FORMULA 1 - 2012

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Karthikeyan not guaranteed full season at HRT

Narain Karthikeyan is not guaranteed his HRT seat for the whole of the 2012 season.

Following what the reporter referred to as a 'chat' with the Indian driver, the Times of India claimed Karthikeyan is "a million euros" short of a contract that will see him definitely race through November's Brazil finale.

The 35-year-old also began the 2011 season for the struggling Spanish team, but was replaced by the Red Bull-funded Daniel Ricciardo mid-season.

The Times of India said securing the extra million in sponsorship is proving "difficult" for Karthikeyan.

"Sponsors are happy to give him money but not to the team, as obviously they do not want to be associated with a struggling outfit," the report said.

The good news for Karthikeyan, according to the journalist Harish Samtani, is that his sponsorship deal with Tata brings to HRT the Williams gearbox, valued at about EUR 5 million.

The report said the link between Karthikeyan and Williams is the British team's joint venture with Jaguar, which is owned by the driver's sponsor Tata.

MIKA: THANK GOD!!! Not only is Narain a Million Euros short but a million years short on experience and skill in driving!

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'Comfortable' Kimi feeling confident

Kimi Raikkonen reckons Lotus will be quick in Saturday's Spanish qualifying, after all "we've been fast everywhere else so far."

The Finn, who finished runner-up at the previous grand prix in Bahrain, was fifth quickest in Friday's practice with a 1:23.918.

That time was set using a different front wing to the one previously run by Lotus.

But how much of a difference it made Raikkonen isn't willing to guess.

"There were no problems with the car and everything felt good today," said the 32-year-old.

"We tried a different front wing, but in the car you can't tell if it makes much difference; that is why the team's engineers are looking at the data.

"I felt comfortable and I think the work done at Mugello and in the Windshear test programme have made improvements."

The 2007 World Champ added that his feeling positive about his chances in Saturday's qualifying and sees no reason why Lotus cannot take the fight to the frontrunners.

"We'll have to see tomorrow how much pace everyone has when it comes to qualifying as that's when it matters.

"We've been fast everywhere else so far and there's nothing to suggest we won't be fast here again."

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Drivers debate penalties for going off-track - FIA ruling expected on Saturday

A new rule could be enforced from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards following a heated debate in the driver briefing concerning Lewis Hamilton's off-track overtake.

The drivers met on Friday to discuss any matters on their mind, as they do every Friday before a race, but sources suggest this particular meeting was more animated than usual.

A couple of drivers raised the point that Hamilton gained an unfair advantage by going off the track, when he overtook Nico Rosberg who aggressively defended his position in Bahrain last time out.

Whilst the FIA's Charlie Whiting cleared Rosberg of any wrongdoing, he was pressured into making a ruling on whether or not drivers should be punished for gaining an advantage if they leave the tracks boundaries.

According to the BBC, Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa in particular, backed a zero-tolerance approach to any gains made off-track, but other drivers raised concerns that that would result in the smallest of gains being punished in the same manner.

Sebastian Vettel made the point that a 0.1 second advantage shouldn't carry the same penalty as gaining a place off-track, therefore the stewards should be able to use their knowledge and discression to make an informed decision.

Whiting is set to discuss the matter with the stewards on Saturday morning, before making a final decision at the end of the day - whatever he decides will then be in place for the remainder of the season.

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FP2: Button quickest on Friday in Spain

Jenson Button was quickest on Friday in Barcelona, putting his McLaren top with a time of 1:23.254, just over a tenth and a half quicker than Sebastian Vettel.

The German slotted in second but had led before Button switched to the softer tyre.

Nico Rosberg was third quickest ahead of Button's team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who finished ahead of the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean respectively.

Mark Webber, Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg rounded off the top ten whilst FP1 leader Fernando Alonso, languished in 14th.

Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a timed lap after stopping on-track with an electrical problem.

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Mercedes says it will be disappointed if it does not win again in 2012

Mercedes CEO Nick Fry says he will be disappointed if the Brackley-based team does not win again this season.

With Nico Rosberg having delivered the first victory of the modern Mercedes works team in China last month, Fry says there is reason to feel optimistic about the team repeating that triumph.

"I am very confident that we have got a fast car, and I think we have had a fast car from the beginning of this year for reasons we understand," Fry told AUTOSPORT. "When you do have a fast car you are always in with a good chance.

"It is going to be very closely fought but I would be extremely disappointed if there was not another win before the end of the year."

Fry says the victory in China has helped lift spirits in the team, and act as a spur to help it deliver better results in the future.

"Winning in China was very positive for us," he explained. "From an internal point of view, clearly after two years of under performance to get a win back under our belt raises the spirit in the factory and we have got a bit more of a bounce in our step.

"But, you also have to temper that by saying, the majority of people who are there in Brackley are the 'idiots' who did not do very well in 2008, and the 'geniuses' that won the championship in 2009 - so one should not get too excited by a single win.

"My view is that we have got the most talented technical team in F1, and the combination of Ross Brawn's guiding hand with Bob [bell], Geoff [Willis], Aldo [Costa] and John Owen and the rest of the team is very strong.

