Williams used an aggressive strategy to get Maldonado ahead of Alonso, while Lotus saved their best until last.
Spanish Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded):
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | |
Pastor Maldonado | 95.034 | 90.597 | 90.382 | 90.011 | 90.248 | 90.37 | 90.317 | 90.357 | 90.743 | 90.868 | 92.929 | 106.213 | 89.273 | 89.763 | 89.437 | 89.439 | 89.428 | 89.454 | 89.401 | 90.477 | 89.389 | 89.665 | 90.016 | 92.91 | 104.072 | 87.906 | 88.273 | 88.371 | 88.503 | 88.514 | 88.483 | 88.824 | 88.785 | 88.71 | 89.237 | 88.904 | 89.499 | 89.162 | 89.393 | 89.919 | 92.699 | 107.214 | 88.208 | 88.925 | 88.526 | 89.14 | 87.943 | 88.884 | 88.288 | 88.173 | 88.181 | 88.379 | 88.27 | 88.327 | 88.521 | 88.593 | 88.686 | 88.369 | 88.106 | 88.551 | 88.696 | 88.585 | 88.84 | 88.869 | 89.161 | 89.735 |
Fernando Alonso | 93.726 | 90.921 | 90.202 | 89.988 | 90.108 | 90.132 | 90.275 | 90.373 | 91.164 | 93.158 | 105.421 | 89.149 | 89.616 | 89.816 | 89.646 | 89.626 | 89.722 | 89.613 | 89.83 | 90.456 | 89.599 | 89.717 | 90.058 | 90.295 | 90.619 | 93.382 | 106.61 | 88.974 | 88.687 | 88.734 | 88.682 | 88.4 | 88.501 | 88.532 | 88.806 | 88.899 | 88.997 | 88.783 | 88.944 | 89.366 | 89.385 | 89.918 | 89.184 | 91.56 | 104.395 | 87.39 | 89.497 | 87.429 | 87.728 | 88.113 | 88.183 | 88.51 | 88.62 | 88.312 | 88.171 | 88.514 | 88.473 | 88.792 | 88.496 | 88.783 | 89.002 | 88.897 | 88.941 | 89.471 | 89.451 | 89.598 |
Romain Grosjean | 98.392 | 92.422 | 91.513 | 91.051 | 91.393 | 91.143 | 91.068 | 91.164 | 91.393 | 93.255 | 107.643 | 91.31 | 91.095 | 90.487 | 90.617 | 89.199 | 90.24 | 90.023 | 89.895 | 90.04 | 91.159 | 90.945 | 90.609 | 90.477 | 90.825 | 92.996 | 106.894 | 88.969 | 89.432 | 89.838 | 89.599 | 89.216 | 89.369 | 88.95 | 90.242 | 89.097 | 89.201 | 89.725 | 89.604 | 89.218 | 89.723 | 89.056 | 89.283 | 88.77 | 89.214 | 88.876 | 88.944 | 88.919 | 88.674 | 89.031 | 91.58 | 104.861 | 86.25 | 87.038 | 86.84 | 86.95 | 87.048 | 86.67 | 86.718 | 86.46 | 87.013 | 86.753 | 87.058 | 86.976 | 87.679 | 87.852 |
Kimi Raikkonen | 96.119 | 90.98 | 90.994 | 90.427 | 90.475 | 90.272 | 90.389 | 90.617 | 90.783 | 90.812 | 93.407 | 106.463 | 89.775 | 89.674 | 89.686 | 89.779 | 90.079 | 89.803 | 90.078 | 90.046 | 89.997 | 90.37 | 90.325 | 90.635 | 90.415 | 90.757 | 93.818 | 106.359 | 89.855 | 88.794 | 88.852 | 89.358 | 88.887 | 89.243 | 88.899 | 88.447 | 88.773 | 89.115 | 89.404 | 88.995 | 89.515 | 89.135 | 89.134 | 89.386 | 89.012 | 89.485 | 90.991 | 93.455 | 103.843 | 86.938 | 87.463 | 87.53 | 87.744 | 87.417 | 87.057 | 87.521 | 87.451 | 87.362 | 87.066 | 87.323 | 88.203 | 87.79 | 87.692 | 87.245 | 87.372 | 87.943 |
