Grand Prix International

16.05.2012

GRAND PRIX INTERN ATIONAL IN THIS ISSUE

WILLIAMS FIRE RAIKKONEN ALONSO MASSA SCHUMI MCLAREN RED BULL

PASTOR MALDONADO

THE RIGHT STUFF wEEKLY FORMULA 1 MAGAZINE & NEWS DIGEST BY YALLAF1.COM

IN THIS ISSUE

FIRST FIRSTWORD WORD

COVER: LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

16 May 2012

MALDONADO WINS IN BARCELONA

We have five different winners out of five grand and, of those, two who had never won before Rosberg in China taking his maiden win after hu attempts, and now Pastor Maldonado - 24 rac F1 career - becomes Formula 1’s latest winner his heroics in Barcelona - and what feel good st The guy who got the big bucks and bought h a team (like a certain Michael Schumacher did years ago) everyone has a go at the Venezuelan the braces, until he showed he had the right stu sp much so that the sport’s top guns - Fernan and Kimi Raikkonen - felt compelled to hoist M onto their shoulders on the podium - good stu And of course the matter of Williams return top step of the podium for their 113th grand p albeit over eight years since the last time the the privilege.

And talk about a cruelly bizarre script: then a fir the winning team’s garage as they celebrated..

We have it all covered and lots more of course.

SPANISH GRAND PRIX REPORT MALDONADO INTERVIEW ALONSO INTERVIEW RAIKKONEN INTERVIEW WILLIAMS PIT FIRE SCHUMACHER PENALTY MIXED EMOTIONS AT MCLAREN VETTEL STILL LEADS MASSA CAREER ON BRINK OF COLLAPSE DRIVERS REACTIONS FROM SPAIN FREE PRACTICE 1-2-3 REPORTS QUALIFYING REPORT GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY AND MUCH, MUCH MORE...

Content & Credits • • • •

Editor: Peevee Sub Editor: Adrian Nel All content sourced from YallaF1.com Content providers: PVM, GMM, Reuters, FIA Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus, Mercedes, Force ind Toro Rosso, Williams, Marussia, Caterham, H Cosworth, Renault and other F1 related orga • Main Photography by Sutton Images • Additional photography provided by F1 team Getty Images, LAT, Hoch Zwei, Ercole Colom • Contact: info@yallaf1.com 2

d prix races, e. First Nico undreds of ces into his r thanks to tory! himself into d all those n chap with uff in Spain ndo Alonso Maldonado uff chaps! ning to the prix victory, ey enjoyed

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SIR FRANK WILLIAMS: M MAKES NO MISTAKES &

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astor Maldonado’s first Formula One victory in Spain showed that the Venezuelan has what it takes to be a champion, according to Frank Williams, who has seen a string of champions drive his winning cars – including the likes of Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna – said the 27-year-old’s win was no fluke.

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MALDONADO IS QUICK, HAS THE RIGHT STUFF

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Sir Frandk Williams, the 70-year-old team founder who has seen a string of champions drive his winning cars - including the likes of Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna said the 27-year-old’s win was no fluke.

“Undoubtedly,” Williams said when asked whether Maldonado had the material to one day be a champion as well as a winner. “I tell you why -

because he’s very quick and That has not been entire unpredictable of seasons, wi from five separate teams win date, even if the speed has u Maldonado, a very fast b champion in the GP2 feeder pushed too hard and crashed

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been there for the taking but he has also impressed with his pace. Underrated and dismissed by some as just another ‘pay driver’, signed up because he brings much-needed sponsorship from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, Maldonado showed he is much more than that.

As he said after the race, when asked about the title, “anything is possible”.

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he makes no mistakes.” ely true in this most ith five different drivers nning the five races to undoubtedly been there. but occasionally wild series, has at times d when points have

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Before Sunday he would have been laughed at. The pre-qualifying odds of 300-1 on him winning in Spain, reduced from an even more generous 5001, emphasised that this was a prospect too unbelievable to contemplate.

British bookmakers William Hill said they had received two 10 pound ($16.10) bets at 500-1 and hundreds of smaller bets.

Williams, however, said his driver’s potential “could be very considerable indeed” and added, “We’ve got a real racing driver as well. I am just astonished by the way he just controlled himself, didn’t make a mistake at all.”

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Sunday’s victory ended nearly eight years of waiting for the once-dominant ormer champions, whose last win came with another South American, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, in Brazil in 2004. Last season was Williams’s worst in Formula One since the 1970s, with just five points all year, and it was our years since the team that won nine constructors’ crowns and seven drivers’ itles last appeared on the podium.

They have, however, made a raft of changes and hauled themselves back nto mid-table respectability.

round 5, spanish grand prix for the record Renault, who also power world champions Red Bull and high-flying Lotus, have come in as the engine supplier instead of Cosworth and there have been key changes in the technical department.

“Last year we just weren’t up to speed technically,” said Williams. “We had reasonable finance, enough money but things didn’t come together properly and we made mistakes. With a bit of restructuring... several key people were recruited and they have made a significant difference.”

The big question now is whether they can keep up the momentum. While

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Maldonado was a deserving winner, his achievement also makes winning a realistic aspiration for others who have not yet done so this season. That list includes McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

It also includes Sauber’s Mexican Sergio Perez - second in Malaysia in a race he could have won - and like Maldonado representative of a rising generation of initially underrated Latin American talent.

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“I truly haven’t got a clue,” said Williams of his team’s chances of winning more this year. “Everyone who didn’t win is seething out there. We’re not doing that today but tomorrow morning reality strikes.”

Williams board member Toto Wolff sounded a note of caution: “I can get used to this kind of stuff, I like it. But I think we cannot expect results like this to happen

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on every occasion, or that we will be there now as a top contender. We have seen Sauber run very competitively in Malaysia, and we have seen (Nico) Rosberg having a tremendous race (winning in China), while here it was us. So it is a tricky situation which the engineers need to understand.�

Next round of the F1 world championship is in Monaco on 27 May.

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MALDONADO SILENCES CALM AND HISTORIC SP

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astor Maldonado made history as he crossed the line to win the Formula One winner, beating local hero Fernando Alonso in a co out of five races so far this season.

Getty Images

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e Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, becoming the first Venezuelan ool, calm and collected display – making it five different winners

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CRITICS WITH COOL, PANISH GP VICTORY

round 5, spanish grand prix race REPORT It also returns the Williams team to the top step of the podium, where they have not been since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix with Juan Pablo Montoya – 132 races ago.

With pole winner Lewis Hamilton relegated to the back of the grid after a qualifying penalty, Maldonado was promoted to top spot on the grid.

Although he managed a good getaway, it was Alonso who took the early lead and set the pace with Maldonado following comfortably, the pair pretty much controlling proceedings at the front.

The key moment for Maldonado came when he dived into the pits for his second pitstop on lap

25, emerged and reeled off a Alonso stayed out until a cou in for his stop on lap 27 and e Williams. Game-set-match.

From then on Maldonad impressively oblivous to the from the acknowledged top on the top gun’s home track.

Maldonado, not even when A striking distance – make that but the Williams tyres were in the end and Maldonado held Alonso’s lap times plummete

do was in command, pressure from behind, p gun of this generation, . Nothing phased Alonso got within t DRS zone distance – n better shape towards d on to his lead as ed alarmingly.

Behind the top two, Raikkonen toiled away – closing in on Alonso initially at a second per lap, then at two seconds per lap, but it was a case of too little too late as the Iceman had to settle for second.

Maldonado, who was surprising calm despite sporting the biggest grin in Spain, said, “I think it’s a wonderful day, not just for me but the team. We’ve been pushing so hard to improve since last year and here we are. Yesterday after a great qualifying and today we did it again. It was a tough race because of the strategy and after a couple of laps we were struggling with the rear tyres. The car was so competitive after the first lap.”

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Getty Images

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a flurry of ultra-fast laps. uple of laps later, dived emerged behind the

round 5, spanish grand prix race REPORT He added, “Fernando did a better start then me but I was following the pace. It was my first pole and first win and you can imagine what I am feeling.”

The Venezuelan is the 104th driver to have won a grand prix, out of 735 drivers who have started F1 races.

Alonso’s second place puts him joint first (with Sebastian Vettel) in the points standings. He reflected, “It was a fantastic start and it was close into Turn One, but we had the better side and we had the momentum to lead for the first part. But Williams anticipated the first stop better and as the race went on we lost grip and maybe some aero and in the end I was in the battle with Kimi for third. But we are back in front in the championship with plenty of possibilities.”

Raikkonen commented, “I’m a bit disappointed.

I expect to be a bit stronger in the race, especially at the beginning. At end of the race, we were good but it was too late. We were too slow at the start which is why we couldn’t fight for the win. We showed we still have the speed. Maybe we took the wrong choice in the first stop. I was not so disappointed during the race, but in the end, when you can catch them up almost 20 seconds, you have a disappointed feeling.

If we had a few more laps, we could have fought for a victory. But that’s racing and it’s good points for the team.”

Romain Grosjean survived a few altercations along the way, but failed to match the pace of his more experienced team mate, and crossed the line in a lonely fourth place.

Kamui Kobayashi finished fifth, matching his best ever F1 finish, giving Sauber valuable points and beating some of the ‘grandee’ teams in the process.

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round 5, spanish grand prix race REPORT For Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes it was a day which will have them scratching their heads in dismay. They were always in the the thick of the action but simply lacked the pace to contest for a win and they leave Spain with crumbs.

World champion Sebastian Vettel, was sixth after an eventful race, which saw him tussle with just about everyone outside the top four which was the highest he managed to run during the entire race and that was for one lap during the early pitstops. He also served a drive through for ignoring yellow flags, nevertheless he scored enough points to keep him top of the points table along with Alonso.

Vettel commented afterw day in the office. I’m not entir could have been at least one had a good recover y in the e but when it’s up and down, u difficult. I didn’t think I had d felt like there was something aerodynamics. We decided to the nose. That cost us some t to do. We found out that the was actually broken. I don’t k anybody.”

Also involved in just abo

out every skirmish

was Nico Rosberg who salvaged seventh place for Mercedes, in a frustrating afternoon for the Silver Arrows which saw Michael Schumacher slam into Bruno Senna’s Williams under braking into Turn 1 – both headed back to the paddock for an early shower.

Rosberg said, “It was not so enjoyable when I was out there and had no rubber on the tyres. Fifth would have been OK, seventh is not so good. It’s been strange all weekend. It’s fantastic for Williams but for us, it’s strange. Tyre management is an issue for us. I’m enjoying this season but scratching my head at the same time. It’s very strange.”

