Last weekend the tenth race of the 2012 Formula One World Championship was driven at Hockenheim. Fernando Alonso is currently leading the Drivers Championship while rival Red Bull is on top of the Constructors’ Championship. Red Bull has a lead of 53 points over Ferrari. It has been a unique season so far with the first couple of races being won by several different drivers. Especially the first five races were full of excitement.
Australian Grand Prix
The official start of the Formula 1 World Championship 2012 took place in Australia, Melbourne. Button had a very good start together with teammate Hamilton. Even though Grosjean surprised everybody with his good qualifying, he had to retire after a collision with Maldonado. Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes developed gearbox problems thus he had to retire as well. Pastor Maldonado had a marvellous race but crashed out of 6th place leaving Williams without points. The race ended with a first place for Button followed by Vettel. The podium was finished by Hamilton.
Malaysian Grand Prix
The second race at Malaysia was one of the most surprising races so far. Heavy rainfall caused a 52 minute break during the race. There were many disappointments in the Malaysian Grand Prix for the drivers who are regularly seen in the top ten, but the drivers of the smaller teams showed their skills wonderfully. Vettel finished outside the top ten after a clash with Karthikeyan while Button ended up in fourteenth due to a problem with the same HRT driver. Also Senna, di Resta and Hülkenberg captured a top ten finish. In the end the drivers on the podium were Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton.
Chinese Grand Prix
The Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit marked Mercedes’ first victory since the 1955 Italian GP. Nico Rosberg took the victory while his teammate Schumacher wasn’t able to finish due to a failed pit stop. McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren a double podium finish. Vettel fought hard for a podium spot but ended up in fifth place. Alonso disappointed his team by finishing ninth after having started from the same position. Senna and Maldonado of Williams finished seventh and eighth, which was a reasonable result for the team.
Bahrain Grand Prix
The Bahrain Grand Prix started after a long period of protests of the local residents. After a long, hard battle, Sebastian Vettel took his first victory of the 2012 season, starting from pole. Lotus drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean formed a huge threat throughout the race for Vettel and finished second and third. Räikkönen had an impressive run as he pulled himself op from eleventh on the grid. Ferrari was once again disappointed as Alonso and Massa finished seventh and ninth. Both McLaren drivers had a terrible race as Hamilton had two failed pit stops (one was 9.9 seconds) and Button finished eighteenth.
Spanish Grand Prix
Pastor Maldonado took his maiden Formula 1 victory in the Spanish Grand Prix and marked the first victory for Team Williams since 2004! In an amazing run, he fought with early race leader Fernando Alonso until the final laps and eventually left the Ferrari driver behind him. A very quick Kimi Räikkönen came in third and took his second podium victory since his comeback. Hamilton experienced another failed pit stop during the race and finished eight with his teammate behind him. The Red Bull team had a bad day as Vettel struggled to keep up with the drivers in front of him while Webber suffered from a horrible start which put him way down the order.
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