"You have to look at the substance and the overall abilities of teams, and we have put ourselves in the position where I believe we can be consistently successful going forward."

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HAMILTON ON POLE IN SPAIN AS RIVALS FALTER:

Lewis Hamilton couldn’t believe his luck in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, as not only did he take a dominant pole position, but his main rivals for the win all tripped up in one way or another. However his luck changed after the session as the FIA Technical delegate reported him to the stewards for a fuel quantity irregularity after he stopped out on track on his cool down lap.

Tyres were again the dominant story, as teams tried all manner of curious strategies to give themselves the best chance in the race.

Sebastian Vettel looked good in practice but really struggled for pace in qualifying and was forced to use up all his new soft tyres simply to make the cut into Q3. Once there he didn’t set a lap time so he could have a free choice of tyres for the start of the race.

Red Bull got the tactics all wrong with Mark Webber, who felt he had the car to get pole. He was left in the garage in the final stages of Q2 with a new set of soft tyres available, when he should have been out on track. The track improved by more than the team expected and others went faster, knocking Webber down to 12th spot.

Hamilton’s McLaren team mate Jenson Button set the fastest time in Friday practice but then lost the set up completely; he found his car hard to drive on Saturday, particularly on the hard tyre, complaining of rear instability all day and then of understeer in qualifying on the soft. He starts 11th.

As Hamilton took his third pole position of the season, the 22nd of his career and McLaren’s 150th in Formula 1, he was joined at the front of the grid by Williams’ Pastor Maldonado and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. The Williams looked good throughout practice on both types of tyre and an impressive Maldonado was fastest in Q2. Meanwhile the heavily updated Ferrari went well, in Alonso’s hands at least, setting a best time six tenths slower than Hamilton. Whether that is the true reflection of the step Ferrari has taken we will see tomorrow. Alonso finished almost a minute behind the winner in Bahrain. It will be interesting to see how much they have cut that by.

The session threw up many surprises, most notably the level of track improvement. Normally from the start of the hour to the end the track improves by 0.3 seconds, with most of that in Q1. Today it kept on improving, to the tune of around 0.8 seconds. This is what caught out Webber and Red Bull, who thought that they had done enough with a 1m 22.9s lap.

The upside for Webber is that he starts 12th with a new set of soft tyres and three sets of hards for tomorrow’s race.

Hamilton, who had been the pace setter throughout the session, was the only driver in the final phase of qualifying to take two runs. He set his first “banker” lap on a set of scrubbed option tyres that he had previously used in the second part of qualifying. Although, he did leave his second run until very late and only decided to go for it, at the point when it looked like Pastor Maldonado was going to take pole for Williams.

Completing the second row of the grid is the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, the young Frenchman showing no hangover from his complete lack of track time in the morning’s final practice session (fuel pressure problem). He beat his team mate Kimi Raikkonen by just 0.04 seconds. The Lotus cars are sure to once again be a threat tomorrow as they have shown both long-stint pace and an ability to cope with the high levels of degradation in high temperatures.

In sixth position is Sergio Perez, the Sauber driver having a fairly quiet but impressive session. The sister Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi had got in to the final part of qualifying, however a hydraulic issue meant he could not compete in the shoot-out and will start from tenth position. The Sauber cars sandwich Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. Schumacher, like Vettel, chose to not complete a flying lap, thus allowing him the opportunity to pick his starting compound for tomorrow. However, Rosberg did opt to set a flying time using new tyres on the left hand side of his car and scrubbed tyres on the right side and he found himself 1.3 seconds off the pace of Hamilton at the climax of the session.

Behind the top twelve, which was completed by Button and Webber, the cars lined up in team order; barring two anomalies.

Behind the Force India pair, led by Paul Di Resta, and the two Toro Rosso cars, led by Jean-Eric Vergne was Felipe Massa. Massa could not find the gains from Ferrari’s many upgrades that Alonso managed; he was 0.6 slower than the Spaniard in the second phase of qualifying so he will begin the race in seventeenth. This is one place ahead of Bruno Senna, the second Williams driver looked to make his way into the top seventeen during the first part of qualifying, however a spin in to the gravel at turn 14 on his final lap abolished all hopes of making the cut.

Joining Senna at the tail end of the grid are the Caterham, Marussia and HRT cars. Vitaly Petrov and Charles Pic out-qualified their respective team mates for the first time this year as Narain Karthikeyan failed to beat the 107% time and may not be starting tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

SPANISH GRAND PRIX, Qualifying

1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m21.707s

2. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m22.285s + 0.578

3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m22.302s + 0.595

4. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m22.424s + 0.717

5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.487s + 0.780

6. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m22.533s + 0.826

7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.005s + 1.298

8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull No time

9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes No time

10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber No time

11. Jenson Button McLaren 1m22.944s + 0.839

12. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m22.977s + 0.872

13. Paul di Resta Force India 1m23.125s + 1.020

14. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m23.177s + 1.072

15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.265s + 1.160

16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.442s + 1.337

17. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m23.444s + 1.339

18. Bruno Senna Williams 1m24.981s + 2.398

19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1m25.277s + 2.694

20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1m25.507s + 2.924

21. Charles Pic Marussia 1m26.582s + 3.999

22. Timo Glock Marussia 1m27.032s + 4.449

23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1m27.555s + 4.972

24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1m31.122s + 8.539

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HAMILTON HAMMERED BY STEWARDS FOR FUEL ISSUE IN QUALIFYING:

Lewis Hamilton has been excluded from qualifying by the FIA race stewards in Barcelona. It means that he will have to start tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix from the back of the grid.