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wards, “It was a hard rely happy. I think we e position further up. We end. It was good fun, up and down, it’s quite damage with the nose. It g stuck which ruins the o come in and change time, but it was right front end of the wing know why, I didn’t hit

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round 5, spanish grand prix race REPORT McLaren were reeling from the qualifying blunder which saw an under-fueled Lewis Hamilton stripped of pole position and banished to the rear of the grid and from then on it was back foot stuff for the Woking squad.

Hamilton gave a gutsy performance to finish eighth and would probably have been a contender for top spot on the podium had his team not let him down.

“I am proud of myself and the team. We did a good job to come all the way from the back, we battled through and conserving the tyres was tough. Someone told me that I was only the person on a two stop, so I think that considering everyone keeps telling me that I am hard on tyres and how much smoother my team-mate is, I think that should show them. I just nursed them all the way through. I just cleared my mind and got on with it from the back of the grid. It was like being back in the karting days. Sometimes I would turn up with my dad and that is something that we would have to do,” reflected Hamilton.

Teammate Jenson Button was simply not a contender this weekend. The Australian GP winner unable to find a suitable balance for his McLaren MP4-27 and ended up in ninth after an sub-standard race for the 2009 world champion.

“I was just slow. To work out why I was slow, that’s a bit trickier. Normally good at looking after tyres. That’s something I need to work on. I can’t do that at the moment. I’m struggling with the car. It’s not an overnight fix which is worrying. The first two races were good.

Bahrain was tricky and here is also tricky. I just can’t find grip and I can’t use it. I don’t think I could have done a twostop (like team-mate Lewis Hamilton),” admitted Button.

Although the team made a big noise about reshuffling their pitstop crew, they fumbled again and each time a McLaren pitted for tyres one inevitably expected the worst.

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round 5, spanish grand prix race REPORT Nico Hulkenberg salvaged the final point for Force India, beating his team mate Paul Di Resta for the first time this season, but the pair not living up to their pre-season form yet again..

Just out of the points, in 11th, was Mark Webber who had to change a front wing and fight his way through the field with little reward.

“It was an interesting race. I don’t know where I got damage on my front wing but I had to pit for a new nose. When you’re out of position round here you have to look after your tyres and when you catch people, your tyres get killed. I was out of position whatever happened with the nose. If you push you have to pit. It’s a new way, it’s good for the fans if they like it, but it makes it more

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challenging for us in different ways,” said Webber.

It was another ‘nail in the coffin’ race for Felipe Massa who finished 15th but was again thoroughly shown up by his Ferrari teammate.

The Schumacher-Senna incident was a case of one driver having plenty grip in his tyres (Schumacher) and the other nursing his tyres (Senna) – when Senna arrived at his braking zone going into Turn 1, it was about 20 metres before Schumacher even considered braking. The Williams moved to the left, hen jinked to the right, but by then it was way to late for the Mercedes driver to avoid it. At the end of the day it is likely to go down as a mistake by Schumacher, despite the circumstances.

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round 5, spanish grand prix race REPORT Senna’s version: “Look it’s racing and incidents happen. At the end of the day, I was not expecting him to hit me, I thought he was going to dive for the inside.

He probably misjudged me a little bit. He came with good speed on the straight and I had to brake. When I saw he was moving I thought he would dive on the inside so I moved a little bit to the left and then he just hit me.”

Schumacher’s version: “I just took a minute to watch the video and on the overhead you can see he moves right to defend his position in the braking phase but then moves back left into me. I am very annoyed about that. He made a strange manoeuvre in Brazil and I hope that the authorities understand those

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pictures. He was a backmarker and not a real contender for the points. We may not have been race winners, but we would have got good points.”

Last word to Sir Frank Williams, gifted a great birthday present: “All the boys are delighted, and I’m quietly delighted, boy did we need that win as you can well imagine. Most of the season has been thanks to a fresh group of people but it’s been very well balanced. The aero guys have done their stuff, more than their stuff. The Renault engine is very competitive. The car has got possibilities and our rate of development has to exceed that of the other eams. We’ll see.”

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round 5, spanish grand prix race REPORT 13 May 2012 Formula 1 World Championship - Round 5 Spanish Grand Prix, Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona Race Result

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time Grid 1 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 66 Winner 1 2 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 66 +3.1 secs 2 3 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 66 +3.8 secs 4 4 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 66 +14.7 secs 3 5 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 66 +64.6 secs 9 6 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 66 +67.5 secs 7 7 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 66 +77.9 secs 6 8 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 66 +78.1 secs 24 9 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 66 +85.2 secs 10 10 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 65 +1 Lap 13 11 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 65 +1 Lap 11 12 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 65 +1 Lap 14 13 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 65 +1 Lap 15 14 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 65 +1 Lap 12 15 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 65 +1 Lap 16 16 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 65 +1 Lap 19 17 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 65 +1 Lap 18 18 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 64 +2 Laps 21 19 22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 63 +3 Laps 22 Ret 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 37 +29 Laps 5 Ret 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 35 +31 Laps 20 Ret 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 22 +44 Laps 23 Ret 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 12 Accident 17 Ret 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 12 Accident 8 Note - Hamilton originally qualified on pole, but was excluded for failing to retur the pits under his own power and supply a fuel sample. Karthikeyan failed to me the 107% requirement so races at the stewards’ discretion.

Pts

P

Team

Pts

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

61 61 53 49 48 45 41 35 29 22 19 15 14 4 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Red Bull McLaren Lotus Ferrari Williams Mercedes Sauber Force India Toro Rosso HRT Marussia Caterham

109 98 84 63 43 43 41 18 6 0 0 0

Sebastian Vettel Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Kimi Raikkonen Mark Webber Jenson Button Nico Rosberg Romain Grosjean Pastor Maldonado Sergio Perez Kamui Kobayashi Paul di Resta Bruno Senna Jean Eric Vergne Nico Hulkenberg Daniel Ricciardo Felipe Massa Michael Schumacher Charles Pic Timo Glock Pedro de la Rosa Narain Karthikeyan Heikki Kovalainen Vitaly Petrov

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 P Driver

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d Pts 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

2012 Formula 1 World Championship Drivers Standings Constructors Standings

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WILLIAMS VICTORY CEL

BY INJURIES AFTER HU

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ine people were hurt when the Williams garage was gutted while the Formula 1 team were celebrating their first win i eight years at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.

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d by fire in nearly

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LEBRATIONS MARRED GE BLAZE

round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD Team founder and principal Frank Williams, who is in a wheelchair, had been in the Circuit de Catalunya garage when it went up in flames but was wheeled to safety, his daughter Claire told Reuters.

“We have four people in the medical centre at the moment receiving precautionary care and I believe one has been flown off to hospital but that has not been confirmed,” she said.

Caterham, who have an adjacent garage to Williams, said in a statement that four of their staff had been taken to the circuit medical centre for examination – one with a minor hand injury and three with respiratory issues.

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Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley said one of his staff had been taken to the medical centre and would remain under observation for an hour after suffering from smoke inhalation.

The fire, with thick, acrid black smoke billowing out of the garage and across the paddock, started about 90 minutes after the end of the race won

by Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, when team members had gathered for a photograph in the pit lane before the fire started.

Photographs showed Brazilian Bruno Senna’s car in the middle of a gutted and charred garage. Maldonado’s had been parked elsewhere under post-race parc ferme rules.

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round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD Emergency services arrived after mechanics from several teams had battled against the flames with extinguishers from the pit lane side.

Team officials and guests were ushered to safety and the area cordoned off. A medical helicopter was seen to take off later.

Maldonado’s victory, from pole position, was the first of his career.

The fire was the second in the Formula One paddock in five races this season, with one breaking out in the Lotus hospitality area at the Malaysian circuit in March.

In a statement, Williams also applauded rival teams for their selfless support during the life threatening incident, “Everyone at Williams F1 is extremely relieved that this event was contained as quickly as it was and the damage which occurred was, relatively speaking, limited in its nature.”

“While the incident was unexpected and definitely most undesirable, it has demonstrated the genuine cohesiveness, camaraderie and spirit of co-operation that exists within the Formula One paddock.

The astonishing response from the teams and other paddock personnel was immediate, unconditional and overwhelming.”

“I was pleased to welcome back to the factory the majority of our team this morning. One of our people remains in Spain for further medical

assistance, but we are all looking forward t return,” added the 70 year old team princip “One member of the team remains in h having suffered burns in the incident. He is return to the UK within the next 48 hours t medical care. His family are in constant com he is in good spirits.”

Speculation in the paddock is that Brun

which was damaged in a collision with Michael Schumacher, may have been the cause of the explosion which may have been KERS related. Senna’s appeared to have been destroyed by the fire.

The team statement concluded, “Investigations into the cause of the fire are on-going in collaboration with the FIA and local authorities. The team would like to thank everyone for their good wishes and support over the past 24 hours.”

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uno Senna’s car,

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to his imminent pal. hospital in Spain s stable and will to receive further mmunication and

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DIVIDED VENEZUELA UN MALDONADO’S HISTORIC

V

enezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado’s remarkable first Formula Grand Prix, in Barcelona, brought a rare moment of national un divided in the months before a presidential vote.

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One victory at the Spanish nity to a homeland bitterly

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NITED IN CELEBRATING C VICTORY IN SPAIN

round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD The 27-year-old driver has been closely associated with President Hugo Chavez’s socialist government due to numerous friendly appearances alongside the Venezuelan leader and the sponsorship of state oil company PDVSA. Yet his thrilling Spanish Grand Prix win on Sunday – the first for a Venezuelan – elevated him beyond a symbol of Chavez’s socialism into a cherished national hero.

“Our shepherd,” was the headline in the normally anti-Chavez El Universal newspaper, playing on the Spanish-language meaning of his first name “Pastor”.

“He has united the nation with his triumph in Spain.”

Scores of Venezuelans tooted horns and unfurled banners around Caracas saying “Maldonado, pride of Venezuela!”

In repose after his latest cancer treatment, Chavez tweeted his jubilation. “I said so: Our Pastor Maldonado won, making history.

Bravo Pastor! Congratulations to you and all your fighting team! We shall overcome!”

Not to be outdone, his opponent in the upcoming Oct. 7 presidential election, Henrique Capriles, also sent his congratulations via Twitter.

