Category: Motor Racing

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso claimed his first pole position since the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix after surviving a spin and a yellow flag incident in a wet and heavy delayed qualifying session at Silverstone.

The session was interrupted for over an hour and a half when the level of standing water became impossible to handle. By the time it resumed, conditions were much improved, and although full wets were still the best choice for the remaining six minutes of Q2, intermediates were the way to go in the pole shoot-out.

Mark Webber looked to be in good shape as he put himself 0.8 seconds clear of the pack with a time of one minute, 51.793 seconds in the closing minutes, only for Alonso to pip it by 0.047 seconds. Webber’s reply was not quite fast enough and he had to be content with second position.

Germany’s two Formula One world champions will share row two with Michael Schumacher ahead of Sebastian Vettel. The Mercedes driver produced one of his best qualifying efforts to take third ahead of the Red Bull of Vettel.

Scuderia managed to got both its cars in the top five with Felipe Massa in fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus starts alongside the Brazilian, with Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado next up for Williams.

Lewis Hamilton was the best-placed British driver on the grid with eighth for McLaren. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth but will lose five places due to a gearbox change on his Force India.

Romain Grosjean qualified for Q3 only to the spin into the gravel at Vale at the end of Q2. The Lotus driver had to sit out Q3 and settle for tenth.

Inevitably there were some midfield upsets in the rain. Nico Rosberg was third at the red flag but tumbled to P13 after the restart while Sergio Perez dropped even further. The Sauber driver was the fastest before the stoppage, but his choice of intermediates proved too ambitious and he dropped down to tumbled to P17.

And yet the biggest story from Q1 was yet another Silverstone disappointment for Jenson Button. The McLaren driver could do no better than P18, and his hopes to get through on his final lap was dashed by yet more rain arriving in the third sector plus yellow flags for Timo Glock’s spun Marussia on the exit of Club.

Hamilton was the only home driver in the top ten, Force India’s Paul di Resta being edged out of a Q3 place by Alonso in the closing moments, leaving the Scot in P11.

Qualifying positions, Silverstone:

1.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m51.746s
2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m51.793s
3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m52.020s
4.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m52.199s
5.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m53.065s
6.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m53.290s
7.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m53.539s
8.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m53.543s
9.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m54.382s
10.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        no time
11.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m57.009s
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m57.071s
13.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m57.108s
14.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m57.132s
15.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m57.426s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m57.719s
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m57.895s
18.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m48.044s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m49.027s
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m49.477s
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m51.618s
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m52.742s
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m53.040s
24.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m54.143s

107 per cent time: 1m53.718s

Fernando Alonso made it a wonderful sporting weekend for Spain with victory in an exciting European Grand Prix at Valencia.

The double world champion came through from eleventh on the grid to take a remarkable home victory and he now leads the world championship.

Alonso benefited from Sebastian Vettel’s non-finish to record his second win of the season. The German had this race under control during the first half but a mechanical problem on the Red Bull forced him out.

Lewis Hamilton was also out of the European Grand Prix after a collision with Pastor Maldonado’s Williams as they fought for third.

Romain Grosjean had looked like a victory threat as the Lotus driver chased Alonso, only to suffer an alternator failure, but his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen came through to claim second after a late pass on the fading Hamilton, whose incident with Maldonado then allowed Michael Schumacher to make his podium return for Mercedes in third position, chased by 19th-place qualifier Mark Webber’s Red Bull.

Vettel commanded the early stages, immediately pulling out a lead of several seconds as the pack behind took several corners to sort itself out. Front row qualifier Hamilton got away slowly, and had to fend off before establishing himself in second ahead of Grosjean, Kamui Kobayashi, Maldonado, Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and the fast-starting Alonso.

During the opening stint Alonso overtook Hulkenberg and followed Raikkonen past Maldonado, then jumped Raikkonen and Kobayashi by running one lap longer before his first pitstop.

This group then came out in a long train of yet-to-stop cars, through which Alonso made much more assertive progress than his rivals.

Approaching half-distance, Vettel was leading by twenty seconds over Grosjean, who had overtaken Hamilton with a neat outside-line move on lap ten and then pulled out a ten seconds gap over the McLaren, which had Alonso edging closer.

