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| Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso takes victory in the European Grand Prix to become the first driver of the season to win two races |
Fernando Alonso parks his F2012 in the middle of the track opposite a grandstand packed
with deliriously happy fans, all chanting his name as he lays out the Spanish flag on the
ground. It’s an image that will pass into racing history and came after the Scuderia
Ferrari driver delivered a bravura performance to win the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
Not only does it make him the only man to have won two races out of the eight held so far
this year, it also gives him a commanding lead in the Drivers’ classification, as
his two nearest rivals in the title race, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton failed to
score points today. Felipe Massa had more bad luck than one person should have to deal
with in an afternoon and brought his Ferrari home in 16th place.
The cars formed up on the grid, with Fernando and Felipe behind one another in 11th and
13th places, the track temperature was up to 45º. As the lights went out, the two
F2012s immediately made up ground, with Fernando going to eighth and Felipe to tenth. By
the end of the second lap, pole man Vettel already had a big 4 second lead in the Red
Bull, over Hamilton, (McLaren) Grosjean (Lotus,) Kobayashi (Sauber,) Maldonaldo (Williams)
and Raikkonen (Lotus) sixth. In eight, Fernando was right on the tail of Hulkenberg in the
Force India, with Felipe, now tenth chasing the German’s team-mate Di Resta.
In second place, Hamilton was holding up the field as Vettel extended his lead to 6.8
on lap 4. On lap 7, Felipe tried yet another attack on Di Resta, even pulling alongside
but he could still not find a way past. In fact, the Brazilian was struggling with a car
that felt badly balanced: after the race it was found that debris had damaged the car,
reducing its ability to generate downforce. On lap 10, Grosjean outbraked his way past
Hamilton to move up to second, while Fernando and Felipe kept harrying their respective
Force Indias. Button and Perez were the first to change tyres, coming in on lap 10. Felipe
pitted on lap 11. Fernando finally found a way past Hulkenberg to go up to seventh.
Raikkonen passed Maldonaldo for fifth, meaning the Venezuelan Williams driver was
Fernando’s next target. Hamilton changed tyres on lap 13.