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“Fantastic Maldonado! Congratulations for Pastor, for Aragua (his state) and for all our Venezuela with this triumph in F1. Long live Venezuela!”

During Chavez’s 13-year rule, the South American nation has become deeply polarised, with supporters seeing him as a messiah overcoming decades of injustice, and foes casting the president as a dangerous dictator.

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The national jubilation over Maldonado’s echoed last year’s feel-good over Venezuela’s soccer team, which was the laughing stock of the region for years before finally starting to perform decently in recent tournaments.

As with their support for Maldonado, both Chavez and Capriles tout their ove of the soccer team for barely-disguised electoral purposes.

round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD State oil company PDVSA, which has controversially ousted a local private company to take over sponsorship of the national soccer team, has been backing Maldonado since his debut season last year. It is unknown how much money PDVSA has put in.

“Venezuela has covered itself with glory,” said PDVSA, whose oil revenues have financed Chavez’s self-styled “revolution” since he took power in 1999.

Maldonado’s beaming face and clenched fist dominated newspaper headlines and television footage.

In the most dramatic day of his life, Maldonado not only brought a first win for his success-starved Williams team in nearly eight years, but then carried a young cousin to safety after fire engulfed his team’s garage.

That only added to his aura of heroism back home. The usually modest and softly-spoken Maldonado was ecstatic.

“I think there is a new generation coming in F1 which will be talked about a lot,” he said.

“This has been my first podium and my first victory. You can imagine how I feel.”

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SCHUMACHER PENALISE INTO THE BACK OF SEN

M

ichael Schumacher was quick to blame Bruno Senna for an in in Barcelona, but the FIA race stewards thought differently a penalty for the next race in Monaco.

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ncident that eliminated both drivers from the Spanish Grand Prix and have handed the seven time world champion a five place grid

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ED FOR SLAMMING NNA

round 5, spanish grand prix for the record After investigating the incident which occurred on lap 12 under braking for Turn 1, the stewards adjudged that Schumacher was at fault for the accident.

Under braking with fresh tyres Schumacher misjudged Senna’s braking point and slammed into the back of the Williams, on older rubber, forcing both cars into the gravel and leading to the retirement of both drivers from the race.

Schumacher said afterwards, “Obviously I am not happy with the outcome of the race as I think we could have achieved some nice points today. But then this is sometimes what you have to go through in racing. It is not easy to see from the TV replays but what happened from my viewpoint was that he went to the right to defend the inside

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ine, and then suddenly, shortly before the braking point, went to the eft.”

“When you are so tight together in the braking zone, you have no other choice than to try to react and avoid hitting but it was too late. t is a shame, as I said, but then what I will do now is to look ahead to he next race and try to attack there,” explained the German.

Senna said, “It’s racing and incidents happen. At the end of the day, I was not expecting him to hit me, I thought he was going to dive or the inside. He probably misjudged me a little bit. He came with good speed on the straight and I had to brake. When I saw he was moving I thought he would dive on the inside so I moved a little bit to he left and then he just hit me.”

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round 5, spanish grand prix pastor maldonado interview

PASTOR MALDONADO: M FIRST VICTORY, YOU CAN

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t is always a great day for Formula 1 when a driver scores their ma winner’s circle and after the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona Pasto Venezuelan driver to do so. He spoke after his victory at Circuit de

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aiden victory, earlier this year we saw Nico Rosberg break into the or Maldonado became the 104th grand prix winner and the first Catalunya during the post race press conference.

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MY FIRST PODIUM, MY N IMAGINE WHAT I FEEL

round 5, spanish grand prix pastor maldonado interview Your first Formula 1 victory, brilliantly judged – describe your emotions?

Pastor Maldonado: I think it’s a wonderful day, not just for me but for all the team. We have been pushing so hard since last year to try to improve race by race and here we are. Yesterday we were here after a great qualifying and we did it again in the race.

It was a tough race because the strategy as well, it was tough especially because of the rear tyres – after a couple of laps we were struggling with [them]. I need to say I’m pretty happy because the car was so competitive since the first lap. Fernando did a better start than me but I was just following the pace and it was so great. It’s my first podium and my first victory and you can imagine what I feel.

The first Williams win since 2004. They managed to get you to jump Fernando at the second round of pit stops but he gave you some real pressure at the end?

PM: Yeah, it was so close. We were looking to manage the tyre degradation so I wasn’t pushing that hard, just to keep the tyres alive for the end of the race and Fernando got too close. There were some moments that he was so close, especially at the end of the straight. But I was managing the gap and controlling everything. I think our pace was pretty strong and the car looks fantastic. Even the team. We did a small mistake at the last pit stop but it doesn’t affect our performance.

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And then obviously overtaken at the start…

PM: Yes, our start wasn’t that great, Fernando had one better than us but after the first lap the pace was very competitive, the car looks very good and we were looking at the strategy, that’s it.

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When did you think you could win, because obviously there have been changing emotions, obviously you were second on the grid and then first on the grid and then obviously the start etc., When did you think this was possible?

PM: After the qualifying. Y’know, it was so great to start from the head, from the front and for sure the team did a great job to give me a car and I did my job on the qualifying. And then starting from the pole it’s much easier, everything.

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We go to Monaco next, that’s one of your favourite tracks. What chance a back-to-back victory for you?

PM: I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for us to be strong again.

For sure I will be doing my best on the driving. The team is looking after the car so we need to continue like that.

Keep pushing with the car, to develop it as soon as possible and consistency will be the important thing in this championship.

round 5, spanish grand prix pastor maldonado interview And what about the tyres at the end? Because obviously Fernando closed on you and then dropped back.

PM: When Fernando got close I was looking after the tyres, I didn’t push that much, just because the big tyre degradation. We did an extremely good strategy, everything under control, even some moments when Fernando got too close but we had a little bit better traction than him, using KERS and everything. So it was managing the race, looking for the gaps and the pace.

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You must have thought that with KERS, him within a second, at any moment t was going to happen – but it never did.

PM: For sure it was difficult because the gaps are so close between the top eams at the moment. When I saw that I was second in the first corner, ‘OK’, I said, the race is going to be long. We need to keep pushing, we need to prepare to change our strategy just to attack Ferrari and we did it. Everything was perfect, except the last pitstop. We had a big moment but it doesn’t affect our final result.

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You are the fifth winner in five races, so the top of the field seems to be very close. Do you put Williams and yourself among the possible winners of the championship?

PM: For sure we are a little bit backwards compared with the leaders, with Fernando and Vettel, but we need to keep working. We are not the best team at the moment. The car looked pretty good, but I think we need to keep pushing

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some particulars at Williams, especially in the car, but everything is possible. The gaps are so close at the moment, I’m driving well, I have a good feeling with the eam, with the car, so everything is possible. For sure we are looking to do our best, looking forward to winning some races, to getting a couple more podiums and I’m really happy because the team hasn’t won many races for many years so his is a great moment for us. I hope to continue like that.

round 5, spanish grand prix pastor maldonado interview You are now a national hero. Are you ready?

PM: For sure everyone is so happy in my country. I’m very lucky to have a country behind me, pushing so hard, to see me here in Formula One and especially to be here, between these guys. I’m pretty happy for Venezuela, I’m happy for Williams as well. They did a wonderful job to give me a great car for this race. We are getting better and better, race after race.

You were in the same team last season. When you finished the season you were in front of only three teams: Marussia, Hispania and Caterham, and now you are in front of all of them; what has happened to explain such a change in performance from one season to another?

PM: We made big changes in the factory, we have new staff in some of the departments and completely changed the approach to building the car. I need to say that this year’s car has great performance, great potential to become even stronger than it is and for sure, this is great for motivation, to motivate the team, the factory, to keep pushing like that. I think this is the way. We are motivated and we need to keep pushing.

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round 5, spanish grand prix FERNANDO ALONSO interview

FERNANDO ALONSO: VE HAPPY WITH THE POINT

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econd place at his home Spanish Grand Prix means that Fernand even himself as the Ferrari F2012 has not been the most effectic to have made it into a contender. The Spaniard spoke at the pos

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do Alonso is joint leader in th points standings which surprises ce F1 car Maranello has ever built, but a raft of upgardes appears st race press conference and here are the highlights.

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ERY PROUD AND VERY TS WE ACHIEVED

round 5, spanish grand prix FERNANDO ALONSO interview Second and obviously a lot of progress for you and the team. And once again a blinding start.

Fernando Alonso: Yeah, it was a fantastic start again. The team prepared quite nice again the clutch and everything – the procedure to do a good start. It was close on the straight until Turn One with Pastor, and then we had the better side, the inside. We took the momentum there and we led the race for the first part but then William’s anticipated the stop and get in front and at the end it was close. We had a newer tyre than Pastor and we tried a couple of times but it was not possible out of the last corner. Then in the very last laps I felt the car was strange, we lost a lot of grip. Maybe we lost some aerodynamic part or something because we were very slow… (inaudible) …we were lucky at the end. Second place at home feels fantastic and thanks to the people that came here and the people at home and hopefully a step forward in terms of championship possibilities.

Describe your feelings at the second stop when Pastor jumped you because you were caught up behind a backmarker in that critical lap weren’t you?

FA: Yeah, we were a little bit unlucky maybe. We had a Marussia but I think he got a penalty at the end.

Obviously, it’s not a solution now but hopefully people start to understand that they need to respect the rules and again they didn’t and they paid the penalty. It’s more of a penalty the penalty we paid – maybe the race win – but yeah a little bit disappointed. But they [Williams] did a great job and they had the pace, because in the last stint, if we were faster than the Williams we had the opportunity to overtake but they were quicker than us so thy deserve the victory.

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round 5, spanish grand prix FERNANDO ALONSO interview You got so close, right up there, and then it just went away I guess, and then by the end it looked as though you really were struggling on the tyres.

FA: Yeah, it was close with ten laps to go, ten laps to the end. We were attacking Pastor when we were closing to within one second but then the last seven or eight laps we lost the grip, around Turn Seven I felt. I informed the team some corners after, in Turn Nine, to check if everything is OK because maybe we lost some aerodynamic part of the front wing or under the floor or something because we had no more grip at all. So, from that point the last seven laps, it was monitoring the distance and the gap with Kimi. We knew it was a very long last seven laps.