When the Safety Car was called out to clear debris from a clash between Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso and Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham, most drivers made their second and final pitstops.

Hamilton’s pitstop was a disaster. That allowed Alonso to gain a position to third, and the Spaniard then went around the outside of Grosjean into the first corner at the restart to claim second.

Moments later that second position became the race lead, as Vettel’s Red Bull suddenly cut out (possibly an alternator failure) and retired, to the world champion’s shock.

Grosjean kept Alonso under pressure and still seemed a likely winner, only for an alternator failure to halt the Lotus with 17 laps to the flag.

After that Alonso was able to pull clear and become the first repeat winner this season, retaking the world championship lead in the process.

Hamilton held on to second until the final two laps, when his tyres fading away. Raikkonen got past after a long battle, but when Maldonado tried to do the same, the pair clashed, putting the McLaren in the barriers and breaking the front wing off his Williams.

That allowed Schumacher through to claim the first podium of his Formula One return, as fended off Webber, who made great progress through from P19 on the grid.

Maldonado was able to finish the race despite the clash and the Venezuelan was followed home by his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna, who got a drive-through penalty for a collision with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, who’d enjoyed a long spell in fourth place prior to the first round of pit stops. That became P11 after Maldonado’s penalty.

Both Schumacher and Webber passed the Force Indias in the closing stages, with Nico Rosberg then getting his Mercedes between Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta’s Force Indias to take sixth on the final lap.

Jenson Button had a low-key run to eighth for McLaren, ahead of Sergio Perez’s Sauber and the limping Maldonado.

The second Ferrari of Felipe Massa was delayed with damage from a collision with Kobayashi and finished a lowly P16. Kobayashi had to retire after the incident.

For some of the race it looked like Caterham might score its first point, as solid pace and the attrition ahead allowed Vitaly Petrov to pick his way up to tenth place. But the Russian was pushed back down the order and then tangled with Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo.

After the race, Vergne received a 10-place grid drop and a €25,000 fine for his collision with Kovalainen.

Alonso now has 111 points, from Webber on 91. Then come Hamilton on 88 and Vettel on 85, as Rosberg moves to fifth on 75 and Raikkonen to sixth on 73.

In the constructors chase, Red Bull have 176 to McLaren’s 137, Lotus’s 126, Ferrari’s 122 and Mercedes’ 92.

European Grand Prix race result, 57 laps:

1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    1h44:16.449
2.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +6.421
3.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +12.639
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +13.628
5.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +19.993
6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +21.176
7.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +22.886
8.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +24.653
9.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +27.777
10.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +35.900
11.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +37.000
12.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +54.630*
13.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1:15.871
14.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1:34.654
15.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +1:36.565
16.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1 lap
17.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +1 lap
18.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +1 lap
19.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +2 laps

*Post-race penalty for crashing into Hamilton. Added 20 seconds.

Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:42.163

Not classified/retirements:

Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                41 laps
Vettel        Red Bull-Renault             34 laps
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               34 laps
Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari           27 laps
Glock         Marussia-Cosworth            1 lap

World Championship standings, round 8:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       111
2.  Webber        91
3.  Hamilton      88
4.  Vettel        85
5.  Rosberg       75
6.  Raikkonen     73
7.  Grosjean      53
8.  Button        49
9.  Perez         39
10.  Maldonado     29
11.  Di Resta      27
12.  Kobayashi     21
13.  Hulkenberg    17
14.  Schumacher    17
15.  Senna         16
16.  Massa         11
17.  Vergne         4
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          176
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          137
3.  Lotus-Renault             126
4.  Ferrari                   122
5.  Mercedes                   92
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             60
7.  Williams-Renault           45
8.  Force India-Mercedes       44
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: British Grand Prix, Silverstone. July 6-8.

Sebastian Vettel seized the opportunity at Valencia by beating both Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado to pole position in an exciting qualifying session.

The new revisions to the Red Bull RB8 featuring upgrades to the front wing, floor, sidepods, front suspension and diffuser certainly made the car quicker with Vettel achieving his third consecutive pole at the circuit.