Hamilton had 1.3 litres of fuel in the car on his cool down lap when the McLaren team told him to switch off the engine. The rules say that a car must have 0.5 litres for a sample, plus enough to get the car back to the pits, which is around 2.5 litres on this track.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh had said that he felt the team would escape penalty but he was wrong. The stewards will have been mindful of the fact that the rules were revised following a similar incident involving Hamilton in Montreal two seasons ago. Having taken pole he stopped on track with not enough fuel to get back to the pits. McLaren claimed that there were mitigating circumstances due to a technical issue on fuelling in the garage before his final run which left him short of fuel.

How did it happen? BBC Gary Anderson saw the refuelling and said this, “The fuel rig guy put the rig on, but he had the handle set to drain fuel. He discovered his mistake and switched it to put fuel in the car. But as a result he didn’t put as much fuel in it as he should have. He (Hamilton) went across the start-finish line 20 seconds before the chequered flag but if they had sat in the garage for three or four more seconds to get more fuel in, they still would have had time to cross the line and complete another flying lap. Sometimes I don’t think McLaren think on their feet.”

After the problems with botched pit stops lately this will deal another blow to McLaren’s confidence in the fine details of its operations.

The dramatic move means that Pastor Maldonado starts the race from pole position in the Williams, the team’s first pole since 2010 and the first ever for a Venezuelan driver. The news broke as Williams were celebrating team founder Sir Frank Williams’ 70th birthday in the team’s motorhome, prompting a double celebration.

Spain’s Fernando Alonso starts alongside him on the front row of the grid, with the Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen looking set for a very strong result on row two. The Lotus’ long run pace was very strong in Friday practice, while Sauber’s Sergio Perez looks competitive starting 5th on the grid with the Sauber again working well on long runs on both tyre compounds.

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Maldonado: Great feeling to be here

Pastor Maldonado says he went into qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya expecting a top ten grid slot - he left with a front row position.

The Williams driver finished Saturday's final practice in second place, 0.168s down on Sebastian Vettel and was looking strong ahead of qualifying.

However, not many expected him to be that strong as Maldonado drove to a P2 grid slot, half a second down on Lewis Hamilton's pole position time.

"I think we have been working so hard since the beginning of the year, trying to understand these tyres and develop our cars around the tyres," he said.

"And we actually made a good step forward for this race. The car looks consistent, especially in race pace, so it's a great feeling to be here, first time in top three.

"We improved our worst thing, which was qualifying pace. So I am happy for the team, for my country and for myself."

Maldonado added that he went into qualifying believing a top ten positon was possible, although a front row grid slot was probably beyond his dreams.

"(On Friday) we thought the top ten was possible, and this morning I was quite surprised by our performance, because our car was so quick lower fuel.

"So this morning we thought it was possible."

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Schumi explains Q3 absence

Michael Schumacher says his decision not to run in Q3 was based on the need to save tyres for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver was one of three who did not set a lap time in the final qualifying shoot-out, however, unlike his rivals Kamui Kobayashi did not do so before his car was out of action.

Therefore it was just Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, who will line up P10 and P8 respectively, who intentionally did not set times with both drivers just putting in a lap before heading back into the pits.

"It was all about knowing where we were positioned," Schumacher revealed.

"We have some tyres left over which I'd prefer to save for tomorrow. I hope in the race it pays off.

"We had various plans and I decided on that one. I thought I'd rather save my tyre."

His team-mate Nico Rosberg, who did set a time, qualified in seventh place, 1.298s down on Lewis Hamilton's pole position time.

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Senna: Wrong place, wrong time

While the other half of the garage celebrated, Bruno Senna slumped to his worst qualifying performance of the season in Spain crashing out in Q1.

The Brazilian was down in 18th place and on a final hot lap, desperate to up his pace as his team-mate Pastor Maldonado was comfortably inside the top ten showing what the FW33 was capable of.

However, Senna's efforts came to naught when he over-cooked it by taking too much kerb on the entry to Turn 12.

This put his car into a spin and into the gravel were it was beached.

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time during the session," Senna told the BBC.

"I was stuck behind Felipe Massa on a slow out lap and Kimi Raikonnen was on a flying lap behind.

"It was not great, not terrible up till then and then I pushed a little too hard on the last part of that part of the lap and the tyres just gave out."

Maldonado went on to make it into Q3 where he claimed second place on the Barcelona grid. (Later: Pole position)

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Vettel: Simply not quick enough

Sebastian Vettel has revealed his lack of running in Q3 was not because of a problem with his car but was rather decision to save tyres.

The Red Bull racer, along with fellow German Michael Schumacher, opted not to set a time in qualifying for the Spanish GP.