Sergio Perez | 124.682 | 108.452 | 89.533 | 89.805 | 90.186 | 89.996 | 90.298 | 91.865 | 91.563 | 91.185 | 91.903 | 91.273 | 92.139 | 93.003 | 92.357 | 94.037 | 97.059 | 107.026 | 89.721 | 88.605 | 88.993 | 89.2 | 89.537 | 90.29 | 90.375 | 90.077 | 90.278 | 90.068 | 90.557 | 90.3 | 90.287 | 90.965 | 90.257 | 90.83 | 91.118 | 93.159 | 94.46 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nico Rosberg | 97.175 | 91.56 | 91.719 | 91.427 | 91.267 | 91.402 | 91.132 | 91.265 | 93.725 | 107.496 | 91.903 | 91.24 | 90.495 | 90.792 | 90.881 | 91.743 | 91.094 | 90.63 | 90.648 | 90.706 | 91.056 | 93.532 | 106.629 | 90.555 | 90.65 | 91.416 | 90.309 | 91.85 | 90.499 | 90.533 | 90.426 | 89.944 | 90.294 | 89.936 | 90.833 | 89.689 | 89.72 | 90.214 | 90.182 | 92.95 | 105.073 | 88.952 | 88.926 | 88.706 | 88.15 | 88.378 | 88.704 | 88.584 | 88.871 | 88.932 | 88.885 | 88.416 | 89.027 | 88.993 | 89.218 | 89.548 | 89.458 | 89.731 | 89.701 | 91.735 | 90.525 | 90.851 | 91.106 | 92.647 | 91.69 | 92.74 |
Sebastian Vettel | 99.378 | 92.299 | 91.932 | 91.264 | 91.295 | 91.21 | 94.014 | 106.837 | 90.971 | 92.35 | 90.643 | 91.504 | 91.395 | 90.207 | 90.456 | 90.574 | 90.822 | 90.761 | 90.617 | 90.477 | 90.946 | 91.513 | 90.301 | 90.337 | 90.557 | 90.853 | 93.096 | 106.657 | 89.364 | 92.457 | 99.089 | 88.904 | 88.989 | 89.188 | 89.43 | 89.467 | 90.006 | 89.428 | 89.435 | 89.709 | 90.605 | 93.828 | 111.2 | 89.177 | 89.106 | 88.89 | 88.754 | 89.25 | 88.761 | 88.937 | 88.715 | 88.707 | 88.845 | 88.583 | 88.641 | 88.618 | 89.011 | 89.574 | 88.306 | 88.182 | 89.111 | 89.689 | 88.099 | 89.164 | 87.768 | 88.468 |
Michael Schumacher | 98.764 | 92.487 | 91.827 | 91.089 | 91.253 | 91.377 | 91.492 | 91.18 | 91.379 | 93.268 | 106.878 | 92.294 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 100.542 | 92.727 | 91.843 | 91.27 | 91.33 | 91.384 | 91.362 | 94.002 | 110.521 | 89.979 | 90.325 | 90.445 | 90.758 | 90.906 | 90.488 | 90.423 | 90.659 | 90.777 | 90.424 | 90.895 | 90.802 | 91.143 | 91.529 | 92.306 | 92.636 | 94.174 | 106.133 | 88.882 | 89.029 | 89.382 | 89.743 | 90.257 | 89.708 | 89.566 | 90.89 | 90.042 | 89.542 | 90.152 | 90.318 | 90.501 | 91.64 | 106.88 | 88.458 | 88.335 | 88.266 | 88.568 | 88.34 | 88.812 | 88.674 | 88.739 | 88.36 | 88.434 | 89.144 | 89.607 | 88.446 | 89.219 | 89.236 | 89.662 | 90.026 | 90.084 | 89.214 | 89.067 | 89.172 | 89.858 | 89.624 | 90.126 |