Williams driver Maldonado looked set to start in P1 for the second time this season – having inherited the Barcelona pole after Hamilton was penalised – as he surged to the top with a one minute, 38.475 seconds lap in the closing moments of Q3.

But Vettel was flying in the revised Red Bull, coming through to depose Maldonado by nearly four tenths of a second with a one minute, 38.086 seconds.

By taking pole position, the double world champion has now equalled Jim Clark and Alain Prost’s record of 33 career poles in the sport. A remarkable achievement.

As for Lewis Hamilton, the championship leader was able to slipped ahead of Maldonado by 0.065 seconds with his final Q3 lap.

Yet again, Lotus was unable to challenge for pole despite looking good in final practice. Romain Grosjean will start in fourth position ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, with the time difference between the team-mates was only 0.008 seconds.

The astonishingly close times in qualifying claimed several early victims – including both Ferraris, Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber – none of which made it into the top ten.

That was in part because a host of underdogs proceeded to Q3, with both Force Indias and Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi reaching the top ten shootout.

In fact, Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta made an appearance inside the top four during Q3 before being edged back down to eighth and tenth respectively.

Jenson Button showed signs of improved form but will start the European Grand Prix in ninth for McLaren.

As for Nico Rosberg, who set the initial pace for Mercedes, the Chinese Grand Prix winner will line up on the grid in sixth ahead of Kamui Kobayashi.

Less than three tenths of a second covered the top 13 cars in Q2, and several top teams were squeezed out.

Most significantly for the title battle and most disappointing for the Spanish crowd was that Alonso missed out on Q3 by 0.004 seconds, as lapping just 0.218 seconds off pacesetter Grosjean left him P11.

Michael Schumacher squeezed in between the Scuderias in P12, with all three less than 0.08 seconds from the Q3 cut-off.

The other early shock was that Mark Webber could only managed P19, hampered by hydraulic issues and a lack of DRS on his Red Bull.

The qualifying session gave Heikki Kovalainen and Caterham another chance to star, and the Finn outpaced both Toro Rossos to take P16 on the grid, behind Bruno Senna’s Williams and the Sauber of Sergio Perez, both of whom were some way off their team-mates’ pace in Q2.

It was a tough session for Marussia. While Timo Glock was sidelined by illness, his team-mate Charles Pic was unable to beat either HRT.

Qualifying positions for the European Grand Prix, Valencia:

1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m38.086s
2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.410s
3.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m38.475s
4.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m38.505s
5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m38.513s
6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m38.623s
7.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.741s
8.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m38.752s
9.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.801s
10.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m38.992s
11.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m38.707s
12.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m38.770s
13.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m38.780s
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m39.207s
15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.358s
16.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m40.295s
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m40.358s
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m40.203s
19.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m40.395s
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m40.457s
21.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m42.171s
22.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m42.527s
23.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m42.675s

107 per cent time: 1m45.742s

Five years on after winning his maiden Formula One victory, Lewis Hamilton becomes the sport’s seventh winner with a storming charge in the Canadian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver finally took his first win of the season with a fight back to the front, passing both Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in the late stages of a thrilling race.

Hamilton’s victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve means he has won this event three times and he now leads the world championship after seven races.

Lotus’s Romain Grosjean and Sauber’s Sergio Perez took the second podium finishes of their careers as they demoted the fading Alonso, who eventually dropped to fifth.

Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel only finished in fourth, but had led Hamilton and Alonso in the opening stint.

The Red Bull driver was the first of the trio to stop for tyres, and found himself jumped by both his rivals as they came in shortly afterwards.

Alonso came off best as he vaulted both the Red Bull and the McLaren, but Hamilton was able to re-pass the Ferrari down the back straight thanks to DRS.

The McLaren then edged slightly away before coming in for a second tyre stop on lap 49.

Alonso and Vettel opted a risky strategy in trying to race until the end on their existing rubber, but Hamilton had the speed to hunt down and pass both of them, going to win and claim the points lead in the process.

Vettel then gave up his one-stop attempt and made a very late tyre stop, while Alonso clung on and hoped to still make it to the end in second position, only for his pace to drop off dramatically.

