Maldonado takes maiden GP victory in stunning Spanish GP

Pastor Maldonado has become the first ever driver to win a race from Venezuela after a highly eventful Spanish Grand Prix, as the Williams driver fended off local hero Fernando Alonso. Kimi Raikkonen came home 3rd, after a late charge from the ‘Iceman’ put pressure on the Ferrari of Alonso.

At the start, Alonso glided majestically into the lead ahead Maldonado, as Raikkonen muscled his way through to 3rd place ahead of his team-mate Romain Grosjean. As the field came through turn 3, the Sauber of Sergio Perez was seen limping onto the run-off strip with a puncture.

By the third lap, Lewis Hamilton had already disposed of several drivers and was running in 17th position as the McLaren driver began his charge through the field from starting last on the grid.

With the Pirelli tyres undeniably set to have another major impact on the race proceedings, it was no surprise when Mark Webber became the first driver to pit on lap 7, and was closely followed by team-mate Sebastian Vettel a lap later. These initial stops then lead to more, as the likes of Kobayashi and Button followed suit.

By only the 11th lap, race leader Alonso pitted thus handing the lead down to Maldonado. The former GP2 Champion then pitted a lap later, thereby returning the lead back to the Spaniard. With the majority of the field pitting in close proximity of one another, this enabled Hamilton to rise steadily to 4th place, behind Alonso, Maldonado and Raikkonen.

Michael Schumacher’s atrocious luck continued to plague him on lap 13, as the 7-time World Champion slammed into the rear of Bruno Senna under braking for turn 1. This resulted in both drivers retiring, with Michael Schumacher angrily throwing his steering wheel out of the car.

After suffering from pit stop woes in China and Bahrain, Hamilton and McLaren had their fingers crossed for a clean pit-stop in Spain. As all four tyres were changed, it seemed all had gone according to plan. That was until Hamilton pulled away, only to be rudely impeded by one of the wheels that was taken off the McLaren. It seems McLaren still have work to do before their pit-stops can become as clinically precise as they should be.

Mark Webber mysteriously began to loose pace as the race wore on, with Red Bull opting to pit the Australian driver for a new nose cone. This unforeseen issue plagued his team-mate later on during the race, as Red Bull’s race victory in Bahrain seemed more and more of an distant memory.

Red Bull’s race took another turn for the worse several laps later, when Vettel was issued a drive-through penalty for ignoring yellow flags, along with the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. Whereas Massa pitted immediately for his penalty, Vettel decided to stay out a few more laps until eventually peeling off into the pits.

Throughout the second round of pit-stops, Pastor Maldonado was able to leap-frog Alonso for the lead, however a slightly slower third stop put pressure of the Williams driver. Luckily for him he remained ahead of Alonso as the Spaniard pitted for this third and final stop, as the Venezuelan driver struggled to initially pass Raikkonen who had yet to stop.

Once Kimi Raikkonen had pitted, two battles ensued as Alonso quickly reeled in Maldonado and Raikkonen likewise with the leading duo. However, try as Alonso might to pressurize Maldonado into a mistake, the Williams driver remained in the lead to the end, as Raikkonen brought the gap to the Ferrari down to only six tenths of a second.

Pastor Maldonado eventually crossed the line 3.1 seconds ahead of 2-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, as the Spaniards rear tyres began to fade. This unbelievably exciting and unpredictable race means the F1 fraternity now heads to Monaco with five different winners from five different teams in the first five races. The last time this occurred was in 1983, when Piquet (Brabham), Watson (McLaren), Prost (Renault), Tambay (Ferrari) and Rosberg (Williams) won.

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