However, as he ventured out on two occasions, each time heading back into the pits without making his mark on the timesheets, there were some concerns that perhaps there was an issue with his RB8.

"There was nothing wrong," Vettel revealed.

"We decided to abort the lap to have a free choice of tyres for the race. If I had set a lap (time) we would have to start the race on soft tyres.

"In Q2 the first run was crucial. I didn't manage to pull a lap out, so I had to use my final set of (soft) tyres to get into Q3."

The German also conceded that his Red Bull was "simply not quick enough" to challenge at the front.

He added: "We'll see how it goes for tomorrow.

"We were a bit surprised how much of a step the others have made, but I'm quite confident for the race, we always have a good race car.

"And we have a couple of new sets (of the hard tyre) which has proved successful for others in previous races this year."

Meanwhile, team boss Christian Horner admitted as part of this year's Championship teams will have to play the "strategic game" at times.

"It's a very different game this year," he said.

"Ultimately Sebastian didn't have great one-lap pace - maybe it was the wind - but you have to look at it two ways.

"Going into the race with four new sets of tyres is an advantage.

"Mark (Webber, who qualified 12th) has four sets of new tyres.

"Seb has effectively used one more set, so F1 is a strategic game."

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Alonso: Second place on Spanish GP grid shows Ferrari's progress

Qualifying second for the Spanish Grand Prix after Hamilton's grid drop to P24, is proof that Ferrari is heading in the right direction, according to Fernando Alonso.

Having already stated that the Spanish race was a crucial one for the squad, Alonso made the qualifying session count, comfortably making it into Q2 before locking down a second row start for tomorrow's race.

"Thanks to the updates we took a step forward in right direction," said Alonso.

"Now we arrive to Q2 in a more comfortable way, and in Q2 the level is good. If I had 100 more tyres I would do same time, so [there is no] more time left.

"For us it was impossible even to dream about being in the top three in the first four races. We were arriving in Q2 with no new sets [of tyres] left, so that is a step forward.

"I think P2 is over performing what we can do at the moment, but I am happy. There is much more to come."

Alonso also said that tomorrow's race will be a golden opportunity for Ferrari to steal some points from the likes of Red Bull Racing, which struggled in qualifying.

"The points are given tomorrow, not today," he added.

"We did as much as we could today we are happy to start in much better position than we did in the previous grand prix. But we need the points tomorrow. These positions are mixed a little bit, with some of the people in front [of us in] the championship starting at the back tomorrow.

"So we need to take [advantage] of this good position today and score more points than them."

Team-mate Felipe Massa qualified in 17th position.

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Massa blames traffic for disappointing showing in qualifying in Spain

Felipe Massa blamed traffic in Q2 for his disappointing 17th place on the Spanish Grand Prix grid.

While the Brazilian's Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso fought for pole and qualified third in the upgraded car, Massa brought up the rear of the Q2 field - but said the result did not reflect his pace at all.

"I had traffic. I was on my lap and there were many cars going slow on their out-laps," he said. "I had to completely change the braking positions, so I lost four tenths or half a second for sure because of this. It's a shame. Looking at how competitive qualifying was, it's a lot of positions."

Asked if he was certain he would be fully competitive in the race, Massa replied: "I definitely expect a much stronger race tomorrow."

Although Ferrari introduced several new parts for Barcelona, Massa hinted that Alonso might have gone beyond the car's natural potential to get as high as third.

"I think our step was like we expected, to be honest. It was not more than we expected, it was like we expected. Fernando did a great job, definitely, in qualifying," said Massa.

"But what we see in the evolution of the car and how it improved, it was not more or less than we expected in terms of numbers and everything. It's not really a huge step forward. It's a little step."

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Mark Webber believes front row for Spanish Grand Prix was possible

Mark Webber believes that a front row grid position was possible despite failing to make it through to Q3 at Barcelona.

Webber stayed in the pits at the end of Q2 after posting a time that put him in second position behind Lewis Hamilton early in the session.

The Australian had planned to save a set of soft tyres for Q3, but ultimately the plan backfired on him as the track conditions improved and he was knocked out.

Initially Webber was confident that his lap was good enough to take him through to Q3.

"I think in Q2 just how much the track was improving caught us out. My first lap in Q2 was competitive, P2 to Lewis, but one tenth of a second was enough to cost us a front row.

"As soon as I got back they said 'Mark perfect lap, get ready for Q3', but with 60 seconds to go I started to **** myself and that was it," he said.

"I think I was in a position definitely to go through to Q3 having used one set but we used them at the wrong time because we got exposed by the track positions. In China and Malaysia the track conditions haven't changed that much and that is what bit us in the arse."

However, the policy did allow Webber to save four sets of tyres for tomorrow's race, and he is confident that he will be able to make the most of his predicament after setting competitive times throughout the weekend.

"I was still very encouraged by the times we did in relation to other people, but then ultimately the track manipulated itself into a position where my first run wasn't enough," he said.

"I have a lot of options tomorrow, three sets of primes and a new set of options."

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MALDONADO MAKES WILLIAMS WINNERS AGAIN WITH BRILLIANT WIN IN SPAIN:

Pastor Maldonado gave Williams its first F1 win since 2004 with a brilliantly judged victory in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen.