Jenson Button | 100.104 | 92.371 | 92.074 | 91.244 | 91.403 | 91.315 | 91.387 | 91.057 | 93.752 | 107.298 | 91.045 | 91.372 | 91.213 | 90.836 | 90.402 | 90.513 | 90.861 | 90.684 | 90.602 | 90.67 | 90.986 | 91.183 | 90.993 | 91.865 | 94.023 | 106.748 | 88.84 | 90.107 | 90.293 | 90.759 | 90.315 | 90.273 | 90.926 | 90.093 | 90.842 | 90.862 | 90.501 | 94.498 | 106.205 | 91.732 | 88.624 | 89.171 | 89.414 | 89.004 | 89.346 | 88.89 | 89.096 | 89.101 | 89.059 | 88.796 | 88.832 | 89.261 | 89.31 | 89.553 | 89.311 | 89.505 | 89.545 | 90.872 | 89.802 | 90.22 | 90.047 | 90.722 | 90.894 | 91.062 | 90.655 | 92.052 |
Mark Webber | 101.889 | 93.312 | 91.872 | 91.554 | 92.138 | 94.893 | 108.425 | 90.746 | 91.117 | 91.113 | 90.677 | 90.833 | 90.689 | 91.789 | 92.53 | 92.568 | 98.688 | 110.953 | 89.14 | 89.631 | 90.044 | 89.435 | 89.513 | 89.814 | 89.62 | 90.387 | 90.841 | 90.339 | 91.991 | 90.057 | 90.37 | 90.625 | 90.581 | 90.861 | 91.057 | 90.84 | 91.24 | 91.434 | 92.32 | 94.021 | 107.455 | 89.212 | 89.44 | 87.857 | 89.015 | 88.695 | 88.761 | 88.578 | 88.595 | 89.261 | 89.084 | 89.604 | 88.782 | 89.083 | 89.167 | 88.654 | 89.033 | 89.724 | 89.13 | 90.166 | 89.303 | 89.198 | 90.371 | 90.491 | 91.322 | |
Paul di Resta | 102.348 | 93.989 | 92.003 | 91.863 | 91.793 | 92.238 | 91.438 | 92.025 | 94.312 | 107.028 | 90.371 | 90.749 | 91.313 | 91.352 | 91.499 | 92.342 | 90.983 | 90.955 | 91.089 | 90.95 | 91.344 | 91.174 | 93.774 | 109.037 | 90.446 | 90.408 | 90.548 | 90.082 | 90.559 | 90.863 | 91.927 | 90.983 | 91.156 | 90.606 | 90.88 | 91.058 | 91.28 | 90.851 | 92.362 | 93.077 | 91.121 | 93.41 | 105.997 | 88.313 | 88.667 | 89.017 | 89.125 | 89.287 | 89.563 | 89.433 | 89.321 | 91.925 | 89.278 | 89.757 | 89.426 | 89.148 | 89.163 | 89.225 | 89.433 | 89.819 | 91.15 | 89.639 | 90.041 | 90.056 | 91.291 | |
Nico Hulkenberg | 102.673 | 93.986 | 92.328 | 91.799 | 92.025 | 92.01 | 91.777 | 91.887 | 93.53 | 94.269 | 107.666 | 89.992 | 90.98 | 91.421 | 90.773 | 91.032 | 92.714 | 90.905 | 93.211 | 106.752 | 89.318 | 89.919 | 89.911 | 90.126 | 90.513 | 91.382 | 90.487 | 90.265 | 92.292 | 89.86 | 90.545 | 90.656 | 90.635 | 90.723 | 91.15 | 90.818 | 90.936 | 91.72 | 94.503 | 107.432 | 89.047 | 88.953 | 88.964 | 89.266 | 89.289 | 89.351 | 89.128 | 88.912 | 89.162 | 89.296 | 89.054 | 89.112 | 89.133 | 88.918 | 88.918 | 89.054 | 89.225 | 89.691 | 89.33 | 90.012 | 89.317 | 89.212 | 90.346 | 90.492 | 91.606 | |
Jean-Eric Vergne | 100.893 | 93.024 | 92.053 | 91.529 | 92.434 | 91.822 | 91.962 | 91.937 | 92.187 | 94.749 | 107.693 | 90.618 | 91.347 | 91.299 | 91.222 | 92.237 | 91.629 | 90.954 | 91.026 | 90.814 | 91.298 | 91.193 | 94.122 | 108.837 | 90.076 | 90.833 | 90.159 | 90.143 | 90.603 | 90.687 | 90.046 | 89.735 | 90.366 | 90.644 | 91.131 | 90.804 | 91.163 | 91.831 | 94.064 | 95.295 | 105.491 | 88.463 | 89.009 | 88.767 | 89.151 | 89.066 | 89.198 | 89.471 | 88.862 | 88.587 | 89.182 | 90.025 | 88.452 | 88.308 | 88.642 | 88.898 | 88.452 | 89.028 | 89.223 | 89.856 | 89.628 | 89.756 | 91.349 | 92.664 | 92.114 | |
