Lewis Hamilton secured McLaren’s 150th pole position in Formula One with a dominant performance in qualifying at the Hungaroring.

The McLaren driver was completely in a different zone setting the quickest lap time throughout, and his two flying laps was good enough for his third pole position.

Hamilton’s margin over Romain Grosjean was more than four tenths of a second, which underlines his strong performance. As for Romain, this was his best qualifying result this season for Lotus.

Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel threatened to disrupt Hamilton’s momentum late on in Q3, only to lose time in the final sector. Despite this, Sebastian will start the Hungarian Grand Prix in third, alongside Jenson Button’s McLaren.

Kimi Raikkonen lines up fifth on the grid alongside championship leader Fernando Alonso, with Felipe Massa fractions away from out-qualifying his Ferrari team-mate for the first time this season.

Williams Pastor Maldonado, who appeared to be held up slightly behind Hamilton in Q3, qualified in eighth while making his first appearance in the session was Bruno Senna. The Brazilian did a great job to take ninth ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Senna’s Q2 lap meant Mark Webber was eliminated from the top-ten shootout. The Red Bull driver was unable to improve on his final run, leaving him only ninth with 60 seconds of the session to run. That became tenth when Hulkenberg came round, followed by Senna, which consigned Webber to an early exit as the flag fell.

Mercedes also endured a horrible qualifying, failing to break into Q3 with either car for the first time in 2012. Michael Schumacher was unable to recover from several wild moments and will start from P17, with Nico Rosberg four places ahead of him in P13.

The Silver Arrows pair were separated by the Sauber duo of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

The latter had sparked a mad Q1 scramble when he switched onto soft Pirellis and jumped up to fourth place, forcing most of the field to adopt the same tyre strategy.

As the laps played out Red Bull Racing appeared to be in trouble but the team was ultimately able to tell both drivers to ease off as the scrap for the final Q2 place boiled down to Kobayashi and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian eventually losing out.

However, Ricciardo will start ahead of the Caterhams of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov, with the Finn almost six tenths clear of his team-mate.

A further second down the road were the Marussia’s Charles Pic meanwhile got the best of team-mate Timo Glock, the duo starting ahead of the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.

Qualifying positions for the Hungarian Grand Prix:

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m20.953s
2.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m21.366s
3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m21.416s
4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.583s
5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m21.730s
6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m21.844s
7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m21.900s
8.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m21.939s
9.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m22.343s
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m22.847s
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m21.715s
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m21.813s
13.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m21.895s
14.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m21.895s
15.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.300s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m22.380s
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m22.723s
18.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.250s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m23.576s
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m24.167s
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m25.244s
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m25.476s
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m25.916s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m26.178s

107 per cent time: 1m27.519s

Fernando Alonso extends his championship lead after resisting huge pressure from Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button to win his third race of the season following a great drive at Hockenheim.

The Spaniard never had a huge lead in his Ferrari, but did enough to keep the chasing Red Bull and McLaren at bay.

In the end Alonso was helped by Vettel and Button battling to the finish, their duel finally settled by a penultimate-lap pass from the Red Bull.

Although the overtaking manoeuvre by Vettel means he could face a post-race penalty. The Red Bull gained track position over the McLaren despite all four wheels off the circuit.

Alonso’s victory means he now extends his championship lead to 34 points, as Silverstone winner Mark Webber finished a disappointing eighth.

In a similar scenario to the previous Grand Prix in Britain, Alonso spent the race under increasing pressure.

The Ferrari established a slight cushion over Vettel’s Red Bull in the opening stint on the soft tyres, and then came under greater threat once they changed to medium Pirellis at the first pitstops.

By that time Button was also in the fight. The 2009 champion overtook Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg early on, then closed in on the top two, gaining some ground when his team-mate Lewis Hamilton – who had been delayed with an early puncture – unlapped himself from Vettel.

Stopping a lap earlier than the defending champion at the final pitstop then allowed Button to sweep into second position. He resisted Vettel’s attempted retaliation at the hairpin, and then set off after Alonso.

But in the closing laps it was Button who was under pressure as Vettel attacked. The Red Bull went down the outside into the hairpin with a lap to go and used the run-off area on the exit to complete a pass then did not impress Button, although the McLaren driver still claimed his first podium since April’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Hours after the race, the stewards have decided to penalise Sebastian Vettel by twenty seconds on his ‘off-track’ manoeuvre. The German drops down to fifth while Jenson Button takes second position with Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium for Lotus.

Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth for Lotus, while the Saubers showed great race pace and tyre life with Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez coming through to fifth and sixth from their midfield grid slots.

Perez held on despite late pressure from Schumacher’s Mercedes, which was running a three-stop strategy and charging back on fresh soft tyres.