It was Maldonado's first win in his 24th Grand Prix start and the first for a Venezuelan. He is the fifth winner and car combination in five Grands Prix, the first time that has happened since 1983.

"We are getting better race after race," said Maldonado. "This is a dream for Venezuela and a great moment for our country."

Maldonado started from pole position after Lewis Hamilton was demoted to the back of the grid due to a refuelling irregularity after he set pole position. He lost the lead at the start to Alonso, got it back by undercutting the Ferrari driver at the second stop and then held on to the flag. On slightly older tyres than Alonso he saw the Spaniard close up on him, but his ability to drive Sector 3 of the lap, with the slow chicane leading to the high speed final corner onto the straight, meant that he was able to measure the gap to the Ferrari and stay out of reach in the DRS zone, in much the same way as Vettel did with Hamilton here last season. It was a brilliantly judged win.

Hamilton managed to come through the field on a two stop strategy, whereas everyone else did three stops. He finished in 8th place, ahead of team mate Jenson Button, managing his tyres through two long stints of 21 and 31 laps respectively. After a huge disappointment after qualifying, it was a very strong drive by Hamilton to limit the damage. Romain Grosjean finished fourth with Kamui Kobayashi making sure the updates to the Sauber yielded a good result in fifth place. Vettel was sixth with Rosberg seventh.

It was an entertaining race with plenty of action throughout the field. Tyre strategies were fairly standard in comparison to last year's race here, with three stops the choice of most drivers, except Lewis Hamilton. The harder Pirelli tyre seemed to be the better race tyre on the day.

At the start Maldonado was jumped by Alonso, who steamed up the inside into turn one. Raikkonen also made a good start, moving ahead of team mate Grosjean, who fell behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

Alonso held a steady gap of three seconds to Maldonado until the second phase of pit stops. At this point Williams opted to pit early, and a combination of very fast in/out laps from Maldonado and Alonso being held up by the Marussia of Charles Pic allowed Maldonado to take the lead. It stayed this order for the remainder. Maldonado was able to with-stand sustained pressure from Alonso in the final 20 laps of the race and conserve his tyres sufficiently, finishing the race three seconds clear of second place.

Raikkonen followed closely home in third position as the pre-race favourite for many had a fairly quiet race, making his way in to third at the start and never being troubled from then on. The sister Lotus of Grosjean made a poor start and he found himself behind Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel on the first lap. However, Grosjean was able to re-pass those in front and set the fastest lap on the way to another high points scoring finish.

Kamui Kobayashi drove a great race to fifth position, the Sauber driver starting from tenth and making some characteristically brave moves to make his way through the field towards the end of the Grand Prix. He headed home Vettel, the double World Champion having a frustrating day consisting of traffic and a drive-through penalty for not respecting yellow flags. Although, he will be quite satisfied to increase his points lead over the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Hamilton had run as highly as fourth in the race, following his exclusion from qualifying, and an ambitious two-stop strategy paid off for the Briton as he closed ever closer to the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg in the latter stages, just missing out on seventh place by 0.2 seconds. Mercedes gained only seven points from the Grand Prix after Michael Schumacher collided with Bruno Senna at Turn one, causing both to retire. Button meanwhile had another forgettable race, complaining of grip issues on both sets of tyres and finishing in ninth position.

Completing the points was Nico Hulkenberg, the Force India driver was another to absorb sustained pressure as he denied Mark Webber a points scoring finish. Webber had lost a lot of ground at the start of the race due to a front-wing change.

It was another race that gave a different picture of the state of play in F1 today, the field is so close on performance and the management of the tyres is important, we see different winners and different teams competitive at every round.

Alonso lapped the Red Bull of Mark Webber here, for example, a strange turn around given that he finished almost a minute behind the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain three weeks ago. Ferrari brought six major changes to its car here and they've certainly made some progress. But the picture is still confused as to the peacking order of the cars as it changes from track to track. It is however clear that McLaren has had the fastest car at every race and yet is not leading the championship.

"When are are first and second in qualifying and race we can say we have the best car," said Alonso, when asked about Ferrari's progress. "This year it's hard to have a pace advantage or to be happy with the car because it's so close. Consistency will be important this year. We have had probably the most difficult start to the championship and we are leading the championship with Vettel so we have to be proud. I'm a bit surprised by the result, we were hoping for some signs of improvement, so we arrived here with optimism, but the pace this weekend has been better than expected. I still don't really know where we are. Maybe we overperformed a little bit with the car we have and some other teams underperformed."

Raikkonen was third for most of the race and pitted later than the leading pair and was on a charge in the closing stages, another lap and he would have passed Alonso for second place. His start set him up for a good race, but the choice of the soft tyre at the first stop was probably a mistake, which cost him the second place. Raikkonen knows that he again had the car to win the race.

"We ve been doung some small things not correctly and there have been some mistakes on my side and it's going to cost you a lot," he said afterwards. "As long as you give yourself the chance to fight at the front I think our car can do it."

Michael Schumacher was penalised by stewards after the race for colliding with Bruno Senna. The stewards gave him a five place penalty at the next race in Monaco.