Daniel Ricciardo | 103.148 | 93.824 | 93.015 | 91.939 | 92.104 | 92.091 | 92.809 | 91.922 | 92.001 | 92.248 | 94.414 | 108.496 | 91.179 | 91.25 | 90.643 | 90.828 | 90.815 | 90.635 | 90.913 | 90.518 | 90.784 | 90.956 | 91.018 | 91.508 | 93.553 | 106.502 | 89.611 | 90.062 | 90.493 | 90.573 | 91.457 | 90.784 | 89.6 | 89.878 | 90.38 | 90.76 | 91.012 | 91.966 | 96.177 | 105.967 | 90.544 | 89.221 | 89.183 | 88.587 | 89.145 | 89.147 | 88.966 | 89.054 | 88.737 | 88.973 | 89.834 | 89.916 | 90.526 | 88.961 | 89.076 | 89.156 | 88.707 | 89.222 | 89.172 | 95.835 | 89.209 | 89.61 | 91.82 | 90.361 | 90.172 | |
Felipe Massa | 101.325 | 93.53 | 91.749 | 91.428 | 92.37 | 91.903 | 91.947 | 92.031 | 92.155 | 94.439 | 108.336 | 90.68 | 91.071 | 91.372 | 91.141 | 92.076 | 91.949 | 90.827 | 91.119 | 90.794 | 91.229 | 91.3 | 91.454 | 90.777 | 90.69 | 90.587 | 91.251 | 94.25 | 103.661 | 105.151 | 88.585 | 88.737 | 89.343 | 89.359 | 89.711 | 89.588 | 89.675 | 90.803 | 91.884 | 91.809 | 90.235 | 89.705 | 89.507 | 89.42 | 91.728 | 108.345 | 88.448 | 89.077 | 89.63 | 89.513 | 89.511 | 91.632 | 89.346 | 89.73 | 89.644 | 89.334 | 89.244 | 89.3 | 89.313 | 91.44 | 89.408 | 89.587 | 90.312 | 90.319 | 91.233 | |
Bruno Senna | 104.152 | 93.998 | 93.573 | 92.377 | 92.338 | 92.066 | 92.193 | 92.419 | 92.319 | 91.822 | 92.613 | 92.879 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vitaly Petrov | 104.564 | 94.573 | 93.28 | 92.871 | 92.402 | 92.369 | 92.361 | 92.601 | 92.802 | 96.082 | 113.21 | 90.804 | 91.725 | 91.849 | 92.534 | 91.453 | 91.849 | 90.979 | 91.553 | 91.571 | 92.901 | 93.03 | 92.306 | 92.556 | 92.784 | 92.86 | 92.831 | 95.805 | 110.463 | 90.477 | 92.151 | 90.376 | 90.258 | 90.113 | 90.245 | 90.381 | 90.475 | 93.259 | 91.145 | 90.874 | 91.239 | 91.304 | 91.619 | 94.251 | 109.036 | 89.352 | 89.703 | 88.773 | 88.998 | 89.123 | 89.551 | 89.088 | 88.773 | 88.818 | 89.075 | 89.059 | 89.007 | 89.349 | 89.524 | 89.79 | 89.678 | 90.487 | 91.009 | 91.259 | 91.618 | |
Heikki Kovalainen | 103.592 | 93.851 | 93.119 | 92.269 | 92.958 | 92.164 | 92.23 | 92.312 | 92.211 | 92.123 | 92.534 | 91.601 | 96.429 | 109.822 | 91.506 | 91.107 | 90.901 | 90.846 | 91.092 | 91.001 | 91.013 | 91.11 | 91.745 | 91.36 | 91.729 | 91.968 | 96.649 | 110.942 | 90.56 | 90.994 | 90.837 | 91.274 | 90.916 | 92.74 | 91.261 | 92.745 | 90.6 | 90.836 | 91.253 | 91.01 | 91.172 | 91.017 | 96.638 | 107.695 | 88.777 | 89.056 | 89.267 | 90.23 | 89.065 | 88.715 | 88.94 | 89.024 | 89.076 | 89.012 | 88.989 | 90.394 | 89.212 | 89.468 | 89.482 | 89.406 | 89.385 | 89.732 | 90.246 | 90.494 | 91.352 | |
