Maldonado gives victory to Williams

The Spanish Grand Prix will have offered a fifth winner this season, a first since 1983. But the most surprising is still the winner of the race since it is Pastor Maldonado who had regained the pole of the race following the downgrading of Lewis Hamilton (McLaren). The Venezuelan offers the first victory to Williams since Juan-Pablo Montoya at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix. The Grove team driver did not have an easy race since Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) had even taken the advantage before losing time on the track by delaying his second pit stop. The Grand Prix was not a cakewalk for the Asturian either, who was threatened by the return of Kimi Räikkönen at the end of the race. The Finn secured his second consecutive podium and could certainly have gone for victory with a few more laps. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) failed to reach the podium after occupying fourth place for most of the race. After a mediocre start which dropped him to fourth place behind Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), the GP2 champion clashed with the Sauber C31 of Sergio Perez in the first corner and damaged his front wing.

The Frenchman was still able to maintain a good pace to cross the finish line in front Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), author of very good overtaking in this Grand Prix. The Japanese is ahead Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) who had a difficult race. The German notably had a drive-through for not having respected the yellow flags (like Felipe Massa). The double reigning champion finally managed to take the advantage over Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) at the end of the race. The Briton impressed by finishing eighth ahead of teammate Jenson Button after making just two stops from the back of the grid. The 2009 world champion was never able to find a correct balance with his MP4-27. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) completes the top ten ahead of Mark Webber (Red Bull) and Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) who is ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Charles Pic (Marussia) was in 20th position before receiving a penalty and immediately abandoning the race.

Discover the analysis of the Spanish Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version and from Wednesday on newsstands.