Grosjean – who had pitted only two laps later than the Ferrari – was soon past Alonso into second position, with Perez (who made his sole pit stop until lap 41) and the recovering Vettel also easily dismissing the Spaniard.

Two-stoppers Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber were sixth and seventh for Mercedes and Red Bull respectively, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi.

Felipe Massa spun from fifth to P12 in his Ferrari, and had to settle for tenth after stopping twice for tyres.

Force India’s Paul di Resta had a spell as high as sixth in the early running, only to lose ground with a relatively early first of two pit stops, leaving him P11.

It was another disastrous race for both Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher. The McLaren driver had to make three tyre stops and finished a lapped P16, while the rear wing flap on Schumacher’s Mercedes jammed open, ending his race.

Canadian Grand Prix, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. 70 laps:
1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h32:29.586
2.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +2.513
3.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +5.260
4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +7.295
5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +13.411
6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +13.842
7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +15.085
8.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +15.567
9.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +24.432
10.  Massa         Ferrari                    +25.272
11.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +37.693
12.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +46.236
13.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +47.052
14.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:04.475
15.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
16.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
17.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
19.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:15.752

Not classified/retirements:
Glock         Marussia-Cosworth            57 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     34 laps
De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth                 25 laps
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 23 laps

World Championship standings, round 7:                

Drivers:           
1.  Hamilton      88
2.  Alonso        86
3.  Vettel        85
4.  Webber        79
5.  Rosberg       67
6.  Raikkonen     55
7.  Grosjean      53
8.  Button        45
9.  Perez         37
10.  Maldonado     29
11.  Kobayashi     21
12.  Di Resta      21
13.  Senna         15
14.  Massa         11
15.  Hulkenberg     7
16.  Vergne         4
17.  Schumacher     2
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          164
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          133
3.  Lotus-Renault             108
4.  Ferrari                    97
5.  Mercedes                   69
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             58
7.  Williams-Renault           44
8.  Force India-Mercedes       28
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: European Grand Prix, Valencia. June 22-24.

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel achieved his 32nd pole position in Formula One with an exceptional performance in qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Red Bull driver led every qualifying session in Montreal. To claim his second successive pole is a fantastic achievement.

Vettel’s performance came despite Red Bull being told to change their front hubs and brake ducts after the FIA feared that they were conferring an aerodynamic benefit and the recent modification to the rear floor of the RB8.

His margin to Lewis Hamilton was three-tenths of a second. A quite comfortable gap to his nearest challenger.

In fact, the Red Bull driver’s cushion was surprisingly sufficient given that just eight-tenths had covered 17 cars in Q1 while the whole Q2 field had been within a second.

This really showcases how incredibly close the level of competition in Formula One this season.

Vettel started Q3 on provisional pole with a lap time of one minute, 13.905 seconds. No one was able to beat this and yet the young German was able to improve with a time of one minute, 13.784 seconds on his second run.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton will join Vettel on the front row, having grabbed second from Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari with his second Q3 attempt.

Alonso looked like a pole contender until a disappointing final sector on his best lap left the Scuderia driver to settle for third.

Mark Webber completes the top four, followed by Nico Rosberg in the leader Mercedes – four positions ahead of team-mate Michael Schumacher – and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari in sixth.

Romain Grosjean reached Q3 for Lotus and claimed seventh but his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was eliminated and will start in P12.

Force India’s Paul di Resta made his second Q3 appearance of the season and earned eighth for his efforts.

As for Jenson Button, he avoided a third consecutive Q2 elimination, but only just.

The McLaren driver sat in tenth at the end of the second segment and looked in real danger of being edged out by Pastor Maldonado, only for the Spanish Grand Prix winner to spin his Williams into the wall at the final chicane, leaving him P17.

Button will start on row five, having spoiled one set of super softs by locking up.

After crashing into the Wall of Champions in practice, Bruno Senna will start one position ahead of his Williams team-mate Maldonado in P16.

Also out in Q2 were both Saubers – with Kamui Kobayashi just 0.008 seconds shy of a Q3 spot in P11 and Sergio Perez back in P15 – the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo.