At the end it was close. I think one lap more and Kimi overtake us. So we were lucky at the end and happy – happy with the weekend in general, not only with the race, because we had a very strong weekend, on Fridays with good practice, the car felt more or less competitive yesterday. I think we extract everything from the car again, maximise the potential of what we have in our hands and the start was great, the race pace was good, at one point we were lapping one Red Bull in front of us with the blue flags, so… it’s very strange. We were 57 seconds behind Vettel in Bahrain, and we were lapping Webber here. No one understands probably. Not us either.

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round 5, spanish grand prix FERNANDO ALONSO interview Has Ferrari turned the corner? Are you now back in front again?

FA: We’ll see. I think when we are first and second in one qualifying and first and second in one race, we have to say that we have the best car.

Until that moment we are fighting. I think this year is very difficult to have a pace advantage or to be happy with the car you have in your hands, because everything is so close. Consistency and continuous development will be important in this championship because two-tenths can be six or

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seven positions in one qualifying this year. But what we can say is we have probably the most difficult start of the championship in these three years n Ferrari, with a car that was not competitive at all, and we finish the first quarter of the championship, so this is the fifth race out of 20, and we are eading the championship, or the same points as Vettel, so we have to be very, very proud and very happy with the points we achieved and with the position.

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round 5, spanish grand prix FERNANDO ALONSO interview

After the first five races, and all the problems you’re supposed to have in your points than you have now. How much more confident are you than you were o were you expecting this?

FA: No, I am a definitely surprised by the quantity of points that we have; I’m a bi weekend’s results. We were confident of improving the car, we were hoping for s here in Barcelona. As I said, in Bahrain, we were nearly out of Q3 and then in the leaders, so we arrived in Barcelona with some hope, some optimism about the u the result, the overall weekend pace has been a little bit better than expected, b quick in qualifying and quick in the race but this, in my opinion or how I feel afte I still don’t know where we are. I think we need to wait for more races, for the championship to stabilise a little bit because I think we maybe over-performed a little bit compared with the potential we have and maybe some other teams under-performed or they had some problems to get their tyres working or something, because, as I said, some of the results that we saw this weekend feel very strange.

it surprised by the result, or the some signs of improvement race, P9, one minute behind the upgrades but I think because we were er the weekend,

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r team, no one has scored more on Thursday, or on the inside

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round 5, spanish grand prix kimi raikkonen interview

KIMI RAIKKONEN: I’M DI BECAUSE WE COULD HA

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imi Raikkonen believed he could have won in Bahrain and after the Spanish Grand Prix, the Lotus driver was disappointed because he again believed he had a good shot at the top spot on the podium. He spoke, after finishing third in Barcelona, during the post race press conference.

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ISAPPOINTED AVE BEEN FIRST

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round 5, spanish grand prix kimi raikkonen interview It’s the second podium for you in a row. Do you feel a win is around the corner?

KR: Yeah, twice already. Unfortunately you’re not always going to get there.

If you get the chance, you should take it because it’s not every race that you will be able to fight for that position or even try it. Hopefully we can keep doing what we’re doing now and at a certain point I’m sure that things will

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go exactly right and we can. But so far it’s been a good step and the car has been strong everywhere. The next race is a bit different – Monaco – it’s hard o say how it goes there. The team has done a good job and we have still work to do, things to improve. But so far it’s going in a good way and I’m happy with it. OK, we’re not 100% happy with it because we are not winning but that’s a very normal thing and I’m happy for the team.

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round 5, spanish grand prix kimi raikkonen interview Tell us about the start, because that pretty much established your race.

KR: Yeah, I had a pretty good start, nothing to complain about. I thought I would get the chance to overtake outside both of the first two but I didn’t have enough speed in a straight line – I actually hit the limiter I think in fifth gear which kind of stopped my acceleration a bit but after that I didn’t have the speed to hang on and hound them. I was pulling away from the guys behind me but I couldn’t stay. The first stint was pretty OK but the second, I chose the soft tyre and I didn’t have the speed to keep up with them. I’m a bit disappointed but I just tried to fight and then we changed the tyres and it seemed to turn out to be pretty good but we were just too far away.

We need, like, ten more laps and then I think we could have been fighting for the win.

Absolute charge at the end, your tyres were OK? KR: Yes, it was OK. I had two new sets of Prime but unfortunately I didn’t have more sets of Prime anyhow to put in the first pitstop. The car was very good but just a bit too late for me. We fall off too much in the last stint to be able to fight for the win. But one more lap we could probably could have got Fernando – but it’s easy to say after.

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round 5, spanish grand prix kimi raikkonen interview Second place in Bahrain, third place in Spain; can you win?

KR: The fact is the reason why I’m disappointed is because in the end if we have done everything right, we could have put ourselves into first place. The car has been fast enough but we’ve been doing small things not correctly and I’ve done some mistakes on my side but if everything was 100 percent OK we could have won. There’s no issue with the speed of the car, but it’s so close between all the teams and drivers that if you have a small problem or a small issue during the weekend then it’s going to cost you a lot. If you’re three tenths behind then you’re suddenly not in the last qualifying. As you give yourself the chance to be fighting at the front, I think our car can do it but everything has to fall in the right place to be able to win.

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Did you believe that Pastor could be your main rival in Spain, and if not, how big a surprise is it?

KR: Williams have been quite fast for two races in certain points and I think, as we’ve said before, it’s very difficult to say who is really the quickest overall because at one race one team is there and then suddenly they are tenth in the next race, so it’s bit of an odd situation where we are this year, but it gives a lot of chances for all the teams who have the speed and when the tyres are working for them they are much better than the others.

The tyres seem to be the key thing. If you get them working well you seem to be fast. Sometimes you just drop out of the window a little bit and you have a hard time.

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round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD

SEBASTIAN VETTEL LEA DESPITE A HARD DAY AT

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ebastian Vettel remains in control of the Formula Drivers’ Championship, despite enduring what the Red Bull Racing driver called a “hard day at the office” at the Spanish Grand Prix.

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ADS CHAMPIONSHIP T THE OFFICE

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Vettel started seventh and climbed to sixth but dropped to ninth when he was hit with a drive-through penalty for failing to heed yellow flag in the wake of an accident involving Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna.

The defending champion was also hindered by a long regulation third stop when he took on a new cone.

Despite that issue dropping him from fifth to 10th, the pre-race title leader recovered in his final stint to climb back to sixth by the chequered

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flag, passing both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the final few laps.

Vettel is now level with Alonso on 61 points, though the Red Bull Racing driver stays at the top of the standings only by virtue of the sixthplace finish he scored in Spain.

The Spanish GP result result is his fourth-best of the season, which betters Alonso’s fourth-best. Otherwise the pair are even on results, with the best three results of each man being a win, a second place and a fifth.

round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD “We have to be happy,” said Vettel. “It was a hard day at the office.

We had a good recovery at the end – we know that we are probably a bit stronger at the end of the stints and that worked. It was good fun, but obviously when it’s up and down, like that it’s quite difficult.”

Of the issue with the nose cone, Vettel said that while it had cost him time, it had been the right decision to make the change. “I didn’t think I

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had damage to the nose. But it felt like something was stuck. You know hat with a lot of rubber off line maybe a big piece of rubber got stuck and that ruins the aerodynamics. I wasn’t sure. I tried another lap but it wasn’t the right thing to do, so we changed the nose. It cost a lot of time but was the right thing as then I was told that something on the front left of the wing was broken.”

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BITTERSWEET SPANISH HAMILTON HAPPY, BUTTO

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t was two differing stories at McLaren, after the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, as Lewis Hamilton professed himself satisfied with his run to eighth in the race while Jenson Button was disconsolate with ninth.

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GP FOR MCLAREN ON NOT

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round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD Having started from the back of the grid, Hamilton was the only driver to run a two-stop strategy. He used it to good effect and climbed into the points by the end of the race. In contrast Button, starting tenth, failed to make an impression and could only advance one position. “I’m quite happy with that: the team did a great job and it was the best I could do,” said Hamilton, who had initially qualified on pole only to be excluded

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rom the result for failing to return his car to park fermé.

“I didn’t know where I was when I was making my way through at the beginning. I was really surprised to see my option tyres last so long. It’s a little bit unfortunate we didn’t pip a few drivers ahead hrough the pitstops but nevertheless I had a good race, and a good ight with lots of people.”

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Hamilton is often thought of a driver who does not conserve his tyres well. He argued today’s performance should have that reputation reassessed. “It was an incredibly tough challenge, and I’m told I’m the only one to do a two stop strategy. People are always commenting how aggressive my driving style is, so I think today I proved them wrong.”

One place behind it was a pensive Jenson

Button who acknowledge a good race. “We kept foll calls on pitstops, which I t in that position, but it pro kept getting stuck in traff quick enough. I thought w a slightly better result bu Button’s travails with car, which plagued him o

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on Sunday. “From the word go I really wasn’t that comfortable in the car and I couldn’t get it working… I’m just personally disappointed with how the car felt underneath me – but it’s something I need to solve myself and find something that suits me a bit better… it’s not just one end. I feel like I have very low grip all the time. Hopefully we’ll solve it for Monaco because it’s a circuit I love.”

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ed that he had not had lowing other people’s think you have to do obably wasn’t right. We fic. All in all it wasn’t we might be looking at ut not a lot better.” the handling of his on Saturday, continued

round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD Hamilton and Button fell to third and sixth respectively in the Driver’s Championship while McLaren lost a little ground to Red Bull Racing in the Constructors’ Championship. Sebastian Vettel’s sixth position, while disappointing for Red Bull Racing, was enough to increase their advantage. They now lead McLaren 109-98.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh summed up race day in Spain for his drivers, “Jenson will be disappointed: he struggled with balance and grip all afternoon, and won’t be satisfied with the brace of world championship points that his ninth place delivered him.”

“Lewis, having started in 24th and last place following his qualifying penalty yesterday, drove an absolutely storming race to eighth place. Make no mistake about it was one of the most impressive races that Lewis has ever driven. His performance combined fabulous verve with commendable caution – and I’d go so far as to say that, rising above the frustration he inevitably felt, he’s inspired each and every one of us at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes with his stirring drive,” said Whitmarsh.

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MASSA’S BIGGEST SUPP FORMULA 1 CAREER IS O

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peculation is mounting that Felipe Massa is on the verge of being replaced as Fernando Alonso’s teammate at Ferrari.

After yet another below par performance, this time at the Spanish Grand Prix, even his allies in the Brazilian media are fearing his demise. This has prompted a frenzy of rumours over possible replacements.