There was drama an hour after the race as a fire broke out in the Williams pit garage, the fire brigade had to attend as thick, acrid smoke plumed out across the Catalunya paddock. Four members of staff from Williams, four from Caterham and one for Force India were treated for smoke inhalation and there was believed to be one case of burns, for which the person was taken to hospital for checks, but team sources said that no-one was badly injured.

SPANISH GRAND PRIX, Barcelona, 66 Laps

1. Maldonado Williams 1h39:09.145

2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.195

3. Raikkonen Lotus + 3.884

4. Grosjean Lotus + 14.799

5. Kobayashi Sauber + 1:14.641

6. Vettel Red Bull + 1:17.576

7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:27.919

8. Hamilton McLaren + 1:28.100

9. Button McLaren + 1:25.200

10. Hulkenberg Force India + 1 lap

11. Webber Red Bull + 1 lap

12. Vergne Toro Rosso + 1 lap

13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1 lap

14. Di Resta Force India + 1 lap

15. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap

16. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap

17. Petrov Caterham + 1 lap

18. Glock Marussia + 2 laps

19. De la Rosa HRT + 3 laps

[MIKA27]

KERS AND FUEL STORAGE COULD FACE REVIEW AFTER FIRE IN WILLIAMS GARAGE:

The FIA is likely to discuss with teams a review into the storage of fuel and the high voltage KERS systems as well as other potentially hazardous materials after a fire broke out in the Williams garage, an hour after the Spanish Grand Prix finished.

The Williams team was celebrating its first win since 2004, with Sir Frank Williams in the garage and team members as well as media present having just done a celebratory photograph.

The garage was quickly evacuated, but the fire took hold quickly and the garage was gutted. Thick plumes of acrid smoke poured out from the garage

Williams media staff confirmed that no-one had been seriously hurt; four Williams staff members were being treated. It's believed one is for burns and the rest for smoke inhalation. Meanwhile four staff from the next door Caterham team also received attention, as did one Force India staff member, but were unhurt.

There is no precise word yet as to what caused the fire, but it appears it was while the team was emptying the fuel bowser in the back of the garage This has not been confirmed.

Senior figures from two teams said that a fresh look at safety procedures would likely follow this incident.

McLaren's Jonathan Neale said that existing F1 team health and safety procedures involve a full report being filed on the garage set up at every Grand Prix and a list of how hazardous materials are stored. There is a comprehensive book on how to store fuel, for example, and an incident of this kind hasn't been seen in Formula 1.

But safety is taken very seriously by teams and the FIA and both sides are likely sit to down via the mechanism of the Sporting Working Group, which oversees operational activities, to review safety measures.

[MIKA27]

Maldonado: It's an unbelievable day

Sir Frank Williams may be just "quietly delighted" with his team's victory in Barcelona, but race winner Pastor Maldonado has hailed it as a "wonderful" and "unbelievable day".

After their horror show in 2011 when they picked up just five points and finished ninth in the Constructors' Championship, it has been a complete turnaround in the team's fortunes so far this year.

Maldonado completed the fairytale comeback at the Spanish GP as he started on pole position following Lewis Hamilton's exclusion from qualifying and then held off Fernando Alonso during the latter stages of the race to secure his maiden victory.

"I think it's a wonderful day, unbelievable for me and all the team," the Venezuelan said. "We have been pushing so hard since last year to improve race by race and here we are.

"It was a tough race because of the strategy as well, it was hard especially because of rear tyres, after a couple of laps we were struggling with them, but I need to say I am pretty happy because car was so competitive since the first lap."

Maldonado made his final pit stop four laps before Alonso, but he managed to look after his tyres much better than the Spaniard and eventually finished 3.1s ahead of the Ferrari driver.

"It was so close. We were looking to manage the tyre degradation so I couldn't push that hard, just to keep the tyres alive for the end of the race and Fernando got very close," the 2010 GP2 winner said.

"There were some moments where he was so close especially at end of the straight, but I was managing the gap and controlling everything.

"Our pace today was very strong, the car was fantastic, so was the team. We did a small mistake at the last pitstop but it did not affect our performance."

MIKA: See, I told you Steve (OZCUBAN) that Maldonado will be a winner this season as well as a future champion!

[mikec]

Great run by Maldonado and I really didnt expect this one for sure. Looks like Mercedes missed Ross this weekend and Bell played it to safe on the setup being overly worried about the car eating up rear tires. Time to take some chances boys. Even with grid penalty to Shumacher I'm picking him or Kimi to win Monaco.

[MIKA27]

Great run by Maldonado and I really didnt expect this one for sure. Looks like Mercedes missed Ross this weekend and Bell played it to safe on the setup being overly worried about the car eating up rear tires. Time to take some chances boys. Even with grid penalty to Shumacher I'm picking him or Kimi to win Monaco.

You and I both Mike. Was sloppy driving of Schumacher the last race, I almost switched the TV off in disgust.

[MIKA27]

SPANISH GRAND PRIX - WHO WAS YOUR DRIVER OF THE DAY?

