Maldonado wins Spain F1 thriller for first triumph
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, May 14, 2012
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Pastor Maldonado celebrates his win at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. |
Pastor Maldonado grabbed an astonishing first Formula One victory yesterday in a Spanish Grand Prix thriller that handed former champion Williams its first triumph in 132 races and nearly eight years.
The first Venezuelan driver to stand on the F1 podium, let alone win, Maldonado became the fifth different winner from five races won by five different teams - a phenomenon only ever seen before in 1983.
A 300-1 outsider before the weekend, Maldonado delivered Williams' first win since Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in Brazil in October 2004.
"Very good job, guys," was all he said over the radio as his teammates erupted in celebrations but Maldonado made up for it on the podium as Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen lifted him on their shoulders.
Then the champagne flowed.
The pole had fallen into his lap after Lewis Hamilton was sent to the back of the grid on Saturday because McLaren put too little fuel in his car for qualifying, and the former GP2 champion grabbed his chance.
Spain's double champion Alonso finished second, 3.1 seconds behind, to move level with Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel on points at the top of championship.
Finland's 2007 champion Raikkonen was third, taking the checkered flag 3.8 seconds behind Maldonado after just running out of laps in a spirited chase for a possible victory.
Vettel, who finished sixth, and Alonso each have 61 points, with Hamilton on 53.
It was the 114th win for Williams, nine-time constructors' champion whose last title was in 1997 with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve.
It came the day after Formula One gave team founder and principal Frank Williams a belated 70th birthday party.
The Circuit de Catalunya, the most predictable on the calendar until the arrival of moveable rear wings (DRS) and the Pirelli tires, served up a cliffhanger.
Alonso seized the lead at the start to the delight of the home crowd but that was just the opening salvo in an afternoon full of thrills and overtaking.
While Hamilton showed off all his talents by carving his way through the field from last place on the grid to eighth, the battle at the front was on a knife-edge right to the very end.
Maldonado's teammate Bruno Senna was less fortunate, retiring on track after just 13 laps when seven-time champion Michael Schumacher ploughed his Mercedes into the back of the Williams in a shower of debris.
Vettel joined the list of unhappy Germans after he and Ferrari's Felipe Massa, again completely eclipsed by his teammate, collected drive-through penalties for failing to slow for yellow warning flags.
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Maldonado closes in on Alonso as the Spanish Grand Prix takes a twist. |
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