Following his crash in the build-up to qualifying, Jean-Eric Vergne’s underwhelming Saturday continued as a mistake on his best lap saw the Frenchman exiting Q1 for the fourth time in his first seven events.

Not only was he knocked out, but Vergne was outqualified by both Caterhams and will start down in a disappointing P20.

In another Q1 surprise, Pedro de la Rosa put his HRT in P21 on the grid, beating both Marussias.

Qualifying positions, Canadian Grand Prix:

1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m13.784s
2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m14.087s
3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m14.151s
4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m14.346s
5.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m14.411s
6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m14.465s
7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m14.645s
8.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m14.705s
9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m14.812s
10.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m15.182s
11.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m14.688s
12.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m14.734s
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m14.748s
14.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m15.078s
15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m15.156s
16.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m15.170s
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m15.231s
18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m16.263s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m16.482s
20.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m16.602s
21.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m17.492s
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m17.901s
23.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m18.255s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m18.330s

107 per cent time: 1m19.887s

Mark Webber put in a masterful drive and resisted a five-car train behind him to scored his second Monaco Grand Prix victory and become the sixth winner in six races.

This impressive statistic is unprecedented in the sport’s rich history, but the Australian’s latest triumph did make Red Bull Racing the first team to notch up a repeat win this season.

Nico Rosberg gave chase to the leading Red Bull throughout the 78-lap race but had little to challenge. Second place is still a solid result for himself and Mercedes.

Completing the Monaco podium is Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver now leads the world championship with 76 points.

Thanks to an inspired race strategy from Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel finished in an excellent fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. The top six were covered by only 6.2 seconds at the chequered flag.

Pole position starter Webber held off Rosberg’s Mercedes away from the grid, then remained ahead through the sole pit-stop sequence, despite Rosberg going for fresh tyres earlier.

Vettel brought himself into contention by getting up to sixth at the start, and then stayed out until lap 45 before switching from softs to the supersofts.

Lapping 1.5 seconds faster compared to the others while leading, the defending champion was able to emerge from his pit-stop in fourth ahead of Hamilton, who had lost out to Alonso in the pits.

Rain had threatened all race, and became slightly heavier going into the final eight laps, just as the leaders’ tyres began to fade.

That brought the top six even closer together, with Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and Massa – in his strongest drive of the year so far – suddenly right on Webber’s tail.

But as the drizzle eased again, the pace increased and Webber was able to wrap up his first win of this year.

A first corner crash eliminated a potential podium contender with Lotus’s Romain Grosjean tangling with Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes, breaking the front suspension and sending it spinning across the pack at Sainte Devote.

Remarkably none of the front-runners hit it, but Kamui Kobayashi was not so lucky. His Sauber became airborne and would later retired with suspension damage. Further back, Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado ran into Pedro de la Rosa and was forced to retire.

Schumacher was able to continue and ran in seventh place until fuel pressure problems forced him into the pits and out of the race.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne then picked up that position – a very early pit-stop on lap 18 having given him chance to run in clean air and vault up the order. But a decision to pit for intermediates in the late shower was a big mistake and dropped him out of the points.

Finishing in seventh and eighth were the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, with Kimi Raikkonen taking ninth ahead of Bruno Senna.

The Iceman lost time when his tyres dramatically faded in the first stint and he then spent a while trapped behind Charles Pic’s Marussia following his pit-stop.

Jenson Button failed to make any progress in the McLaren. After taking to the escape road to avoid the Sainte Devote mayhem, he spent most of the race trying to pass Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham, eventually spinning in the Swimming Pool complex in his efforts, and retiring soon after.

Kovalainen had been on course for eleventh, but had to pit with front wing damage amid a fraught battle with Sauber’s Sergio Perez, so fell to P13 behind Vergne.

It wasn’t a classic Monaco Grand Prix with a high speed train of cars. As each driver was managing their tyres. The lack of overtaking made it difficult around the streets of the Principality and yet it was a close and tense race. Six new winners in the past six events? Awesome.