Pastor Maldonado secured the first victory of his career at the Circuit de Catalunya and gave Williams their first victory in 132 races but there were a number of good performances all the way down the field. So who was your driver of the day?

Pastor Maldonado

Wasn’t really on the radar in the Friday practice sessions, however the team could see that the race pace was strong. Showed good pace in final practice on Saturday to lead many drivers to suggest Williams would be strong in the race. Kept a cool head to comfortably make it into Q3 and then produced the best lap of his career to provisionally hold pole before Lewis Hamilton usurped him at the end. Was promoted to pole position after Hamilton’s penalty. Tried to hold off Fernando Alonso at the start, but the Spaniard was able to get down the inside at Turn One. Kept his head, and looked after his tyres in the early part of his race before the team tried the undercut at the second round of stops. By pitting earlier, he managed to leapfrog Alonso. Was impressive as he looked after his tyres in the final stint after intense pressure from Alonso and held on to secure his first victory in F1. A popular win.

Fernando Alonso

Appeared in good spirits on arrival at the venue of his home race and gave the fans something to cheer about by topping the times in first practice. Easily made it into Q3 and held pole position until Maldonado and Hamilton bettered his time. Was promoted to second as a result of Hamilton’s penalty and made a great start to lead into Turn One for the second time in two years. Stopped two laps later than Maldonado at the second round of stops, a move which saw him lose time and the lead. Pressurised the Williams driver for the lead but lost ground in the closing stages before holding off a fasting finishing Kimi Raikkonen to finish second. As a result, he retook the joint championship lead alongside Sebastian Vettel on 61 points. Given the car he’s had to work with that’s some achievement.

Kimi Raikkonen

Arrived in Barcelona as one of the favourites for victory after a supreme performance in Bahrain to finish second. Showed strong race pace in Friday practice but struggled to find the right set-up and qualified fifth, which turned into fourth after Hamilton’s penalty. Passed his team-mate at the start but couldn’t keep up with Alonso or Maldonado during the first three stints. By making his final stop later than those in front, he had more life in his tyres and was able to reduce a 20-second gap to 0.6 seconds at the end however it was not enough to gain a position and he finished third for his second successive podium. The Finn is now 12 points behind joint championship leaders Alonso and Maldonado.

Kamui Kobayashi

Made it into Q3 in qualifying, but was forced to watch on the sidelines after stopping out on track with a fuel leak. Started ninth after Hamilton’s penalty and made a good start to run seventh early on. Looked after his tyres well but was baulked by traffic and struggled to make progress. As the race wore on, he put good moves on Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg to lift up into fifth – and equal the best finish of his career – but admitted after the race that a podium was possible.

Lewis Hamilton

Solid in practice but came into his own during qualifying. Eased through Q1, got everything right on his first run in Q2 so was able to save a set of tyres and then blitzed his final lap in Q3 to secure his third pole of the season. Described his lap as one of the best he’d ever driven. However, he ran low on fuel on his in-lap and was told by his team to stop on track which resulted him getting disqualified and sent to the back of the grid. Remained in good spirits and a good start saw him make five places up on the first lap. Showed he could look after his tyres by doing a 31 lap final stint, making a two-stop strategy work – everyone else did three – and finished eighth to score valuable championship points.

Nico Hulkenberg

Struggled for pace in qualifying and could only manage 14th, one place behind Force India team-mate Paul di Resta. Had a good start, but struggled to make much progress early on. A good, clean strategy from the team helped him rise up the field and into the points and then spent much of his race holding off the Red Bull of Mark Webber. Produced some great skills to keep the Australian behind and held on to score a point for tenth – his second points scoring result of the season.

[MIKA27]

F1'S NEW ELITE: NOT SO ELITIST:

Pastor Maldonado's victory in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix as well as strong showings from Grosjean in the last two races and from Sergio Perez in Malaysia is highighting an important point about F1 and the relative state of the drivers.

Do we often not give enough credit to the drivers in midfield cars?

For years F1 races have been won by an elite of drivers from top teams with perhaps only 7 drivers managing to visit the F1 podium in the course of an entire season. In five races this season, we've already had 9 drivers on the podium and five different winners.

But this year with the performance of a number of cars so close and with the way the Pirelli tyres work, it is offering an opportunity for more drivers to shine.

Traditionally when drivers arrive in F1 they have usually won races and championships in junior categories, but then they find that in midfield teams they struggle to shine. Fans dismiss them because they aren't able to fully evaluate what they are able to do, as they are lost in the soup of midfield.

However in 2012 we've seen some stunning drives from the likes of Perez and particularly Maldonado yesterday, which makes everyone realise that success has been more about opportunity and car pace rather than elite driver ability. Of course the cream rises to the top and the leading drivers are in top teams with big salaries for a reason. They become the elite because of the consistently high peaks of performance from Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and other top stars.

They have always won because their teams build them fast cars, get them set up to maximise the tyres and then take advantage of the car pace to get the strategy right. That has always been the way of F1.

But the positive thing about the racing this year is that it shows that given a chance with a car which can use the tyres well, a wider range of drivers can shine.

It was a similar story in 2009 when Jenson Button showed that his poor results with Honda were to do with the car, not him and that he was capable of winning a championship.

