2012 European Grand Prix Review, The Good: Alonso, The Bad (luck): Vettel and The Ugly: Maldonado

The eighth race of the F1 season at Valencia, 2012 European Grand Prix Review and thoughts on the race and on Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Pastor Maldonado too.

Good points

• Fernando Alonso (won the race from 11th place)
• Kimi Räikkönen (finished 2nd)
• Mercedes AMG (Michael Schumacher finished 3rd, first podium since his comeback, Nico Rosberg finished 6th)
• Mark Webber (finished 4th, despite starting from 19th place in qualifying from a DRS problem)
• Force India (Nico Hülkenberg finished 5th, Paul Di Resta finished 7th)
• Bruno Senna (finished 10th, despite a drive through penalty he didn't deserved in my opinion)
• Caterham F1 (Vitaly Petrov finished 13th, Heikki Kovalainen finished 14th)
• Charles Pic (finished 15th, not lap at all and ahead of both HRT drivers)

Also another note: from qualifying 1, Charles Pic qualifying time at 23rd place was 1:42.675. While the 107% time was 1:45.742. Good job from HRT and Murussia to qualifying strong at Valencia.


Bad points

• Sebastian Vettel (DNF, Alternator)
• Romain Grosjean (DNF, Alternator)
• McLaren (Jenson Button finished 8th, Lewis Hamilton 19th-DNF, collision with Pastor Maldonado)
• Pastor Maldonado (finished 12th, could have finished 3rd but collision with Lewis Hamilton of the penultimate lap, so therefore he had to get a new front nose on his F1 car to finished 10th. Then after the race the stewards gives Maldonado a 20 second penalty for "rejoining the track in an unsafe manner". His penalty dropped him from 10th to 12th.)
• STR (Daniel Ricciardo finished 11th if he didn't had a collusion with Petrov at the end with a broken front nose he would scored points, Jean-Éric Vergne DNF, an avoidable collision with Heikki Kovalainen will be given a ten-place grid penalty for Silverstone)
• Filipe Massa (finished 16th and lapped, but collision between Kobayashi in the middle of the race, leaving Massa with a puncture)
• Kamui Kobayashi (DNF, collision with Felipe Massa, a five-place grid penalty for Kobayashi at Silverstone)
• Timo Glock (DNF, Illness throughout the weekend)

I thought it wasn't a good race to watch when Sebastian Vettel was leading with a 20 second gap ahead of Romain Grosjean, until lap 27 when Safety car came out for the collusion between Jean-Éric Vergne and Heikki Kovalainen. Then on lap 34, Ferando Alonso who was third, immediately took the opportunity to pass Grosjean round the outside of turn 1. Then the big surprise, race leader Vettel lost drive coming out of turn 10 and he had to retire, with what was later said to be an alternator failure. Alonso took the lead ahead of Grosjean, until Grosjean retired with the same problem seven laps later. Which lead to Alonso with a home win at Valencia, and his second race win of the season in his Ferrari. And overall the best F1 race from the Valencia street circuit.

As for Alonso (the good of the race), despite he qualified 11th place of the grid, he showed why he can win the drivers championship this year with those overtaking moves to take second when Vettel retired to take the lead then to take the race win. Despite the car is not the best car on the grid this season.

But to be honest, Sebastian Vettel (the bad luck of the race) should have won the European Grand Prix, with an Alternator problem (the same problem Romain Grosjean had as-well) giving him his first DNF of the season. But, Sebastian Vettel can still win his third world title and still only 26 points behind Alonso, he can still do it.

And then, Pastor Maldonado (the ugly of the race) could have finished third place, but a collision on the penultimate lap with Lewis Hamilton, so therefore he had to get a new front nose on his F1 car to finished 10th. Then after the race the stewards gives Maldonado a 20 second penalty for "rejoining the track in an unsafe manner". His penalty dropped him from 10th to 12th.

If I was one of the stewards for that race, I would have given Pastor Maldonado a ten-place grid penalty for Silverstone, as-well a 20 second penalty. Because, Lewis Hamilton tyre's had it, he could have waited on the last lap overtake Hamilton on the first corner. Maldonado would have finished third, Hamilton would have sixth place maybe and Michael Schumacher wouldn't be on the podium. End of story.




Next stop Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. That is all, another post soon. Bye.