Monaco Grand Prix race results, 78 laps:

1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           1h46:06.557
2.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +0.643
3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +0.947
4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +1.343
5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +4.101
6.  Massa         Ferrari                    +6.195
7.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +41.537
8.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +42.562
9.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +44.036
10.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +44.516
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +1 lap
12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
14.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
15.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps

Fastest lap: Perez, 1:17.298

Not classified/retirements:

Button        McLaren-Mercedes             71 laps
Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari           66 laps
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            65 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     64 laps
Petrov        Caterham-Renault             16 laps
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               6 laps
De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth                 1 lap
Maldonado     Williams-Renault             1 lap
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                1 lap

World Championship standings, round 6:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso        76
2.  Vettel        73
3.  Webber        73
4.  Hamilton      63
5.  Rosberg       59
6.  Raikkonen     51
7.  Button        45
8.  Grosjean      35
9.  Maldonado     29
10.  Perez         22
11.  Di Resta      21
12.  Kobayashi     19
13.  Senna         15
14.  Massa         10
15.  Hulkenberg     7
16.  Vergne         4
17.  Schumacher     2
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          146
2.  McLaren-Mercedes          108
3.  Ferrari                    86
4.  Lotus-Renault              86
5.  Mercedes                   61
6.  Williams-Renault           44
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             41
8.  Force India-Mercedes       28
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal. June 8-10.

Michael Schumacher might have been fastest around the streets of Monte Carlo but it will be Mark Webber who starts the Monaco Grand Prix in pole position with the German receiving his five-place grid penalty for crashing into Bruno Senna in Spain.

The seven-time world champion vaulted his Mercedes from a provisional fifth after his first Q3 run to the top grid slot with a time of one minute, 14.301 seconds at the end of an exciting qualifying session.

But the penalty for his Barcelona incident means Schumacher will not be able to claim the first pole position since making his Formula One comeback. Instead Red Bull driver Webber – who was only 0.08 seconds slower – will head the Monte Carlo grid for the second time in his Formula One career.

Nico Rosberg held provisional pole for most of Q3, before slipping down to third. The Chinese Grand Prix winner will start the race on the front row following his Mercedes team-mate’s penalty.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was fourth quickest, ahead of Romain Grosjean. The Lotus driver was a likely contender for the top spot but a poor middle sector on his final lap left him fifth.

Ferrari could not manage the pole challenge it had been tipped for, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa sixth and seventh, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado made it to Q3 and was ninth, but his Williams will also be moved down the order due to the ten-place penalty for his incident with Sergio Perez in final practice.

As for the championship leader Sebastian Vettel, the defending world champion elected not to run in Q3 despite making it through into the top-ten shootout.

For the second successive weekend Jenson Button failed to get beyond Q2. The McLaren driver could not improve on his time of one minute, 15.536 seconds and he will start the race down in a disappointing P13.

Twelve months on from his dramatic crash at the Nouvelle Chicane, Sergio Perez was in trouble in Monaco qualifying again as he slid into the Swimming Pool barrier early in Q1.

Television replays showed his front-left wheel was not pointing in the correct direction before he hit the barrier. It’s possible that this was damaged following his collision with Pastor Maldonado at Portier during the final practice session.

The Mexican tried to drag his broken Sauber back to the pits but succeeded only in causing a red flag when he shed a wheel and had to park at La Rascasse.

Perez’s team-mate Kamui Kobayashi also had a brush with the wall on the approach to St. Devote, but continued intact and qualified P12.

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne was the other driver to crash, losing control under braking for the Nouvelle Chicane and clouting the barriers, causing wing and suspension damage. That left him P17 on the grid – but this was just one position behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Neither Force India made into Q3, with Nico Hulkenberg P11 and Paul di Resta P15.

Bruno Senna again failed to match Williams team-mate Maldonado’s pace and was only P14.

While at the back, Heikki Kovalainen came within a tenth of getting his Caterham into Q2. The Finn did beat his team-mate Vitaly Petrov by nearly a second.

Pedro de la Rosa in the HRT managed to split the Marussias and was only a tenth off Timo Glock.

So an impressive lap by both Schumacher and Webber. If only Michael didn’t hit the Williams at the last race in Spain… Can Mark become the sixth winner in Formula One? We will find out on race day.