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PORTERS FEAR HIS ON BRINK OF COLLAPSE

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round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD Team boss Stefano Domenicali fueled the speculation on Sunday by insisting that Ferrari expects the struggling Brazilian to “fight back starting in Monaco” and although Fernando Alonso is joint leader in the driver’s standings, the team is fourth in the constructor’s race and trailing the leaders by 56 points.

“We absolutely need his points to also fight for the constructors’ title,” said Domenicali.

However, prior to this, talk was already doing the rounds that Adrian Sutil could be set to play a role, should Ferrari bite the bullet and dump

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Massa, while Di Resta has been actively promoted by no less than Sir Jackie Stewart.

Speculation is that Sutil could either replace him directly, or replace a driver who moves from his existing team to Massa’s cockpit. It is the latter scenario that seems most likely.

Sutil, trying to resurrect his career after the Eric Lux assault affair, eturned to the F1 paddock at the weekend in Barcelona, accompanied by his manager Manfred Zimmermann. They spent a lot of time at Force ndia, his old team.

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round 5, spanish grand prix FOR THE RECORD The theory, that has emerged, is that the Anthony Hamilton managed Paul di Resta could be set to move to Ferrari, with Sutil to fill the Force India vacancy. But there is also a whisper that Nico Hulkenberg’s manager Timo Gans has been spotted in the Ferrari motor home in Spain.

“It’s important to be here,” Sutil told RTL at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“Hopefully something comes of it.

It’s still very early in the season, so I have to wait a bit, but on the other hand maybe I can get back into a cockpit quite quickly.”

He admitted that he spent “most of the time” during the Spanish Grand Prix with Force India.

Meanwhile axed Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari has advised Massa to relax and focus on getting his formula one career back on track.

Asked about Massa’s continuing crisis, Spaniard Alguersuari acknowledged that it is a “difficult time” in the Brazilian’s career.

“Right now the most important thing for him is to stop thinking about the external pressure and just focus on his work and his problems.

Sometimes you’re not competitive, something has happened and you don’t know what it is,” Alguersuari told the Spanish newspaper AS.

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“But the worst thing you can do is doubt, hesitate, get nervous and start looking at your teammate, because all that will happen is it will get worse,” he added. “Being in elite sport does not, as many believe, depend just on your skills, it’s about managing the psychological, physical and technical elements.”

“I am convinced that Massa is not now a slow driver, he can get back to being like Fernando [Alonso] and some days – why not?

– faster. The only difference between the two is in the head; that’s the difference between good and best,” said Alguersuari.

Livio Oricchio, the respected F1 correspondent for O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, fears the sport’s last Brazilian drivers – Massa and Bruno Senna – could soon lose their seats.

“As a driver, your main reference is always the work of your teammate, so in the sense that [for Massa and Senna] they are Fernando Alonso and Pastor Maldonado, it’s going very badly. At this point, only a miracle will keep Massa at Ferrari.”

“He would have to do what he has failed to do in the last two championships, which is to qualify close to Alonso and score points regularly. Neither is what a Ferrari driver is really about,” admitted Oricchio, “but it’s a huge challenge given Massa’s loss of confidence and an unbalanced car.”

Even Massa’s strongest supporters in Brazil, like O Globo journalist Celso Itibere, admit the situation is dire.

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“He is at risk his decline is progressive, he is failing to react and he runs the real risk of not finishing the season. At this time Ferrari has no one to take the job. Everyone they would like to have there – Perez, Kobayashi, Webber – are not available,” wrote Itibere .

Tuesday’s edition of the Italian sports daily Corriere dello Sport is expected to report that Massa’s ousting is imminent.

And the latest edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport did not even

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once mention Massa’s name. “It is as though he does not exist,” wrote Oricchio. “Yet it is an Italian newspaper, and he is a Ferrari driver.”

When asked if he fears for his F1 career, Massa said in Barcelona last weekend: “No. I live in the present. What will happen will happen.”

Asked if he is afraid another bad performance will seal his fate, Massa replied: “I’m not afraid of anything, especially criticism. It doesn’t affect me.”

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WHAT THEY

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

SEBASTIAN VETTEL - 6th

“It was difficult race and a hard day in the office. I’m not entirely happy, we could hav end. We were definitely stronger towards the end of the race and it was good fun, bu what the problem was when we had to change the nose of the car; I wasn’t sure if I h something. I tried another lap, but it wasn’t the right thing to do, so we decided to c right thing, as I was told there was some damage to the front left of the wing.”

ve finished maybe one position higher up, but we had a good recovery in the but when it’s up and down and up and down, it’s quite difficult. I don’t know had damage or something stuck at the front – maybe a piece of rubber or come in and change the nose to make sure. It lost us some time, but it was the

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

MARK WEBBER - 11th

“It was an interesting race and a difficult first lap. I don’t know where I got damage to and on the few laps before when it started playing up. We had to pit and when you’r you catch people your tyres get killed, so it’s chicken and egg. If you push past them pace; I was stuck behind Force India, you see the McLarens weren’t doing so much a

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o my front wing, but I had to pit for a new nose. I lost a lot of time with that – re out of position here it’s tough – you have to look after your tyres and when m, you have to pit earlier and commit to another stop. It was a mystery with the and Seb was just chipping away.”

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

JENSON BUTTON - 9th “Congratulations to Pastor! His was a great drive and I’m sure it will instil a lot of confidence in him and the Williams team. The Formula 1 form-book is very mixed-up at the moment, which is unusual, but that’s the way it appears to be going this season. As for us, well, a lot of my afternoon was spent stuck in traffic, and I had a Sauber breathing down my neck for most of the race. All in all, we weren’t quite quick enough today – but that’s something I need to solve myself. I need to find a set-up that suits me better as I feel like I have pretty poor grip at the moment. Having said that, I’m already looking forward to Monaco and a much better weekend there. It’s a circuit I love and hopefully a place where we can achieve a good result.”

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

LEWIS HAMILTON - 8th

“I’m proud of my performance today, and proud of the team too. They did a great area recently. All in all, then, I think today’s result was the best we could do. I was t it work. People often say that I have an aggressive driving style, but my final stint last. It was a huge challenge to come through the field from the back, but I never race my heart out, and that’s exactly what I did. For me, that’s what racing is all ab picture, I can’t really complain because, despite the setbacks I’ve had this season, The team has been working extremely hard, and our car is quick. So, when things long. Finally, big congratulations to Pastor [Maldonado] and everyone at Williams

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Hoch Zwei

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t job: a real improvement with the pitstops, following our difficulties in that the only driver to attempt a two-stop strategy, and I’m glad I was able to made on the Prime tyre was 31 laps, so I reckon I proved today that I can make tyres r gave up for a single second, right up to the finish line. Before the race I said I’d bout. Today was all about damage limitation. But, now, looking at the bigger , I’m still only eight points behind the leader of the drivers’ world championship. s go right, I think we’ll be in a great position – and it’ll come to us before too s – it’s a fantastic result for them and this is a great day for him personally.”

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FERNANDO ALONSO - 2nd

Ercole Colombo

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“This second place feels like a victory. Having finished the race in Sakhir almost a minute off the winner, today we overtook one of the two Red Bulls and we fought right to the very end for the win. On top of that, we have made up a lot of points on the Red Bull and the McLaren drivers, which makes the outcome of this weekend even more positive. At the end of the second stint of the race came the key moment: maybe Maldonaldo pitted a bit early and we stayed out on track, but we lost time behind a backmarker for a whole lap, partly because there was a yellow flag on the last part of the main straight. Then, with seven laps to go, I suddenly lost grip at the rear: I asked the team if something was broken because the handling of the car changed from one moment to the next, for no apparent reason. However, in the final stages, the Williams was still very quick and, right at the end, we were also lucky to hang onto second place as Kimi was coming back at me. This championship is very hard to interpret with all the different winners and the performance of the top teams going up and down from race to race. We definitely did not do the best job when it came to designing the car – there is still much to do – but we can be proud of how we got the most out of our potential, probably over and above the limits of the car. After two Grands Prix – China and Bahrain – where we suffered a lot, to be back for the podium is very positive and gives us confidence for the rest of the Championship. We must continue to bring updates all the time for the car, because it is all very close and the slightest thing can make the difference.”

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

FELIPE MASSA - 15th “My race was affected by a penalty that I had to take on lap 28. Honestly, I don’t think I did anything wrong and I believe it is better to look into the detail of what happened, because I was in the middle of a group of cars and I definitely did not try to overtake anyone. It’s a real shame, because up until then, the race was going well for me and a place in the top ten was comfortably within my reach. I was in the group with the Red Bulls and the McLarens and I could match their pace. I had a good opening lap when I managed to make up a lot of places. I am happy that Fernando was able to fight for the win all the way to the end, as it shows our car’s potential has definitely improved: we still don’t have the quickest car but it seems we are going down the right road. I want to congratulate Pastor, who is a great friend: the taste of a first Formula 1 win is something amazing and I can understand how he feels right now.”

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

NICO ROSBERG - 7th

“That was a difficult day for us and a very strange race. We didn’t manage to find the my last stint which was 26 very long laps. The one positive thing is that I was able to Once again today we saw a surprising and well deserved win which is good for Form looking forward to my home race in Monaco in two weeks with some updates on th

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e right tyre management so I lost two positions towards the end of the race on o defend my position against Lewis and keep seventh place, rather than eighth. mula One. Congratulations to Pastor and Frank at my old team Williams! Now I’m he car.”

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Hoch Zwei

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MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

“Obviously I am not happy with the outcome of the race as I think we could have ach through in racing. It is not easy to see from the TV replays but what happened from suddenly, shortly before the braking point, went to the left. When you are so tight to avoid hitting but it was too late. It is a shame, as I said, but then what I will do now is

chieved some nice points today. But then this is sometimes what you have to go my viewpoint was that he went to the right to defend the inside line, and then ogether in the braking zone, you have no other choice than to try to react and s to look ahead to the next race and try to attack there.�

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Hoch Zwei

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- DNF

round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

KIMI RAIKKONEN - 3rd

“I had a very good start and had a chance to overtake on the outside, but we did no because if everything had gone right in the first part of the race, we could have won teams that if you have a small problem or a small issue it can cost so much. Our car c the top step. My first stint was okay, but I didn’t have the speed to stay with the cars too far away. At the end we needed a few more laps and we could have fought for th the car feels strong everywhere.”

