Pastor Maldonado wins Spanish GP, Williams’ first victory since 2004 – garage fire injures 16 soon after

Pastor Maldonado wins Spanish GP, Williams’ first victory since 2004 – garage fire injures 16 soon after

It was a dramatic weekend in Spain for the Williams F1 Team. Pastor Maldonado won yesterday’s race ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, ending the team’s victory drought that dates back to the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix. The Catalunya victory is the first F1 win by a Venezuelan, and it happened on the weekend of team founder Sir Frank Williams’ 70th birthday.

If that’s not enough, the Wlliams team garage went up in flames after the race, injuring 16 people, one with severe burns. The race winner was seen carrying his 12-year-old cousin Manuel to safety in the blaze, which is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in a fuel rig. Caterham said four of their mechanics were taken to the medical centre, one with a minor hand injury and three for smoke inhalation. Thankfully, there were no casualties.

Pastor Maldonado wins Spanish GP, Williams’ first victory since 2004 – garage fire injures 16 soon after

Maldonado started first on the grid, as stewards penalised Lewis Hamilton for running short of fuel at the end of qualifying. Local hero Alonso beat him to the first corner, but Maldonado regained the lead after the second round of pitstops.

The red car was all over the Williams at the end part of the race, and a pass by Alonso looked inevitable at that time, but the two-time champ’s challenge faded away.

A charging Kimi was eating away at the gap between him and Fernando, but the Lotus man ran out of laps. Still, a second podium finish in two races is a good result for the returning Finn. Teammate Romain Grosjean finished fourth to cap off a good day for the team.

Pastor Maldonado wins Spanish GP, Williams’ first victory since 2004 – garage fire injures 16 soon after

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi did really well to claim fifth, while showing that he still has the kamikaze moves that made everyone sit up and notice. Defending champ Seb Vettel finished sixth after a successful late charge that saw him overtake both McLarens (Hamilton eighth, Button ninth) and Nico Rosberg, who finished seventh. Vettel was hit with drive-through penalty for failing to heed yellow flags. He also required a new front wing in his final stop.

After a great duel with a restless Mark Webber, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg emerged to take the final point of the day.

Living legend Michael Schumacher had a bad day in the office, colliding into Bruno Senna when fighting for position at the end of the straight on lap 13. Stewards found Schumi to be the guilty party and handed the Mercedes man a five-place grid penalty for Monaco. Schumacher has collected just two points after five races, 39 less than teammate Rosberg.

Pastor Maldonado wins Spanish GP, Williams’ first victory since 2004 – garage fire injures 16 soon after

Who had a worse day than him? Felipe Massa, perhaps. The struggling Ferrari driver was penalised for ignoring yellow flags and was lapped by his teammate at the end, finishing 15th. Massa also has two points to date, 59 less than joint-championship leader and teammate Alonso. The end has to be near for Massa…

Five races, five different winners. Next stop, Monaco.

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • joepng on May 14, 2012 at 1:08 pm

    is that angry bird on kimi’s cap?

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    • tokmoh on May 14, 2012 at 2:38 pm

      Yes. Heikki also has tie up with angry bird, can be seen on his helmet.

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    • blackbox on May 14, 2012 at 5:16 pm

      the new version got an Icebird which design with the insprition of the iceman Kimi

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  • serious on May 14, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    a pastor in f1 :P

    good job!

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  • shawal on May 14, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    all hail the iceman’s cometh~!

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  • tokmoh on May 14, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    Awesome race again, very well done to Pastor Maldonado and team Williams! Always criticized for his bad driving in the past, he shows that he has the skills to win at last. A perfect birthday gift for Sir Frank Williams. Congrats on his first podium, a win at that too!

    Another podium for Kimi, yeaa! Gotta love his Interview after the race:

    “Q. And what did you tell the Finnish viewers just now?

    KR: It’s Mothers’ Day in Finland.

    Q. So Happy Mothers’ Day?

    KR: Yeah. I had nothing else to say to Finnish viewers.”

    LOLZ. Just Kimi being Kimi, so awesome hohoho :D

    Grosjean finishing 4th was nice too for the Lotus team. Go Kimi, go Lotus!

    Kobayashi did a very nice overtake, it was very brave to touch Button a little before pulling away from the McLaren. Well deserved 5th for the samurai kid!

    Quite a sad day for Red Bull and McLaren. But now people can’t say F1 is boring because it’s predictable, eh? Red Bull coming into the year expected to dominate like last year, McLaren expected to walk over everyone else after the dominating Australian GP, both didn’t happen. I think it’s much nicer this way now. Thanks a lot Pirelli, don’t listen to Schuey’s criticism on your tyres ok, Schuey just wants F1 to be like his ultra gay 2004 domination :P

    And it’s nice to see clips of Montoya’s last win for Williams in Brazil 2004 when the Sky sports guys were interviewing Sir Frank Williams :)

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  • Joker on May 14, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    Next stop…. Monaco. Another lottery….
    Will we see 6 different winners from 6 different teams in 6 races? That’ll make it 666 :D

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  • kjryth on May 15, 2012 at 9:33 pm

    i think i can drive faster than them

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