, which could make things interesting. A little bit of a scrap in the middle and Grosjean has contact with Senna, losing a front wing end plate. Hamilton is now up into 4th but hasn't pitted yet. Schumacher has a collision with Senna, he's in the gravel and out of the race looking very very upset. Senna is trying to drag his car back to the pits but it looks fairly damaged. All Schumachers fault, he simply drove straight into the back of Senna in the braking zone. Senna has retired at the side of the track. Hamilton does pit for new hard tyres but bounces off something as he pulls away and loses a few seconds, he comes out into 14th. Grosjean absolutely flies past Rosberg on the pit straight, Rosberg tried to defend but was blown away. Hamilton radio's in to find out who/what he hit in the pits and is told he hit one of his removed tyres, McLaren just can't buy a perfect pit stop. Webber is all over the place and has been swallowed up by Di Resta, Vergne, Massa and Hamilton in the space of 3 corners. Radio tells him his front wing load is down so into the pits he comes and front wing replaced. Rosberg, Vettel, Button and Kobayashi are in a line all fighting for 5th - 8th, Grosjean is up on his own trying to catch his teammate Raikkonen in 3rd who is keeping up with the leaders. Maldonado is catching Alonso and should be in the DRS zone fairly soon. He is held up by Karthikeyan but gets back on it and closes down Alonso again. Hamilton is tucked up behind Massa but battling to get past in the gaggle of cars between 9th -12th, Senna and Schumacher to be investigated after the race for that collision. Hamilton hits the DRS button and gets alongside Massa but tries to overtake on the outside and is pushed out by Massa. Maldonado pits first trying to undercut Alonso to take the lead with a new set of Hard tyres. Alonso held up by the backmarker of Pic so this could work out well for Williams and Maldonado. Button flat spots his front left and flies into the pits for new boots and comes out in 10th with soft tyres. Alonso remonstrates with Charles Pic as he gets past and jumps into the pits but is passed by Maldonado as he sets the fastest lap of the race. Vergne tries a Hamilton to overtake Di Resta in the first corner and gets barged off the track. Raikkonen pits and gives the lead to Maldonado! Vettel is in the pits and comes out to find himself given a drive-through penalty for failing to slow during yellow flags along with Massa. That will leave Hamilton free to race now Massa takes his penalty. Button is closing on Rosberg for 7th which will be 6th once Vettel serves his penalty. Lotus are now flying with the hard tyres on their cars now. Schumi is blaming Senna saying he moved during the braking zone making him crash into his car. Vettel serves his drive-through and comes out in 9th. Senna now says Michael would never blame him, he just did chief, and that Michael obviously didn't realise when he would brake. Hamilton is still out there in 5th after pitting only once and still keeping up a good pace. Button is now barged out of the way by Kobayashi for 7th letting him know who's boss whilst making sure he doesn't go wide. Hamilton's tyres are done for and he radio's in obviously wanting to pit. Kobayashi, sickeningly draped in Chelsea badges is now making a better fist of attacking Rosberg than Button did and dropping Button by quite a bit. Alonso is closing on Maldonado rather quickly. Hamilton pits, and it's a clean one for once out in 14th. Pic is given a penalty for ignoring blue flags, which will have been the earlier incident with Alonso. Hamilton slides past Di Resta for 13th on the DRS. Pic, instead of taking his penalty, parks his car in the garage to end his race. Now Button is being hounded by Vettel and breezes past in the first corner. McLaren come out and stick a new set of hard tyres on Buttons car and he comes out in 14th. Hamilton executes a beautiful move as he zig-zags past Ricciardo and Vergne round the outside. Perez's pit crew attempt a stop, one dives onto the floor but they don't release him, he attempts to go but his car is still in the air. He does get out but then parks it, obviously they all weren't on properly. Massa is battling with Di Resta, Button behind them. Massa pushes Di Resta out of the way, Button follows him through and then gets alongside Massa in the DRS zone and takes him