Webber never featured near the front and finished eighth, just ahead of Hulkenberg. The Force India driver drifted down the order as the race progressed, with his team-mate Paul di Resta ending up behind Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in P11. Rosberg stopped three times in the pits and managed to make up lost ground well after his practice and qualifying dramas.

And Lewis Hamilton? His 100th race was a disaster as he cut his left-rear tyre on some of the Massa/Ricciardo debris on the third lap and dropped to the back of the field.

The McLaren eventually retired, while fellow early pit visitors Felipe Massa, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean kept racing and got back to P12, P17 and P18 respectively.

Also in trouble was Senna’s Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado, who appeared to be suffering high tyre wear as he slumped to P15.

The result puts Alonso even further ahead in the title chase with 154 points to Webber’s 120, and Vettel is closing on his team mate with 118. Raikkonen takes fourth from Hamilton, 95 to 92, with Rosberg sixth on 76 and Button seventh on 65. In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 238 points to Ferrari’s 177, McLaren’s 157 and Lotus’s 156.

German Grand Prix race results, 67 laps:

1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    1h31:05.862
2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +6.949
3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +16.409
4.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +21.925
5.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +23.732*
6.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +27.896
7.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +28.960
8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +46.900
9.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +48.162
10.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +48.889
11.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +59.227
12.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:11.428
13.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1:16.829
14.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:16.965
15.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +1 lap
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +1 lap
19.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +2 laps
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
21.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps
22.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +3 laps
23.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps

*Twenty-second penalty for overtaking Jenson Button off the circuit.

Fastest lap: Schumacher, 1:18.275

Not classified/retirements:

Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             58 laps

World Championship standings, round 10:

Drivers:
1.  Alonso       154
2.  Webber       120
3.  Vettel       110
4.  Raikkonen     98
5.  Hamilton      92
6.  Rosberg       76
7.  Button        68
8.  Grosjean      61
9.  Perez         47
10.  Kobayashi     33
11.  Maldonado     29
12.  Schumacher    29
13.  Di Resta      27
14.  Massa         23
15.  Hulkenberg    19
16.  Senna         18
17.  Vergne         4
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          230
2.  Ferrari                   177
3.  McLaren-Mercedes          160
4.  Lotus-Renault             159
5.  Mercedes                  105
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             80
7.  Williams-Renault           47
8.  Force India-Mercedes       46
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring. July 27-29.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso earned his twenty-first pole position in Formula One with a superb performance during a tricky wet qualifying session at Hockenheim.

This was the Spaniard’s second straight pole following similar wet conditions at Silverstone. The last-minute scramble to cross the finishing line with the quickest lap time made the top ten shootout really exciting.

The Red Bulls qualified in second and third with home crowd favourite Sebastian Vettel ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, although the latter will drop five places on the grid due to a penalty for a gearbox change.

This promotes Michael Schumacher up a position. The seven-time world champion was on provisional pole for a while before ending up fourth quickest for Mercedes.

Three of the top four positions on the grid will go to German drivers, as Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg delivered a spectacular fifth-fastest time to give himself a Formula One career-best starting slot on row two. His team-mate Paul di Resta also reached Q3 and will start ninth.

Pastor Maldonado completed the top six for Williams, ahead of the McLarens. Jenson Button was quicker than Lewis Hamilton, as the 2009 champion delivered his best qualifying performance since Bahrain.

Kimi Raikkonen was the final Q3 qualifier and rounds off the top ten for Lotus.

The rain had arrived just before Q2 began, leading to a scramble to get a fast time in on the one or two laps that were always going to be the quickest of the session.

Among those who missed out were two of the drivers with five-place gearbox change penalties: Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg. The pair will start in P15 and P17 respectively.

Felipe Massa slid off the wet surface on his first Q2 lap before rejoining right in front of his Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso. Despite being blocked, this did not stop Fernando reaching Q3, and yet Felipe’s error consigned him to P14.

Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo almost made it into the top ten as the rain he wanted arrived, missing the Q3 cut by just 0.06 seconds. Also out in Q2 were the Saubers and Bruno Senna’s Williams.

The first qualifying session was fully dry and fairly predictable, although Schumacher, Button and Webber all cut it a little close in either timing or pace terms.

In the event, the eliminated midfielder was Jean-Eric Vergne for the sixth time in his nine Grands Prix.

Heikki Kovalainen was nearly a second fastest than Caterham team-mate Vitaly Petrov, while Timo Glock found himself outqualified on his home ground by Marussia team-mate Charles Pic, despite the rookie’s lack of practice mileage.

Sunday’s race should take place in the dry conditions and despite the grid penalties applied to three drivers, overtaking at Hockenheim is possible thanks to the long straights.

And yet all eyes will be focused at the front with championship leader Alonso and home crowd favourite Vettel on row one. Can Sebastian finally take his first win in Germany or will Fernando earn his third win, extending his title lead? We will find out on race day.