Qualifying positions for the Monaco Grand Prix:

1. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m14.381s
2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m14.448s
3. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m14.583s
4. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m14.639s
5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m14.948s
6. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m14.301s*
7. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m15.049s
8. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m15.199s
9.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     no time
10. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m15.421s
11. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m15.508s
12. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m15.536s
13. Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m15.709s
14. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m15.718s
15. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m15.878s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m16.885s
17. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m16.538s
18. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m17.404s
19. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m15.245s**
20. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m17.947s
21. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m18.096s
22. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m18.476s
23. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m19.310s
24. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       no time

107 per cent time: 1m20.697s

*Five-place grid penalty
**Ten-place grid penalty

Pastor Maldonado becomes the fifth driver in five races to win in Formula One with an incredible drive in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan resisted huge pressure from home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso in the late stages of the race to take his maiden victory and return Williams back to the top step of the podium since 2004.

Despite making the better getaway at the start and leading the early stages of the race, Alonso had to settle with second for Ferrari.

Completing the podium is Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus. Team-mate Romain Grosjean finished in fourth position ahead of Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber and defending world champion Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull.

Alonso had taken the lead at the start by beating Maldonado into the first corner, and then inched into a three-second lead during the first stint, as they pulled clear of the rest of the field.

But the combination of a stunning out-lap by Maldonado and Alonso getting stuck behind Charles Pic’s Marussia on his in-lap saw the Williams leapfrog the Ferrari at the second pit-stops, and then storm away for a few laps until seven seconds clear.

Alonso then started coming back at Maldonado, getting the gap down to 4.2 seconds before the Williams had a slightly slow final pit-stop with a left-rear issue.

A few laps behind Raikkonen, who was running much further before his final pit-stop, meant the leaders were absolutely nose-to-tail going into the closing laps as both tried to keep their tyres intact.

For a while it looked inevitable that Maldonado would succumb to Alonso’s pressure, but it was the Ferrari that started to lose pace in the final stages, and the lead gap began to increase again – allowing Maldonado to take a very unexpected victory by 3.1 seconds.

Raikkonen’s fresher tyres allowed him to gain on the leaders at a ferocious rate as the race neared its end, but he ran out of laps to catch Alonso, finishing six tenths of a second adrift.

Romain Grosjean finished fourth in Lotus, with Kamui Kobayashi producing some bold passes on the way to fifth for Sauber.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel produced a late charge to take sixth after losing ground with a drive-through penalty for not slowing down under the yellow flags and requiring a new front wing at his final pit-stop.

Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and both McLarens fell victim to Vettel’s surge up the order, with Rosberg then resisted last-place starter Lewis Hamilton for seventh as he managed to make a two-stop strategy work against expectations. His team-mate Jenson Button struggled for speed all day and finished in a disappointing ninth.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg resisted strong pressure from Mark Webber, who lost ground on the opening lap and needed an out-of-sequence pit-stop for a new Red Bull front wing.

Behind the Toro Rossos and the Force India of Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa had another difficult race for Ferrari. Penalised for a yellow flag infringement, the Brazilian finished only in P15.

Retirements included Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna – who tangled at the first corner when the fresh-tyre-shod Mercedes ran into the back of the yet-to-pit Williams – and Sergio Perez.

The Sauber picked up a puncture while trying to attack the Lotus pair at the first corner, and later parked just after a messy pit-stop.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are now joint leaders in the world championship with 61 points. The next race is the most glamorous, the Monaco Grand Prix. Will we see a new winner once again?

