F1 2012: the Spanish Grand Prix

[Ferry_vO]

First seven out after Q1:

18: Senna
19: Petrov
20: Kovalainen
21: Pic
22: Glock
23: De la Rosa
24: Karthikeyan

[Ferry_vO]

Positions 11-17 after Q2:

11: Button
12: Webber
13: Di Resta
14: Hulkenberg
15: Vergne
16: Ricciardo
17: Massa

And the fastest time for Maldonado in Q2!

[Ferry_vO]

Q3 results:

1: Hamilton
2: Maldonado
3: Alonso
4: Grosjean
5: Raikkonen
6: Perez
7: Rosberg
8: Vettel
9: Schumacher
10: Kobayashi

Lots of tire saving in Q3, no time set for Vettel, Schumacher and Kobayshi. Still a good performance by Maldonado. First win this season for Kimi tomorrow?

[wombat666]

One very odd qualifying session.
Maybe one for the Iceman but I'd never rule Alonso out on his home turf.

[Ferry_vO]

Ferrari did show an improvement over the wekend so far (Atl east Alonso did..)

Meanwhile Hamilton has been excluded from the qualifying results, because "the stewards found his car did not have sufficient fuel onboard to comply with the rules on its return to parc ferme."

So Maldonado on pole position tomorrow!

Full story here: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...2/5/13340.html

Not the first time this has happened to McLaren and Hamilton.. Remember him pushing the car back to the pit in Canada?

[Ferry_vO]

Full results:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
DSQ	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.583	1:22.465	1:21.707	17
2	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:23.380	1:22.105	1:22.285	14
3	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:23.276	1:22.862	1:22.302	15
4	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:23.248	1:22.667	1:22.424	14
5	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:23.406	1:22.856	1:22.487	13
6	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:24.261	1:22.773	1:22.533	14
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:23.370	1:22.882	1:23.005	17
8	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:23.850	1:22.884	no time	14
9	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:23.757	1:22.904	no time	15
10	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:23.386	1:22.897	no time	14
11	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:23.510	1:22.944		13
12	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:23.592	1:22.977		8
13	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:23.852	1:23.125		14
14	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:23.720	1:23.177		13
15	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:24.362	1:23.265		11
16	16	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:23.906	1:23.442		11
17	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:23.886	1:23.444		12
18	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1:24.981			8
19	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:25.277			8
20	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:25.507			8
21	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:26.582			8
22	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:27.032			8
23	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:27.555			6
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1:31.122			4
		Q1 107% Time		1:28.363

Note - Hamilton originally qualified on pole, but was subsequently excluded due to a fuel irregularity. Karthikeyan failed to meet the 107% requirement so races at the stewards' discretion.

[Wing_Z]

Meanwhile Hamilton has been excluded...

Ouch! Whoever did the (non)filling up might not be around any more at the end of this season.
But if he is, he might have to avoid Lewis Hamilton. Time will tell.
Great birthday present for Sir Frank on his 70th!
Who'd have thought we'd see a Williams - let alone Maldonado - on pole this year?
Alonso suddenly is promoted to the front row, too.
But I think Lotus have a real chance of a victory, here: I do not think Pastor will maintain the pace, and the Ferrari isn't quick enough yet.
And Vettel did the unthinkable, cruising round a couple of slow laps in Q3, to have essentially brand new tyres for the race.
Seems this one will be mostly about tyre strategy!

No	Driver	Team	Grid
18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	2
10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	3
9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	4
15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	5
8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	6
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	7
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	8
14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	9
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	10
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	11
11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	12
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	13
17	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	14
16	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	15
6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	16
19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	17
21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	18
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	19
25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	20
24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	21
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	22
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	23
4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	24

[Panther_99FS]

1	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	66	Winner	1	25
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	66	+3.1 secs	2	18
3	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	66	+3.8 secs	4	15
4	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	66	+14.7 secs	3	12
5	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	66	+64.6 secs	9	10
6	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	66	+67.5 secs	7	8
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	66	+77.9 secs	6	6
8	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	66	+78.1 secs	24	4
9	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	66	+85.2 secs	10	2
10	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	65	+1 Lap	13	1
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	-
DNF	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	37	+29 Laps	5	-
DNF	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	35	+31 Laps	20	-
DNF	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	22	+44 Laps	23	-
DNF	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	12	Accident damage	17	-
DNF	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	12	Accident	8	-

[wombat666]

I do enjoy watching Kamui Kobayashi at work!!!!

[Panther_99FS]

Cosworth might as well just leave the sport....

[Wing_Z]

Well that's what we were all saying about Williams, just a short time ago!

...I do not think Pastor will maintain the pace, and the Ferrari isn't quick enough yet...

I do love being made to eat my words, means the sport is less predictable than you give credit for.
5 winners in 5 races!

Pastor drove a faultless race, so credit to him.
But I actually thought it all a little boring, so much pit stopping you never knew who was actually racing who.
This might've been the fault of the TV coverage though, there were a few great moves through the field - not least Vettel showing he is a racer, too!

Late news is that the Williams garage blew up during Sir Frank's victory speech!
Fortunately no-one seriously injured, seems it was a fuel fire of sorts.
Plenty of damage and Senna's car blitzed.

[Panther_99FS]

Well that's what we were all saying about Williams, just a short time ago!

Williams hasn't finished dead last in every race like Cosworth has though....

[wombat666]

Williams hasn't finished dead last in every race like Cosworth has though....

Fresh from this week's copy of GPWEEK:
There are subtle signs that F1 engine supplier Cosworth may be about to pull the plug.
One of the big controversies surrounding the FIA’s choice of new entries for the 2010 Formula One season was based on the rumour that a key selection criterion was that incoming teams had to use a Cosworth engine.
Much was made of the celebrated engine supplier’s return to Formula One – Cosworth first became involved in F1 back in 1963, and the brand has been associated with 176 race victories.
No one expected to see a Cosworth-powered car take the chequered flag in 2010, as it takes time to build a race-winning team.
But no one expected Cosworth to disappear from the paddock with a whimper either, which is what appears to be going on at the moment.
In 2010, Cosworth had four customers in the F1 paddock: Lotus Racing (now Caterham), Virgin, HRT, and Williams. By 2011, that number was down to three, with Lotus making the switch to Renault power.
With Williams also making the move to a Renault engine for the 2012 season, Cosworth’s presence in the paddock has halved in three years, and only tail-enders Marussia and HRT now use their engines.
Speaking last year about the 2014 engine spec change, Mark Gallagher – who was still employed by Cosworth at the time – admitted that his company was worried about the incoming regulations.
“There’s a big concern on our side because the new rules have no cost restrictions applied,” Gallagher said. “So the manufacturers can spend a huge amount of money and we would have a space race around the new engine formula, which was never the idea. Everyone agreed that wasn’t the idea, but unfortunately that’s what happened. ... I think all the teams, not just our customers, don’t need to be spending more money on engine technology.”
Suspicions that Cosworth are planning to pull out of Formula One in 2014 gained added traction this weekend when GPWEEK established that the engine manufacturer no longer had a dedicated F1 PR, a highly unusual move for a supplier with an established paddock presence.

[Wing_Z]

Williams hasn't finished dead last in every race like Cosworth has though....

Yes well now you mention it...Williams' resurgence has everything to do with the fact that they dumped Cosworth for Renault!
Still, a pity if they do go; it will become a 3-engine series and I somehow still can't get my head around the "other" Ferrari-engined lot.