Charles Pic | 106.179 | 98.319 | 94.074 | 93.926 | 93.784 | 94.036 | 93.15 | 94.999 | 93.902 | 94.243 | 93.916 | 93.139 | 93.595 | 93.447 | 95.709 | 110.881 | 91.987 | 92.109 | 92.127 | 92.082 | 91.686 | 91.633 | 91.889 | 91.964 | 93.906 | 92.07 | 94.61 | 111.073 | 91.136 | 91.228 | 91.292 | 91.468 | 91.428 | 91.464 | 115.726 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Timo Glock | 105.224 | 95.399 | 94.293 | 93.298 | 93.083 | 93.071 | 93.162 | 93.83 | 93.408 | 94.185 | 94.745 | 93.639 | 94.103 | 96.215 | 110.827 | 91.922 | 91.658 | 91.749 | 92.008 | 92.504 | 91.969 | 92.354 | 92.085 | 91.824 | 92.263 | 94.688 | 111.055 | 91.313 | 91.198 | 91.034 | 91.362 | 92.193 | 91.057 | 91.34 | 91.417 | 91.356 | 91.51 | 91.772 | 92.356 | 91.57 | 91.762 | 91.622 | 92.08 | 92.113 | 92.433 | 93.037 | 95.71 | 109.05 | 89.599 | 89.801 | 90.075 | 89.825 | 89.768 | 93.176 | 94.604 | 92.742 | 90.336 | 90.013 | 89.946 | 89.732 | 91.34 | 89.803 | 89.865 | 91.07 | ||
Pedro de la Rosa | 106.617 | 95.841 | 94.333 | 93.584 | 93.601 | 93.639 | 94.089 | 95.072 | 94.622 | 97.845 | 112.641 | 92.643 | 94.235 | 93.219 | 93.012 | 94.321 | 93.669 | 93.698 | 96.775 | 112.71 | 92.353 | 92.502 | 95.332 | 94.848 | 92.975 | 92.953 | 93.253 | 96.714 | 94.448 | 97.278 | 96.157 | 96.181 | 94.172 | 94.486 | 97.531 | 110.848 | 91.457 | 92.013 | 92.145 | 92.007 | 93.459 | 92.117 | 94.151 | 92.089 | 92.523 | 92.436 | 93.694 | 92.469 | 92.606 | 94.641 | 98.381 | 115.879 | 91.384 | 90.722 | 92.613 | 90.97 | 90.747 | 92.424 | 91.165 | 90.994 | 91.341 | 91.669 | 91.887 | |||
Narain Karthikeyan | 107.079 | 96.53 | 94.192 | 93.965 | 93.941 | 94.255 | 96.631 | 94.78 | 94.853 | 95.095 | 97.844 | 111.811 | 93.076 | 93.421 | 92.903 | 93.203 | 93.139 | 93.215 | 96.033 | 93.281 | 101.167 | 96.91 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lewis Hamilton | 105.471 | 93.046 | 92.43 | 92.365 | 91.305 | 91.922 | 91.114 | 91.556 | 91.658 | 91.227 | 90.772 | 90.931 | 91.314 | 94.026 | 108.641 | 90.747 | 91.444 | 90.85 | 91.041 | 91.003 | 90.966 | 91.337 | 91.385 | 91.315 | 90.581 | 90.451 | 91.032 | 91.855 | 90.124 | 90.216 | 90.284 | 90.444 | 90.959 | 90.954 | 93.839 | 107.207 | 89.664 | 90.651 | 91.129 | 90.644 | 89.612 | 89.919 | 89.647 | 89.523 | 89.435 | 89.341 | 89.085 | 89.175 | 89.111 | 88.918 | 88.925 | 89.054 | 89.407 | 89.279 | 89.317 | 89.216 | 89.165 | 89.169 | 88.998 | 89.377 | 89.528 | 89.805 | 90.833 | 90.02 | 91.088 | 92.438 |
It’s clear from Maldonado and Alonso’s lap times that Williams were confident in their ability to pit earlier than Ferrari and make the tyres last longer.