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ot have enough speed and I hit the limiter in fifth gear. I am a bit disappointed n. There was no issue with the speed of the car, but it is so close between all the can do it, but everything has to fall into the right place to be able to get on to s in front. We changed the tyres and it seemed to be pretty good, but we were he win. We’re not far away from it and so far we’ve made good steps forwards;

round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

ROMAIN GROSJEAN - 4th

“We lost position at the start and with it a bit of front wing too! It was cooler today w when you look at yesterday where I missed all of the final practice session. Both cars me at the start of the race as it was hard to get the front working properly with the w was really flying. I think we made the right decisions today; if you told us we could fin

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which didn’t suit us so much. Despite this, I am very happy with P4 especially s finishing strongly in the points is great for the team. It was pretty difficult for wing damaged, but we made some changes and at the end of the race the car nish third and fourth at the beginning of the weekend we’d have taken it.”

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BRUNO SENNA - DNF

“It has been a disappointing weekend for me on the whole. It was difficult to ove coming down the straight and went into the back of me. These weekends with l excellent pace with Pastor’s win. I am really happy for him and this will give the t

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ertake at the beginning of the race and then Schumacher got a big DRS boost lots of bad luck happen sometimes, but on the up side our car has shown team a big boost headed into the next race.�

round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

PASTOR MALDONADO - W

“It’s an unbelievable feeling winning my first race. The car felt really consistent, was fantastic to drive and our pace was strong throughout. Alonso was chasing me hard but we looked after our tyres well and I managed to open the gap towards the end. The team has worked so hard all year and this win is for them. To be the first Venezuelan to win a Formula One race is a big honour and hopefully I will win more races in the future.”

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Winner

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

PAUL DI RESTA - 14th “I’m disappointed not to have been further up in the battle for points because my race was looking promising to begin with. But as things unfolded I lost track position so I think we need to analyse why our performance on the hard tyres did not meet our expectations and exactly why we lost out. My main battle in the second half of the race was with the Toro Rossos, but they were on the soft tyres when I was on the hards and it was impossible to keep them behind me. I think it’s just one of those races that didn’t work out for me for whatever reason so we’ll take it on the chin and look to come back stronger in Monaco.”

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

NICO HULKENBERG - 10t

“Another very tough and competitive Grand Prix, so we are pleased to have pick and brilliant driving, especially Nico’s efforts to fend off Mark Webber in the fina of the Toro Rossos because our race pace was pretty similar and so we had to se that the entire field remains incredibly competitive and that we need to keep pu there is more speed to come and we hope to demonstrate that in the next few r

ked up a point with Nico. It was a hard-earned point with an optimised strategy al stages of the race. Paul was not far behind, but it was hard to keep him ahead ettle for P14. Looking back on the weekend as a whole we’ve seen once again ushing hard to optimise the developments we have made to the car. We know races.”

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

KAMUI KOBAYASHI - 5th “The team did a really great job, and the update on our car works very well. The pace in the race was a big improvement compared to the last race. I absolutely believe I could have made it onto the podium today if I had not been so unlucky in qualifying yesterday. If you start ninth you can be happy finishing fifth, but the car had more potential. I was in traffic and overtaking was not easy. I could not do it on the straights with the help of the DRS because there I wasn’t close enough. So I had to take some risks and do it in the corners. I damaged my tyres quite a lot in the last stint.

The competition is really tight at the moment. If you want to get in front of the pack you have to get everything right on the weekend.

This is what Pastor (Maldonado) did. The last time I came fifth was last year in Monaco, and I am very much looking forward to returning to the Principality soon.”

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

SERGIO PEREZ - DNF

“We have been very unlucky at the start. In turn one I managed to get passed Ro not really recover from the back of the field, and later I had to retire because of a the next race. Monaco is a very special Grand Prix for me.�

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omain (Grosjean), but then he hit me and I had to pit after lap one. We could a transmission problem. Whatever it was, it is over and I will be focusing on

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

DANIEL RICCIARDO - 13t

“I did not have too great a start, but with our strategy we managed to make up a few the final stint on new Primes, we no longer had the pace we had in the previous stin produce relatively good lap times, but by then we had lost too much time. It had loo it did not pan out that way. Overall, it was a bit up and down, but at least it showed s

w places. There were some parts of the race where we ran quite strongly, but in nt. I had managed to look after the tyres quite well all the way to the end and oked for a while as though we might have been able to challenge for tenth but some slight progress compared to Bahrain.�

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

JEAN ERIC VERGNE - 12t

“I had a really good start, moving up as high as tenth in a couple of laps. We deci from eighth place on lap 10. But then I was behind Di Resta and got a bit stuck. W Di Resta through the stop but the pit stop was not the best and so unfortunately time towards the end of my third stint and then in the final one, on the Prime ag past. After that I tried to catch Webber and Hulkenberg, but the tyres were no lon possible today, but for various reasons we did not manage it.�

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ided to pit early to try and get ahead of some more guys and I came in When I made my second stop for new Prime, I hoped I could have got past y that did not work out and I was still behind the Force India. I lost more gain, I was quicker than Daniel ahead of me. It took me a lot of time to get nger good enough. Overall, it was disappointing, because I feel points were

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN - 16

“I think we got as much out of the car as we could this afternoon. I had a good start, stops. The first stint on the options was good, and we stayed on the soft tyres right u laps too long. Still, it was a decent race and we showed we have decent pace on Sun quite enough to be able to fight throughout the whole race with the cars ahead. We to Monaco which will give us a chance of fighting higher up, so we’ll keep pushing t

passed Senna and was hanging on to the pack ahead up until the second up until the last pitstop but maybe the last stint on the hards was a couple of ndays, more than enough to easily pull away from the teams behind, but not e knew this track was going to be one of the tougher ones for us, but now we go to close the gap and aim to take another step forwards at the next race.�

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6th

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

VITALY PETROV - 17th

“I’m pleased with how I drove this afternoon and, like Heikki, I don’t think we could h good KERS map for qualifying but this afternoon it wasn’t working as well in the first tyre degradation was higher than we’d seen in the long runs in practice, so we need Apart from that it was one of those afternoons when we got as much out of the race difficulty of passing should give us a better chance of pushing the cars ahead throug

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have got much more performance from the car today. Yesterday we found a t and second stints, and I think that’s where we lost some time to Heikki. The to look again at why that happened and how we can fix it for future races. e as we could so now we’ll move on to Monaco where the circuit layout and the ghout the weekend.”

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PEDRO DE LA ROSA - 19t

“Racing in front of your home crowd is fantastic and so is finishing the race. I’m very really satisfied about that. It’s true that it’s a discrete position but we gave it our all an behind on others but our rhythm, in general, wasn’t bad. We know that we must con anticipated. We did a four-stop strategy and we finished near the limit because the t disintegrated, but the hards went much better and we were able to maintain a bette of our fans.”

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happy because it’s the second home Grand Prix of my career that I finish, so I’m nd we did what we could. We were ahead of the Marussias on some laps and ntinue to improve but we’re on the right line. The race was even harder than we tyres were degrading a lot. The first twenty laps were complicated. The softs literally er rhythm which enabled us to finish in our best position so far this season in front

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round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN -

“I had some trouble at the start with a little bit too much wheel spin, but it didn’t It was the first time I drove on heavy fuel this weekend so, with the first set of tyr good stint and was catching Pedro as we came in for the pit stop to switch to ha Spain and have a fresh start in Monaco.”

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t affect me too much and by the first turn I was already back up behind Pedro. res, my objective was to get used to them. On the second set I had a really ard tyres. That’s when my bad luck continued…I hope to leave it behind in

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DNF

round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

TIMO GLOCK - 18th

“I had a pretty good start. The first lap was good and I had a bit of a fight with Lewis the tyres alive as long as possible and we struggled with rear end instability again. F we’re missing pace, so we have to analyse and get on top of the problem before Mo F1 Team. They’ve done a great race result today.”

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for that lap. In general after that when positions were settled I just tried to keep From my side I can only push around 80% at the moment. It’s still not perfect and onaco. On a lighter note, congratulations to Pastor Maldonado and the Williams

round 5, Spanish grand prix driver reaction

CHARLES PIC - DNF “I didn’t get a very good start. From then on I was working well on my pace and got the right side of the HRTs again. Things were going well for me then on lap 26 I suddenly lost drive and came back into the pits, where unfortunately I had to retire.

We could see then that we have experienced a problem with the drive shaft, so we need to understand why that happened. There’s a lot of work for all of us in the next two weeks to improve for Monaco as we have not had the weekend we hoped for.

After going to Sir Frank’s 70th birthday event last night I am pleased for him that he had this result today for Pastor and his team. For our side we look ahead to the next race and some more progress.”

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report

QUALIFYING: MALDONADO HAMILTON AFTER MCLAR

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t would have been McLaren’s 150th pole position when Lewis Ham minutes of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, but to a halt on track, on the slowdown lap. The stewards demoted Ha Maldonado to top spot on the grid and local hero Fernando Alonso lin

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milton stormed to top spot on the timing screens during the final t the McLaren team had under-fuel Hamilton’s car which came amilton to the back of the grid and promoted Williams’ Pastor ning up second in the Ferrari F2012.

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O INHERITS POLE FROM REN BLUNDER

round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report Lewis Hamilton was stripped of pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after FIA stewards ruled that his on-track stoppage following his securing of the fastest time in qualifying constituted a breach of the sport’s Technical Regulations.

Hamilton appeared to have clinched McLaren’s 150th pole position in the dying seconds of Q3, displacing provisional front-of-grid driver Pastor Maldonado, but was almost immediately told by his team to pull over and stop his car. Both Hamilton and his team were subsequently called before the

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stewards to explain why he had not been able to return his car to the pits under ts own power as prescribed in article 6.6.2 of the FIA’s Technical Regulations.

According to an FIA statement: “The stewards heard from the team epresentative Mr Sam Michael [Sporting Director], who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an nsufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount [of uel] for sampling purposes.”

round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report This argument was, however, rejected by the stewards, who stated that “the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor”. They then ruled that the team had breached article 6.6.2 and excluded Hamilton from the qualifying result.

Hamilton was allowed to start but from the back of the grid. The penalty meant that Pastor Maldonado would take pole position for Spanish Grand Prix. It was the Venezuelan’s first in F1, it also marked Williams’ first pole position since the Brazilian GP of 2010, claimed by Nico Hulkenberg.

Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari was thus promoted to the front row, the Spaniard starting his home race from second on the grid.

