Driven mad! Alonso claims victory in Valencia after furious Hamilton is shunted by Maldonado
A fuming Lewis Hamilton saw his lead in the Formula One drivers' championship disappear in a puff of tyre smoke after a penultimate-lap prang with old foe Pastor Maldonado cost him a podium finish.
The McLaren driver, who richly deserved third spot, was left thumping his steering wheel in frustration after being punted into the tyre wall by the Venezuelan.
Crash! Lewis Hamilton was shunted out of the European Grand Prix by Pastor Maldonado
Rage: A furious Hamilton throws his steering wheel out of the car after his race ended
The pits: Hamilton yet again lost valuable time during his stop as a jack failed
European Grand Prix result
1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:44:16.649
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus +00:06.421
3. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes +00:12.639
4. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 00:13.628 5. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India 00:19.993 6. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 00:21.176 7. Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 00:22.866 8. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 00:24.653 9. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber 00:27.777 10. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 00:34.630
Retired:
Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 2 laps Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 17 laps Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 24 laps Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 24 laps Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 31 laps
Fastest Lap:
Nico Rosberg,1:42.163, lap 54.
Indeed, so angry was Hamilton, he might well have thumped his Williams adversary had Maldonado not been able to continue.
With Hamilton having already lost
second place to Kimi Raikkonen in the closing stages of the European
Grand Prix after the grip from his rear tyres disappeared, the 2008
world champion fought doggedly to fend off his rival.
But at turns 12 and 13 Maldonado was
forced off the track only to T-bone Hamilton as he lost control of his
car while riding the kerbs and trying to rejoin the circuit.
Maldonado, who had to retire from the
Monaco race last year after Hamilton collided with him, was quick to
blame the Briton for the crash. 'Lewis did not leave me any space,' he
insisted.
'I tried to avoid the contact but I
jumped over the kerb because he pushed me off the track. I think it
would have been better if he had backed off a little bit and not driven
so aggressively.'
Hardly anyone at the Valencia street
circuit agreed with Maldonado's version of events, including the
stewards who handed him a 20-second penalty, thus promoting his
team-mate Bruno Senna to 10th place and a point. It was scant
consolation for Hamilton, who missed out on 15 points.
But he refused to analyse the incident other than saying: 'I don't really know what happened if I am honest.
Home hero: Fernando Alonso celebrates on the podium after winning the European Grand Prix
Overcome: Alonso shows his emotion on the podium alongside Kimi Raikkonen (left) and Michael Schumacher
Charmed life: Alonso took advantage of the carnage all around him to win the European Grand Prix
I went in the corner and I didn't
come out. It happened so fast I really don't remember what happened. All
I remember is sitting in the wall with only a lap to go.'
Given the furore caused by his badly
judged Ali G-style outburst after his previous crash with Maldonado,
perhaps it was just as well Hamilton opted for diplomacy - in public at
least.
The end to the 27-year-old's race was just one element of a grand prix which made a mockery of Jenson Button' s post - qualifying claim that 'Not a lot happens here in Valencia during the race'.
Off to a flyer: Vettel (left) opened up a big early lead ahead of Hamilton after a quick start
Catch me if you can: Vettel (right) leads the field into the first corner after getting off quickest
Try telling that to a partisan crowd who roared their approval of a stunning win by Fernando Alonso.
Yet while it was unbridled joy for
the Spaniard, it was heartbreak for Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and
Romain Grosjean of Lotus, both drivers failing to make the finish in
their Renault-powered cars due to suspected alternator problems.
Even so, Alonso had to make the best of such misfortune for his rivals, having started 11th on the grid.
After making up three places on the
first lap, he brilliantly responded to a call by his pit crew on lap 15
to go on a charge. By the time the safety car peeled off on lap 33 -
after Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, who was later handed a £20,000 fine
and 10-place grid penalty, clipped Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen -
Alonso was up to third thanks to another botched pit stop for Hamilton.
Water sight: (left-right) Bruno Senna, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen
And as the field accelerated back to
top speed, the Spaniard slipped down the outside of Grosjean at turn two
to ensure he was ideally positioned to assume the lead, which he never
relinquished, when Vettel ground to a halt on lap 34.
Button, however, found himself the
hunted rather than the hunter, his eighth-place finish largely due to
the retirements ahead of him as he was passed by the likes of Sauber's
Sergio Perez, Mercedes' Michael Schumacher and Red Bull's Mark Webber on
a track on which he claimed you couldn't overtake.
'I really don't think anything went
in our favour today,' said Button. 'I don't think the car's pace was too
bad in the race but I was just saving my tyres and other teams just
don't seem to have to.
Not just a pretty face: Valencia had come in for criticism before the race but served up a treat
Great view: Fans cheer Vettel from a rooftop swimming pool in the Spanish city
'Twelve years of experience don't really help you this year.'
That said, 19 seasons in the sport
served Schumacher pretty well as he negotiated the mayhem to finish
third, his first podium since coming out of retirement.
It made the 43-year-old the oldest podium finisher since Jack Brabham, aged 44, came second in the 1970 British Grand Prix. But only the top step at Silverstone in two weeks' time will do for Hamilton.
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