in the first corner. Maldonado into the pits for his last stop but has a sticky left rear and takes an age to get released. That could make the difference, Alonso was only 5 seconds behind and will have fresher tyres coming to the end of his last stint. Vettel comes into the pits for a new nose, that's both Red Bulls now having failed parts on their nose. Alonso into the pits now, will he get out before Maldonado comes past? Nope. But Maldonado is stuck behind Raikkonen who is on old tyres so that could help Alonso unless Raikkonen pits straight away. He doesn't and Maldonado is in the DRS zone but can't get past. But he has him on the next lap and he's in clear air, Alonso is stuck behing Raikkonen now. These Spanish fans will be screaming at Raikkonen to get out of the way. Still no Lotus mechanics in the pits so Raikkonen is still staying out. Alonso opens the DRS and has no issues zipping past Raikkonen and gaps him very quickly. Alonso smells blood. Raikkonen pits, coming out behind his teammate who has only pitted twice. Lotus believe Alonso and Maldonado need to pit again, not too sure on that one. Alonso is now in the DRS zone and gaining on Maldonado quickly, this Ferrari looks very quick in the hands of the Spanish genius. But he still can't get past him yet again in the DRS zone, 15 laps to go so another 15 attempts with the DRS if needed! Maldonado has driven a beautiful race really, normally in the pack and bullish, locking tyres and banging wheels but picking braking points and hitting apexes wonderfully today. Grosjean pits and releases the other Lotus into 3rd but Raikkonen is still 20 seconds back on Maldonado. Maldonado is told to take care of his tyres through the high degradation corners, these tyres are going to come into play in this race. Raikkonen is closing on Alonso by over a second a lap, could he be in this battle with his new tyres? Maldonado picking his way through back-markers has got over a second away from Alonso so denies him the DRS. Grosjean sets a fastest lap on his fresh rubber, Lotus made a mistake early on pitting for softs, they are very quick on the hard tyres. Alonso made a better job of overtaking the back-markers on that lap and gets himself into the DRS zone yet again. Hamilton, even though he started 24th, is sitting in front of the other McLaren of Jenson Button who has Vettel tucked up behind him. It's a mid-pack fight that could be the front three that we're looking at now. But Pastor, Fernando and Kimi are making this interesting enough without the 'Big Boys'. Raikkonen is catching the leaders by 1.5 seconds a lap and Lotus believe Alonso and Maldonado's tyres will hit the cliff by the end of the race. Vettel simply drives past Button to drop him to 9th. Into Lap 60 of 66 and Maldonado has pulled away from Alonso again by 1.4 seconds, Raikkonen 11 seconds back. Vettel is now on the back of Hamilton who is struggling on these well used tyres. Alonso seems to have blown his chance, now 2 seconds back on Maldonado, he may live to regret hanging onto the back of the pole sitter for those few laps. Vettel still fighting to pass Hamilton but Lewis is driving a brilliant defensive line. Defensive line or not, DRS and KERS can't be defended against, Lewis gets overtaken. Maldonado is eking out this gap as Alonso struggles on badly used rear tyres. Vettel is flying and now passes Rosberg for 6th place. Maldonado starts the final lap 3 seconds clear of Alonso who is being hunted by Raikkonen. Onto the pit straight and Pastor Maldonado takes his first race win!!! 5 Races, 5 Different Winners, 5 Different Teams! What a season, what a race. Congratulations Pastor, this weekend will not be overshadowed by a stewards decision, it will be talked about as a brilliant race driven with class and style. Final placings 1st Maldonado (Williams) 2nd Alonso (Ferrari) 3rd Raikkonen (Lotus) 4th Grosjean (Lotus) 5th Kobayashi (Sauber) 6th Vettel (Red Bull) 7th Rosberg (Mercedes) 8th Hamilton (McLaren) 9th Button (McLaren) 10th Hulkenberg (Force India) 11th Webber (Red Bull) 12th Vergne (Toro Rosso) 13th Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 14th Di Resta (Force India) 15th Massa (Ferrari) 16th Kovalainen (Caterham) 17th Petrov (Caterham) 18th Glock (Marussia) 19th De La Rosa (HRT) Retd. Perez (Sauber), Pic (Marussia), Karthikeyan (HRT), Senna (Williams), Schumacher (Mercedes).