Hamilton said afterwards, “This is such a disappointment. Today’s qualifying session was one of the best I’ve ever driven – the whole car was just rolling so smoothly – it felt fantastic. The team had done a fantastic job to bring the updates here this weekend – so I want to say a huge thank-you to all the men and women at the MTC for working day and night to get all the new components here this weekend.

“But, on my slowing-down lap, my engineers told me to stop on the track, and I didn’t know why.

Later, to hear that I’d been excluded from qualifying, was of course extremely disappointing.

“But, now, looking ahead, I think it’s clear that it’s going to be an incredibly tough race for us. Even so, as always, I’ll never give up and I’ll give it everything I’ve got. It would mean so much to me to get a good result here in Spain: it’s such a pleasure to come here and the support I get is amazing.

“As I always say, and as I always do, whatever

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report grid position I start a Grand Prix from, I’ll always race my heart out.”

For Maldonado it was a career defining moment, as he has successfully shaken off the ‘pay driver’ tag that haunted him in his first year in F1. His evolution into a strong competitor, deserving respect is complete.

He said afterwards, “We have been working so hard trying to understand these tyres and to develop our car around these tyres, we did a very good step forward for this race. There is a great atmosphere in the factory and team. The car looks fantastic especially in terms of race pace.”

It was also a timely 70th birthday present for team principal Frank Williams who was in his team’s pit garage in Barcelona to witness Maldonado’s feat.

The pressure on Ferrari to perform has been huge and Alonso showed why he is regarded as one of the best drivers of his generation as he muscled the cumbersome Ferrari F2012 to third on the grid in front of his adoring home crowd. The Spaniard continues to be a crucial galvanising factor in the Maranello camp with performances which surprise even himself.

“For us, it was impossible to dream about being in the top three in the first four races, so it is definitely a step forward. We did a step forward, I don’t know how much because I think P3 [which became P2] is overperforming. I was really happy with the lap, it was perfect, I could fit 100 more sets of tyres and not do better,” admitted Alonso.

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report The Lotus pair have looked strong all weekend, make that all year, and this time around Romain Grosjean ended the session fourth fastest, with Kimi Raikkonen set to head up the third row of the grid in fifth.

The team would probably have been hoping for a better grid position, considering their pace in practice, they will nevertheless be strong podium contenders as their race pace is at the top end of the spectrum.

Grosjean said at the end of the session, “It was a good performance from the team, especially as I didn’t run in FP3 because of a fuel pressure problem. For the set-up we went from what we’d found out yesterday and it worked pretty well. Everyone did a good job to get the car ready for qualifying after the problems of the morning. We can be happy with what we have achieved.”

Raikkonen commented, “I think we had a good chance to finish in the top three but we had a problem with the set-up. We’ll see how it goes in the race. There are a lot of small details which will decide who is on the top but we have a good car.”

Sauber have looked strong all weekend and both Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez made it into Q3, but Kobayashi’s C31 came to halt on his slow down lap at the end of Q2 and his qualifying session was over.

Kobayashi, who will start tenth, lamented, “I had an oil leak, which is really a shame. I had to stop and I did not drive in Q3. I had a good chance to qualify in the top five but we are confident on our long run in the race.”

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report

Perez ended sixth fastest, “It was quite good, better than expected.

The field is so close . It will be an interesting race. Today was more than we expected so hopefully tomorrow we can have another good surprise.�

Last of the top ten who gave a stab at a qualifying lap was Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, who will start from eighth on the grid, with his team mate Michael Schumacher set to start directly behind him in ninth spot on the grid.

Splitting the Silver Arrows duo will be championship points leader

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Sebastian Vettel. Much was expected from the world champion Red Bull team after their impressive showing in the morning’s free practice session, but Vettel and Mark Webber will start further down the grid than they have in quite some time.

In Q3 Vettel’s first lap was slow on purpose, then he had a a half hearted stab at a fast lap which he aborted before crossing the line, while Webber failed to make it beyond Q2 and will start from twelfth.

round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report

Vettel explained, “There is nothing is wrong. We decided to abort the lap to have a free choice of tyres for the race. If I had set a lap, we would have to start the race on soft tyres. In Q2, the first run was crucial. I didn’t manage to pull a lap out so I had to use my final set of tyres to get into Q3. We simply weren’t quick enough. We’ll see how it goes for tomorrow. We were a bit surprised how much of a step the others could do. But I’m quite confident for race, we always have a good race car. We have a couple of new sets which has proved successful for others in previous races this year.”

Webber alluded to a case of over confidence in the Red Bull garage,

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“The first lap in Q2 was very competitive but it lulled us into a false sense of security so we parked up the car. The times kept coming and I realised that t was going to be tight with about 50 seconds to go but it was too late by hen, you are committed to a strategy.�

In a quirky twist of fate the teammates of the top trio were comparatively way down the order: Jenson Button failing to make it into Q2 and will start 11th; Bruno Senna spun out in Q1 during his flying lap and will start 18th and Felipe Massa will start 17th after failing yet again (five times this year) to progress beyond Q2.

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Button, whose pace setting car from a day earlier, was simply not the same machine on qualifying, tried to explain, “I don’t know where it went wrong. All day I’ve struggled with balance. We were quickest on the soft tyre yesterday. I thought we would be reasonably competitive and at least get into Q3 but that’s not the case. I haven’t changed that much but struggled with the balance. I don’t know why. That final run, I had a lot understeer.

We’re out in Q2 and it doesn’t help because we don’t have any option tyres left [for the race].”

Senna told reporters afterwards, “I was in the wrong place at the wrong

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to

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ime during the session. I was stuck behind Felipe Massa on a slow out lap and Kimi Raikkonnen was on a flying lap behind. It was not great, not terrible up till then and then I pushed a little too hard on the last part of that part of he lap and the tyres just gave out.”

Massa blamed traffic for his below par showing, “I took a lot of traffic on my timed lap. I had to change completely the direction on track and I lost hree of four tenths.”

Everyone moved up one place on the grid after Hamilton was demoted o the back of the grid

round 5, SPANISH grand prix qualifying report Qualifying - Saturday, 12 May 2012 Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

No 4 18 5 10 9 15 8 1 7 14 3 2 11 12 17 16 6 19 21 20 25 24 22 23

Driver Lewis Hamilton Pastor Maldonado Fernando Alonso Romain Grosjean Kimi RäikkÜnen Sergio Perez Nico Rosberg Sebastian Vettel Michael Schumacher Kamui Kobayashi Jenson Button Mark Webber Paul di Resta Nico Hulkenberg Jean-Eric Vergne Daniel Ricciardo Felipe Massa Bruno Senna Vitaly Petrov Heikki Kovalainen Charles Pic Timo Glock Pedro de la Rosa Narain Karthikeyan Q1 107% Time

Team McLaren-Mercedes Williams-Renault Ferrari Lotus-Renault Lotus-Renault Sauber-Ferrari Mercedes Red Bull Racing-Renault Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Red Bull Racing-Renault Force India-Mercedes Force India-Mercedes STR-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Ferrari Williams-Renault Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth

Q1 1:22.583 1:23.380 1:23.276 1:23.248 1:23.406 1:24.261 1:23.370 1:23.850 1:23.757 1:23.386 1:23.510 1:23.592 1:23.852 1:23.720 1:24.362 1:23.906 1:23.886 1:24.981 1:25.277 1:25.507 1:26.582 1:27.032 1:27.555 1:31.122 1:28.363

Q2 1:22.465 1:22.105 1:22.862 1:22.667 1:22.856 1:22.773 1:22.882 1:22.884 1:22.904 1:22.897 1:22.944 1:22.977 1:23.125 1:23.177 1:23.265 1:23.442 1:23.444

Q3 1:2 1:2 1:2 1:2 1:2 1:2 1:2 no no no

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Laps 17 14 15 14 13 14 17 14 15 14 13 8 14 13 11 11 12 8 8 8 8 8 6 4

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3 21.707 22.285 22.302 22.424 22.487 22.533 23.005 o time o time o time

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT

PRACTICE 1: ALONSO SE

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ocal hero Fernando Alonso set the early pace in the first practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at Circuit de Catalunya, as the European leg of the 2012 Formula One world championship got underway.

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ETS THE EARLY PACE

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT The first morning session – run under glorious sunshine and bright blue skies – did not witness any radical movement in the pecking order.

Alonso was late going out, but just after the hour mark his name was top of the timing screens, his best time 1 minute 24.430 set shortly after that which suggests that there was still substantial time to be found on the quickening track.

Team mate Felipe Massa was just over a second down on Alonso’s best,

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12th and the timing sheets.

Bahrain Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel topped the timing screens briefly in the Red Bull RB8, before Alonso got going. The reigning world champion ended the session second best.

Showing a good turn of speed, in the wake of some major upgrades first scene at Mugello, was Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber C31 who was fast hroughout the session and racking up 28 laps in the process.

ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT

Fastest of the Mercedes powered brigade was Jenson Button with the fourth best time. Teammate Lewis Hamilton, whose car appeared to be on data capturing duty, as it emerged for it’s first run with a rear rake data acquisition tool. He ended the session eight fastest.

Neither of the McLaren drivers ran the higher nose version of the McLaren MP4-27, which was expected to make an appearance in Spain. They

d d

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GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012 ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

did however run an element on the nose which perhaps was gauging the drivers view from the cockpit.

Either way speculation is rife that the raised nose is part of a comprehensive front end over haul which the team will only release at the very last possible moment, hence keep their rivals guessing and photographers hovering around their pit garage.

round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT

Meanwhile pitstop practice was very much in evidence in the McLaren pit b equipment as the team seek to streamline their wheel changing work after some Valtteri Bottas was one of a number of reserve drivers doing duty, the Finn repla and impressing with the fifth fastest time in the Williams FW34.

Michael Schumacher only did 15 laps, ending sixth fastest with his team mate Ni Rosberg half a second slower in 14th.

Much is expected of the Lotus team this weekend, in the wake of their pace setting Mugello test, But with Romain Grosjean seventh and Kimi Raikkonen ninth it appears that duo have yet to be unleashed in anger. Grosjean spent most of the session watching his car being worked on and thus only completed 16 laps while Raikkonen racked up 29 laps – more than any other driver in the session.

Rounding out the top ten was Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India VJM04.