Perez and Maldonado were dismissed as 'pay drivers' because they have strong sponsor backing from their home countries. But after Malaysia everyone was talking about Perez getting a Ferrari seat and Maldonado impressed even the most hardened F1 insider yesterday. Others like Di Resta and Kobayashi are surely capable of doing the same, given the opportunity.

The championship will be won by one of the elite, but it's refreshing for the drivers deeper down the field to show that they should not be underestimated.

[MIKA27]

ONE WILLIAMS TEAM MEMBER STILL IN HOSPITAL WITH BURNS AFTER PIT FIRE:

Williams F1 Team has released a further bulletin on their staff members who were injured in yesterday's pit garage fire after the team won the Spanish Grand Prix.

"Following yesterday's fire which occurred in the team's garage after the Spanish Grand Prix, Williams F1 can confirm that a further two team members have now been released from hospital and have returned home having received treatment for smoke inhalation.

"One member of the team remains in hospital in Spain having suffered burns in the incident. He is stable and will return to the UK within the next 48 hours to receive further medical care. His family are in constant communication and he is in good spirits.

"Investigations into the cause of the fire are on-going in collaboration with the FIA and local authorities."

The team member with burns is believed to be the person who was emptying the fuel bowsers when the fire broke out.

Mark Gillan, who is in charge of race operations at Williams, said that most of the equipment in the garage at the time has been lost, including computer hardware, telemetry and pit equipment.

This will affect their preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix, where they may not have the full range of parts and equipment they might have expected to have, but Gillan is confident that this will not affect performance.

[MIKA27]

Massa: I did nothing wrong

Felipe Massa is disputing the Spanish GP penalty that cost him a shot at a top ten finish on Sunday afternoon.

The Brazilian, who started the grand prix 16th on the grid and worked his way up to 11th after just one lap, was hit with a drive-through penalty for ignoring yellow flags.

The penalty dropped him down the order and he was not able to recover, finishing P15.

"My race was affected by a penalty that I had to take on lap 28," the Ferrari driver said.

"Honestly, I don't think I did anything wrong and I believe it is better to look into the detail of what happened, because I was in the middle of a group of cars and I definitely did not try to overtake anyone.

"It's a real shame, because up until then, the race was going well for me and a place in the top ten was comfortably within my reach.

"I was in the group with the Red Bulls and the McLarens and I could match their pace."

Massa, though, did take some comfort from the fact that Ferrari seem to have improved as his team-mate Fernando Alonso fought Pastor Maldonado for the victory.

"I am happy that Fernando was able to fight for the win all the way to the end, as it shows our car's potential has definitely improved: we still don't have the quickest car but it seems we are going down the right road.

"I want to congratulate Pastor, who is a great friend: the taste of a first Formula 1 win is something amazing and I can understand how he feels right now."

[MIKA27]

More bad news for Schumi

Michael Schumacher's weekend in Spain went from bad to worse on Sunday afternoon as he was slapped with a grid penalty following his incident with Bruno Senna.

Both drivers crashed out of the Spanish Grand Prix on lap 14 after Schumacher drove into the back of Senna's Williams.

Schumacher, who called Senna an "idiot" over the radio, refused to accept blame for the incident, telling Sky Sports F1 HD: "I want the stewards to clarify what happened. He moved to the right, but he shouldn't move back in the braking phase to the left that sharply."

Senna, meanwhile, felt it was just one of those incidents.

"At the end of the day, I was not expecting him to hit me, I thought he was going to dive for the inside," he told the BBC.

The stewards though have found Schumacher was the guilty party and handed him a five-place grid penalty for the Monaco GP.

[MIKA27]

Button: No quick fix to tyre issues

Jenson Button concedes he did not have the pace to run at the front during Sunday's Spanish GP and that's something he needs to "solve myself."

On a day when once again Button struggled to get the best out of his Pirelli tyres, the 32-year-old was 85.2s behind Pastor Maldonado, who became the fifth different driver in five grands prix to win.

But, perhaps more worryingly, was Button's deficit to team-mate Hamilton as, despite starting 13 positions ahead of his fellow Brit, Button was one place behind him at the end of the 66 laps.

"The Formula One form book is very mixed up at the moment, which is unusual, but that's the way it appears to be going this season," said Button.

"As for us, a lot of my afternoon was spent stuck in traffic, and I had a Sauber breathing down my neck for most of the race.

"All in all, we weren't quite quick enough, but that's something I need to solve myself.

"I need to find a set-up that suits me better as I feel like I have pretty poor grip at the moment."

Button, though, is not expecting a quick fix as he concedes his biggest problem at the moment is managing his tyres.

"To work out why I was slow, that's a bit trickier," he told the Telegraph.

"Normally I'm good at looking after tyres. I can't do that at the moment. I'm struggling with the car. It's not an overnight fix, which is worrying.

"The first two races were good. But Bahrain was tricky and here was also tricky. I just can't find grip and I can't use it. I don't think I could have done a two-stop."

After five races, Button is sixth in the Drivers' standings on 45 points, 16 less than Championship leader Sebastian Vettel.