Spanish Grand Prix
As the teams setup their garages in Spain, all eyes were on the upgrades on the different cars. Ferrari introduced a raft of updates to their car: front wing, exhaust, under-body and many other small ones too. Experts on-track said that the car sounded and looked much better than it did in the first four races. Other teams also introduced updates but were overshadowed by Ferrari.
In Qualifying, Ferrari made a big step forward in their performances after Alonso qualified on the front row behind surprise pole-sitter Maldonado. Lewis Hamilton was disqualified because of not having enough fuel to be deemed necessary at the end of the session. The Red Bulls and Button seemed way off the pace with the Lotuses qualifying behind Alonso.
In the race, Alonso got the better of Maldonado into Turn 1 and led the race till the second round of pitstops when Maldonado was able to regain the lead. Alonso had to settle for 2nd after he struggled to match the Williams’ pace in Sector 3, which was crucial to be able to make use of DRS on the pit straight. Hamilton put in a fantastic drive to finish 8th after starting dead last while Vettel finishing down in 6th quarantined Alonso a joint top spot in the drivers standings.
After Sergio Perez‘s horrific crash last year, the barriers at the Nouvelle chicane were moved back 15 metres.
Schumacher revived old memories after putting his Mercedes on pole but he would miss out on starting in pole position because of the penalty after his collision with Senna in Spain. Thus, Webber started on pole on Sunday. Massa’s 7th place was his best qualifying performance of the year.
Grid position is of prime importance in Monaco and Webber benefited from that as he led from the front, while all the carnage ensued behind him. Grosjean had a collision with Schumacher and spun, launching Kobayashi into the air. Even after starting 10th on the grid, Vettel’s long first stint of 46 laps looked to be paying dividends when he led by a huge margin mid-race but Webber and Rosberg upped their pace thereafter and Vettel had to settle for 4th place, when he made his pit-stop. Towards the end of the race, the top 6 cars ran head to tail but the tight confines of Monaco prevented any overtaking and we got our sixth different winner of the season in Webber. This race started a horrific run for Button which led to him fighting in the lower rungs of the midfield for the next few races…
Canadian Grand Prix
After last year’s record breaking four hours and four minutes grand prix, this year the weather was sunny throughout the weekend.
Red Bull’s pace looked very good, as Vettel qualified three tenths ahead of Hamilton with Alonso lining up in 3rd. This time there were no big surprises apart from Raikkonen missing out on Q3 by just 5 hundredths of a second.
The top 3 remained in their starting positions until the first round of pitstops when Alonso got the better of both Hamilton and Vettel but was later overtaken by Hamilton in the DRS zone. After that, it was a fascinating battle of tyre strategies with McLaren needing two pit-stops, Ferrari gambling on one and Red Bull undecided until pitting Vettel, with only a few laps to go. Alonso was leading with 10 laps to go but having done 40 odd laps on those set of tyres was overtaken by Hamilton, Grosjean, Perez and even Vettel. Having become the seventh different winner of the season, Hamilton retook the lead of the WDC from Alonso
European Grand Prix
The common view about the race in Valencia since it was introduced in 2008 is that, it is one of the most boring. And had anyone predicted at the beginning of the season that it would be the most intriguing race of 2012, they would have been laughed at surely.
Red Bull again looked very fast as Vettel notched up his 3rd pole position of the season. Maldonado again put in a very good lap to line up 3rd behind Hamilton. Ferrari surprisingly looked off the pace, with neither of their cars making it into Q3.
Vettel got a good start and led without any trouble until the introduction of the safety car due to the collision between Vergne and Kovalainen. At the restart it was Vettel from Grosjean from Alonso who had driven magnificently from 11th on the grid. At the restart, Alonso overtook Grosjean after some wheel-banging but that 2nd place was soon to be 1st as Vettel retired from the lead due to an alternator failure. A few laps later even Grosjean retired due to the same reason as Vettel. Raikkonen overtook Hamilton for 2nd who was later to be involved in a race-ending shunt with Maldonado. Schumacher’s late pitstop helped him charge through the field to pick up his first podium since his comeback. Alonso was never challenged by Raikkonen and he won a very emotional race, at the end of which he stopped his car and celebrated with his fans.
British Grand Prix
It was characteristically gloomy and rainy at Silverstone and the situation was so bad that the authorities had to ask the fans to stay away from the circuit on Saturday. That move worked wonders as the horrors of Friday and Saturday were put behind them and it was a dry race on Sunday.
As was seen in Malaysia, Ferrari had the best car in the wet conditions and that was confirmed here when Alonso took pole ahead of Webber. The McLarens struggled, as the MP4-27 were not able to bring the wet weather tyres upto temperature very quickly.
A wet qualifying had given the freedom to the teams to start on whichever tyre they like. Pole-man Alonso started on the primes while all behind him except Hamilton started on the options. Even on the primes, Alonso was able to lead comfortably and it all looked set for a second win in a row for him. But after the second round of pit-stops, the Ferrari suddenly lost pace and Webber was able to take Alonso easily, thus winning his 2nd race of the season. Their teammates finished behind them with Massa putting in his best performance in a long time with a strong 4th place finish.
German Grand Prix
Silverstone like weather conditions greeted the teams at Hockeheim which was holding the grand prix after 2 years because of their contract with Nurburgring,
Alonso and Ferrari again took advantage of the wet conditions to take pole ahead of the two Red Bulls. Hamilton and Button had a difficult time, while Force India performed strongly by qualifying both their cars in the top 10.
This time there were to be no dramas for Alonso as he led from start to finish, having lost the lead only at the pitstops. Behind him, Button was back to form as he battled with Vettel for 2nd place. On the penultimate lap, Vettel overtook him off the track and it stayed that way till the end but the stewards said that they were investigating the matter. Post race, Vettel was handed a 20-second penalty that dropped him from 2nd to 5th moving Raikkonen upto 3rd place. With half of the season completed, it all looked good for Alonso to land a 3rd WDC.
Hungarian Grand Prix
After two wet weekends, the teams enjoyed sunny skies at Hungaroring. The build-up to the race was not a peaceful one as Red Bull came under the scanner for illegal engine mapping, but were let off as they had exploited a grey area in the regulations
McLaren had introduced big upgrades on their car which resulted in Hamilton taking pole ahead of Lotus driver Romain Grosjean. After having qualified on pole for the last two races, Ferrari were a bit off the pace with Alonso and Massa qualifying 5th and 6th respectively.
Hamilton ran comfortably in clear air while the two Lotus drivers battled behind him and at one point, almost made contact. Barring that one heart-in-the-mouth moment, it was a processional race with Raikkonen and Grosjean finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Behind them, Vettel crossed the line in 4th and Alonso in 5th. Webber had another bad race which put him 40 points behind leader Alonso in the standings.
The Hungarian Grand Prix marked the end of the first half of the season with the teams looking forward to a much needed summer break but knowing very well that they have to deal with four sets of double headers before the season ends in Brazil.