Apart from Bottas, other reserve drivers in action were: Jules Bianchi for Force India (18th), Alexander Rossi for Caterham (21st) and Dani Clos for HRT (24th).

ico

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box area with mechanics fussing with e costly blunders in past races. acing Bruno Senna for the first session,

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT Free Practice 1 - Friday, 11 May 2012 Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

No 5 1 14 3 19 7 10 4 9 12 17 6 2 8 15 16 18 11 21 24 20 25 22 23

Driver Fernando Alonso Sebastian Vettel Kamui Kobayashi Jenson Button Valtteri Bottas Michael Schumacher Romain Grosjean Lewis Hamilton Kimi RäikkÜnen Nico Hulkenberg Jean-Eric Vergne Felipe Massa Mark Webber Nico Rosberg Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo Pastor Maldonado Jules Bianchi Vitaly Petrov Timo Glock Alexander Rossi Charles Pic Pedro de la Rosa Dani Clos

Team Ferrari Red Bull Racing-Renault Sauber-Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Williams-Renault Mercedes Lotus-Renault McLaren-Mercedes Lotus-Renault Force India-Mercedes STR-Ferrari Ferrari Red Bull Racing-Renault Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Williams-Renault Force India-Mercedes Caterham-Renault Marussia-Cosworth Caterham-Renault Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth

Time 1:24.430 1:24.808 1:24.912 1:24.996 1:25.120 1:25.187 1:25.217 1:25.252 1:25.285 1:25.339 1:25.367 1:25.433 1:25.539 1:25.607 1:25.918 1:26.226 1:26.297 1:26.630 1:27.475 1:28.267 1:28.448 1:28.633 1:29.107 1:31.618

Gap 0.378 0.482 0.566 0.690 0.757 0.787 0.822 0.855 0.909 0.937 1.003 1.109 1.177 1.488 1.796 1.867 2.200 3.045 3.837 4.018 4.203 4.677 7.188

La 20 18 28 24 24 15 16 20 29 24 22 21 23 20 19 24 18 21 20 21 25 22 19 19

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Hoch Zwei

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aps 0 8 8 4 4 5 6 0 9 4 2 1 3 0 9 4 8 1 0 1 5 2 9 9

round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT

PRACTICE 2: BUTTON FA

J

enson Button ended day one of the Spanish Grand Prix weeke fastest of all, as the true pecking order started to emerge by day indicating that the tussle for top honours could be betwe Bull, Mercedes and Lotus, with Sauber looking promising too.

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ASTEST ON DAY ONE

end in Barcelona the end of the first een McLaren, Red

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Hoch Zwei

round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT

Ferrari appeared to lack the pace to mix it at the front despite a host of highly publicised updates to their cursed F2012. Again a Ferrari powered Sauber was faster than the pedigreed offering from Maranello.

At the front, with a set of soft option tyres bolted on Button powered around the Circuit de Catalunya in 1 minute 23.399 seconds, after overcoming a bout of understeer on the McLaren MP4-27 early on in the session. A few setup tweaks by his crew appeared to have sorted it out for the Englishman who won the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix.

Second fastest was Bahrain GP winner Sebastian Vettel again showing

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012 ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

strong pace and consistency in the Red Bull and only 0.164 seconds off Button’s best.

Up next, third quickest, was Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton fourth fastest in the McLaren, suggesting that the Mercedes powered cars are intent on reversing the trouncing they received in Bahrain from their Renault powered rivals.

Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean were fifth and sixth respectively, with the top six covered by half a second – it was very, very close at the top.

round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT An hour into proceedings Mark Webber got it all wrong on the exit of Turn 4, flying across the gravel before rejoining the track in his Red Bull RB8. The Australian ended the session seventh on the timing sheets and half a second down on his team mate.

Michael Schumacher was eighth after an inconspicuous session for the six times Spanish Grand Prix winner.

Kamui Kobayashi was fastest of the Ferrari powered posse, ending the session ninth after setting hearts fluttering with an off in the Turn 14 and Turn 15 kink late on in the session. No harm done.

Hamilton and Bruno Senna also had close calls around the same time, at the exact same place, as drivers pushed the limit in the final moments of practice.

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Rounding out the top ten was Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg who was also the last driver within a second of the fastest time set by Button.

Out of the top ten were the Ferrari pair of Felipe Massa (11th) and Fernando Alonso (14th) which indicated that the Italian squad had not found any extra pace compared to their rivals or they were playing one hell of a good game of bluff.

Ferrari fans would be hoping the latter.

Special mention has to be made about Narain Karthikeyan’s wretched day, after being forced to sit out the morning practice as Dani Close did duty for HRT. Thereafter the Indian driver’s car was plagued by an electrical problem that lost him an hour of track time. And when the 112 eventually did get out on track it was only until Turn 3…

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT Free Practice 2 - Friday, 11 May 2012 Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

No 3 1 8 4 9 10 2 7 14 12 6 15 18 5 11 17 16 19 20 21 24 25 22 23

Driver Jenson Button Sebastian Vettel Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton Kimi RäikkÜnen Romain Grosjean Mark Webber Michael Schumacher Kamui Kobayashi Nico Hulkenberg Felipe Massa Sergio Perez Pastor Maldonado Fernando Alonso Paul di Resta Jean-Eric Vergne Daniel Ricciardo Bruno Senna Heikki Kovalainen Vitaly Petrov Timo Glock Charles Pic Pedro de la Rosa Narain Karthikeyan

Team McLaren-Mercedes Red Bull Racing-Renault Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes Lotus-Renault Lotus-Renault Red Bull Racing-Renault Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari Force India-Mercedes Ferrari Sauber-Ferrari Williams-Renault Ferrari Force India-Mercedes STR-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Williams-Renault Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth

Time 1:23.399 1:23.563 1:23.771 1:23.909 1:23.918 1:23.964 1:24.065 1:24.080 1:24.214 1:24.365 1:24.418 1:24.422 1:24.468 1:24.600 1:24.688 1:24.733 1:24.769 1:25.047 1:26.296 1:26.740 1:27.314 1:27.664 1:28.235

Gap 0.164 0.372 0.510 0.519 0.565 0.666 0.681 0.815 0.966 1.019 1.023 1.069 1.201 1.289 1.334 1.370 1.648 2.897 3.341 3.915 4.265 4.836

Laps 38 38 41 32 32 37 34 36 41 22 35 32 40 33 30 34 37 42 36 35

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Hoch Zwei

round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT

PRACTICE 3: VETTEL PEA

W

orld champion Sebastian Vettel flirted with the top of timing screens in FP1 and FP2, but in the final free practice of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend the Red Bull driver was fastest and appeared to be peaking at exactly the right time while McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes struggled with various issues, while midfield teams Sauber and Williams showed impressive pace.

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AKING AT RIGHT TIME

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT Vettel left it until the very end of the session, to pop in a 1 minute 23.168 seconds – the best lap of the weekend, until then, around the Circuit de Catalunya in hotter than normal conditions for this time of the year in Barcelona.

Showing a good turn of speed on the soft tyres was Pastor Maldonado who ended second fastest in the Williams FW34, but teammate Bruno Senna failed to match the pace set by the Venezuelan by a whopping one second – ending the session 14th.

The surprise package was Sauber who topped the timing screens 1-2 with a few minutes to go. Both Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez quick and comfortable in the Ferrari powered C31. Kobayashi was third fastest and Perez fifth.

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Splitting the Sauber boys was Mark Webber who went fifth quickest, suggesting that the Red Bull pair would be the team to beat in Spain once again – both in qualifying and the race.

Again out paced by one of their customers, Ferrari’s best was Fernando Alonso in the F2012 who ended the session sixth quickest with teammate Felipe Massa about half a second slower, down in 11th. The last time a Ferrari started from pole position was with Alonso at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.

Rookie Jean-Eric Vergne, another one to shake up the form book, was seventh fastest in the Toro Rosso also ending the hour session half a second up on his teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT Jenson Button was fastest of the Mercedes powered drivers in eighth, the Friday pace setter struggling with grip as the team sought the fine line between understeer and oversteer on the MP4-27. From the outside it appeared that the Woking squad had taken a step backwards in the space of one day. Lewis Hamilton was 16th on the timing sheets, his best lap seriously baulked by traffic.

Also falling out of the front running zone were the Lotus pair, with Kimi

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Raikkonen ending the session ninth while teammate Romain Grosjean did two imed laps in his E20 before it spluttered to a halt with an electrical problem. He did not take part again. Like McLaren, the Enstone boys found themselves on he back-foot after starting the weekend strongly just 24 hours earlier.

Nico Rosberg was tenth in his Mercedes, he was also the last driver within one second of Vettel’s best. Team mate Michael Schumacher was 17th.

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round 5, SPANISH grand prix FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT Free Practice 3 - Saturday, 12 May 2012 Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

No 1 18 14 2 15 5 17 3 9 8 6 12 16 19 11 4 7 21 20 25 24 23 22 10

Driver Sebastian Vettel Pastor Maldonado Kamui Kobayashi Mark Webber Sergio Perez Fernando Alonso Jean-Eric Vergne Jenson Button Kimi RäikkÜnen Nico Rosberg Felipe Massa Nico Hulkenberg Daniel Ricciardo Bruno Senna Paul di Resta Lewis Hamilton Michael Schumacher Vitaly Petrov Heikki Kovalainen Charles Pic Timo Glock Narain Karthikeyan Pedro de la Rosa Romain Grosjean

Team Red Bull Racing-Renault Williams-Renault Sauber-Ferrari Red Bull Racing-Renault Sauber-Ferrari Ferrari STR-Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Lotus-Renault Mercedes Ferrari Force India-Mercedes STR-Ferrari Williams-Renault Force India-Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes Mercedes Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth Lotus-Renault

Time 1:23.168 1:23.336 1:23.350 1:23.578 1:23.742 1:23.807 1:23.833 1:23.909 1:23.936 1:24.070 1:24.179 1:24.323 1:24.331 1:24.409 1:24.599 1:24.778 1:24.825 1:25.911 1:26.587 1:27.469 1:27.689 1:28.207 1:28.373 No time

Gap 0.168 0.182 0.410 0.574 0.639 0.665 0.741 0.768 0.902 1.011 1.155 1.163 1.241 1.431 1.610 1.657 2.743 3.419 4.301 4.521 5.039 5.205

Lap 13 19 19 16 22 15 14 13 16 24 16 17 15 18 15 15 17 20 20 18 16 24 13 2

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Hoch Zwei

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

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ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012

ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012

ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012

ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012

ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012

ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012

ROUND 5, spanish GRAND RPIX

BIG PICTURE pastor’s big day

GRAND PRI X INTERNATIONAL ISSUE.?? 16.05.2012

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