The Midfield
Fernando Alonso's race went wrong from the start as he touched Mark Webber out of the first corner, damaging his front wing, and then collided with Jenson Button in turn four. He came in for a new nose after two laps which went against his strategy with the harder tyres and then complained of steering problems shortly afterwards. Despite some aggressive racing, including a fantastic overtake of Gutierrez into turn five, he seemed unable to make enough impact and finished P11, missing out on the points in a rare misfire and meaning the team only took Massa's 12 points away from the weekend. Williams had a somewhat better race as Maldonado finished P12, demonstrating improved race pace over their recent outings. He made a good start and was disappointed not to be able to break into the top ten, but was encouraged by the pace of the car. Bottas by comparison had a poor start and lost places, but then found a rhythm in the first stint. A radio failure meant his missed his pit stop window and dropped positions, giving him traffic problems that hampered a better result than P16. Jean-Eric Vergne was unable to match his teammate and get into the points in the sister Torro Rosso. He got rid of the soft tyres quickly but then just couldn't find enough pace to break into the top ten and he was disappointed as he only managed P13. Jenson Button was unable to match the results of his young teammate after being thumped by Alonso in turn four on the first lap, damaging his car and a wheel, which caused a puncture and killed his intended first stint on the prime tyre. With his strategy compromised he was unable to get the best from the car and was disappointed to finish P14 as he felt the car was fast and had potential. Sauber's run of great form came to an end as Gutierrez only managed P15 following a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. He felt the car was well balanced and he raced determinedly against Alonso for stints, feeling the car could get into the top ten again with a clean drive. Nico Hulkenberg was having another solid race that was on course for the bottom end of the top ten when he suffered a brake failure, causing him to retire with four laps to go.