Spanish Grand Prix race results, 66 laps:

1.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           1h39:09.145
2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +3.195
3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +3.884
4.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +14.799
5.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:14.641
6.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +1:17.576
7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +1:27.919
8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +1:28.100
9.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1:25.200
10.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +1 lap
12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
14.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
19.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps

Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250

Not classified/retirements:

Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               38 laps
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            36 laps
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 23 laps
Senna         Williams-Renault             13 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     13 laps

World Championship standings, round 5:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        61
2.  Alonso        61
3.  Hamilton      53
4.  Raikkonen     49
5.  Webber        48
6.  Button        45
7.  Rosberg       41
8.  Grosjean      35
9.  Maldonado     29
10.  Perez         22
11.  Kobayashi     19
12.  Di Resta      15
13.  Senna         14
14.  Vergne         4
15.  Hulkenberg     3
16.  Schumacher     2
17.  Massa          2
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          109
2.  McLaren-Mercedes           98
3.  Lotus-Renault              84
4.  Ferrari                    63
5.  Williams-Renault           43
6.  Mercedes                   43
7.  Sauber-Ferrari             41
8.  Force India-Mercedes       18
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo. May 24-27.

Pastor Maldonado will start Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in pole position after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for not returning to the pits after setting his timed lap.

McLaren instructed Hamilton to stop as he had too little fuel in the car and needed to retain enough to provide a sample to the sport’s governing body for testing.

Although the regulations allow a car to be stopped on its return to the pits if needed, a shortage of fuel is not considered an acceptable reason.

As a result, the stewards ruled that Hamilton be excluded from qualifying, but would be allowed to start from the back of the grid.

A statement from the stewards reads:

“The stewards received a report from the race director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car four, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

“The stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient 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 for sampling purposes.

“As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

“The stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session. The competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.”

Article 6.6.2 of the technical regulations states:

“Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the event.

“Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.”

Yes, the penalty does seem harsh but the team made the error in not fuelling the car. So to penalise the driver doesn’t seem fair but that is how the sport is governed. Break the rules and you will suffer the consequences.

It’s going to be fascinating how Lewis Hamilton will perform in the race started from the back.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his third pole position of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya. The 2008 world champion will share the front row with the surprisingly quick Pastor Maldonado in the Williams.

Home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso will start third in the revised Ferrari, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez.

In a qualifying session full of surprises, Hamilton was half-a-second quicker than Maldonado, who had been fast in final practice, setting the quickest time in Q2, and then held provisional pole for a moment.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial lap time stood until crowd favourite Fernando Alonso in the much-improved Ferrari went faster, followed by the incredible Maldonado.

But Lewis held the advantage and produced a lap time of one minute, 21.707 seconds to give McLaren their 150th pole position in Formula One. He then stopped on track (possibly due to insufficient fuel) on the slowing-down lap.

Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held third ahead of the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive.

Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez taking sixth while Kamui Kobayashi is in tenth. But a hydraulic problem forced the Japanese driver to stop at turn three on his way back to the pits.

Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3, while both Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher elated to save tyres and not do any flying laps in Q3, so qualified eighth and ninth for Red Bull and Mercedes respectively.

The biggest shock in qualifying was the elimination of both Jenson Button and Mark Webber in Q2.

Button complained of understeer in the McLaren while Webber believed a single run was enough to make it through into the top ten shootout. Sadly, this was not the case for the Red Bull driver. The pair will start the Spanish Grand Prix on row six.

It was also a bad session for Felipe Massa as well, with the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season with P17. The Brazilian lines up behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos on Sunday’s grid.

With Maldonado setting impressive times at the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna tried too hard in his efforts to keep up – spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1.

While at the back, Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time. Charles Pic was quicker than his Marussia team-mate Timo Glock. As for HRT, Narain Karthikeyan hopes the race stewards can grant him permission to race following an apparent mechanical issues.

UPDATE: Pastor Maldonado will start from pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for not returning to the pits after setting his best lap.

Hamilton’s McLaren was found to not have had enough fuel on board to comply with the rules that demand a car returns to the pits under its own power after qualifying with enough petrol for a one-litre sample to be provided to the FIA. He will start the race from the back of the grid.

Revised grid positions – Circuit de Catalunya:

1.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m22.285s
2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.302s
3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m22.424s
4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m22.487s
5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.533s
6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m23.005s
7.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     No time
8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             No time
9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       No time
10.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.944s
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.977s
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.265s
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.442s
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.444s
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m24.981s
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m25.277s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m25.507s
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.582s
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.032s
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m27.555s
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m31.122s
24.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.707s*

107 per cent time: 1m28.363s

*Sent to back of grid for not having enough fuel after Q3