Qualifying times from Hockenheim:

1.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m40.621s
2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m41.026s
3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m42.459s
4.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m43.501s
5.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m43.950s
6.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m44.113s
7.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m44.186s
8.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m41.496s*
9.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m44.889s
10.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m45.811s
11.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.789s
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.985s
13.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m40.212s
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m40.752s
15.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m16.741s
16.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m17.620s
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.933s**
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m18.531s
19.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m40.574s*
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m19.220s
21.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m41.551s*
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m19.291s
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m19.912s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m20.230s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change.
**Five-place grid penalty for impeding Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen during qualifying.

107 per cent time: 1m20.991s

Mark Webber scored his second Silverstone victory after chasing down and passing Fernando Alonso in a final few laps in a dramatic and completely dry British Grand Prix.

By winning the race, the Australian has reduced Alonso’s lead in the championship to 13 points.

Sebastian Vettel completed the podium and almost managed to make it a Red Bull one-two as he gained on Alonso’s tyre-troubled car at the end.

Alonso pulled out a five-second lead over Webber in the first stint and maintained it for the majority of the race.

But while most of the field used soft tyres early then switched to the harder compound, Alonso waited until his final stint to try the softs, and could not keep up his previous pace.

Webber caught up rapidly and was on the Ferrari’s rear wing with seven laps to go, trying several moves before deploying his DRS on the run towards Brooklands on lap 48 out of 52.

Alonso defended the inside and yet Webber went around the outside, and after attempting to retaliate at Luffield, the Spaniard had to let the Australian go and concentrate on staying clear of Vettel.

The defending world champion had run fifth in the opening stint before a slightly early first stop helped him jump to third, unable to catch Alonso in the end.

Felipe Massa spent the opening laps trying ever-more creative attempts to overtake Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes for third, finally managing at Stowe on lap 11. The Ferrari lost out to Vettel in the following pit sequence, and then resisted the fast-closing Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen to take fourth.

Lotus managed to get both cars in the top six despite Romain Grosjean breaking his front wing in a brush with Paul di Resta on the opening lap. The resulting puncture and associated damage ended the Force India’s race, while Grosjean charged back from last to sixth.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button could only finish eighth and tenth in the McLarens. Hamilton had his moment in the lead and enjoyed a spirited dice with Alonso as he ran a very long first stint on hards, but then did just a handful of laps on softs before switching back to harder Pirellis. Hamilton’s pace then faded and he lost seventh place to Schumacher late on.

Although Button jumped to P12 at the start, his progress was less dramatic thereafter. In the closing laps he was in the thick of an epic dice for ninth with Bruno Senna and Nico Hulkenberg, won by the Williams. Force India’s Hulkenberg ran wide at Copse in the heat of battle and dropped out of the points.

The other major incident of the race involved Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez. Running seventh and ninth in the first stint, they pitted together on lap 11 but then collided at Brooklands on their out-laps. The furious Perez sustained terminal damage to his Sauber, while Maldonado dragged his Williams back to the pits for repairs and finished P16.

Completing a nightmare race for Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi hit several mechanics at his final stop. At least there were no serious injuries and the Japanese driver was able to continue to finish in P11.

Nico Rosberg had a less dramatic bad pitstop during what was already a low-key midfield race, which ended with his Mercedes P15.

British Grand Prix, race results after 52 laps:

1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h25:11.288
2. Alonso Ferrari +3.060
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +4.836
4. Massa Ferrari +9.519
5. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +10.314
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault +17.101
7. Schumacher Mercedes +29.153
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +36.463
9. Senna Williams-Renault +43.347
10. Button McLaren-Mercedes +44.444
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +45.370
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +47.856
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +51.241
14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +53.313
15. Rosberg Mercedes +57.394
16. Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +1 lap
18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
19. Pic Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth +2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:34.661

Not classified/retirements:

Perez Sauber-Ferrari 14 laps
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 3 laps
Petrov Caterham-Renault 1 lap

World Championship standings, round 9:

Drivers:
1. Alonso 129
2. Webber 116
3. Vettel 100
4. Hamilton 92
5. Raikkonen 83
6. Rosberg 75
7. Grosjean 61
8. Button 50
9. Perez 39
10. Maldonado 29
11. Di Resta 27
12. Schumacher 23
13. Massa 23
14. Kobayashi 21
15. Senna 18
16. Hulkenberg 17
17. Vergne 4
18. Ricciardo 2

Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault 216
2. Ferrari 152
3. Lotus-Renault 144
4. McLaren-Mercedes 142
5. Mercedes 98
6. Sauber-Ferrari 60
7. Williams-Renault 47
8. Force India-Mercedes 44
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6

Next race: German Grand Prix, Hockenheim. July 20-22.

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