Maldonado’s final stint was a cool-headed piece of driving. Having used the Williams’ superior speed to good effect at the beginning of the second stint to jump ahead of Alonso, in his third stint after passing Raikkonen he maintained a steady pace while Alonso tried to attack.
With eight laps to go Maldonado asked a little more of the tyres and Alonso was unable to match his pace. Meanwhile Raikkonen was flying, and had the race been a lap longer he surely would have finished second.
Lotus expected to know within the first laps whether they were quick enough to challenge to win, and it emerged that they probably didn’t. Both Lotus drivers ran used soft tyres in their second stint, but these didn’t provide the lap time advantage they hoped for.
But by shortening Raikkonen’s final stint they were almost able to bring him in contention for victory.
“We didn?óÔé¼Ôäót have the pace to win today, that much was clear after the first stints,” said director of trackside operations Alan Permane. “We tried to push our stints out and be quick at the end. We were, and it nearly paid off.”
Grosjean’s last stop came even later than Raikkonen’s, and he took 24 seconds out of the leaders over the final 14 laps.
Spanish Grand Prix fastest laps
Romain Grosjean became the fifth different driver to set fastest lap this year. It was the second time Lotus have set fastest lap during a race.
Here’s each driver’s fastest lap:
Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
1 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’26.250 | 53 | |
2 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | 1’26.938 | 0.688 | 50 |
3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’27.390 | 1.140 | 46 |
4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’27.768 | 1.518 | 65 |
5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1’27.857 | 1.607 | 44 |
6 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1’27.906 | 1.656 | 26 |
7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’28.150 | 1.900 | 45 |
8 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’28.266 | 2.016 | 45 |
9 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’28.308 | 2.058 | 54 |
10 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1’28.313 | 2.063 | 44 |
11 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’28.448 | 2.198 | 47 |
12 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’28.587 | 2.337 | 44 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’28.605 | 2.355 | 20 |
14 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’28.624 | 2.374 | 41 |
15 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 1’28.715 | 2.465 | 50 |
16 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 1’28.773 | 2.523 | Set on 2 laps |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’28.912 | 2.662 | 48 |
18 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’28.918 | 2.668 | 50 |
19 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’29.599 | 3.349 | 49 |
20 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 1’30.722 | 4.472 | 54 |
21 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1’31.089 | 4.839 | 4 |
22 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 1’31.136 | 4.886 | 29 |
23 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | 1’31.822 | 5.572 | 10 |
24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1’32.903 | 6.653 | 15 |
2012 Spanish Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Williams/LAT
sw6569 (@sw6569)
13th May 2012, 23:39
Bizarre that the car with the fastest lap (by over a second!) that had no technical issues, only managed to finish 3rd and 4th. What a strange season this is
Kimi4WC
14th May 2012, 5:29
I think most teams should strip down their front wings like Grosjean, there is a second to be found!!!! :)
substructure
14th May 2012, 4:13
5 different fastest laps too! This season is great fun…
Kimi4WC
14th May 2012, 5:28
Grosjean’s front was wrecked on both sides still he puts a fastest lap in the end. Front wing over rated? :)
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
14th May 2012, 10:09
I think the lap chart suggests that Hamilton might have been able to match the pace of the front runners under identical tyre situations. If you compare the end of the second stint of Alonso and Hamilton, you see both drifting in the low 1m30s (with Alonso having a few laps more fuel onboard but a few laps less on his tyres).
With that in mind, I think the fastest way to cover the final 30 laps would have been to make another pit stop. Hamilton might have been able to do a series of mid-to-low 1m28s rather than the tentative 1m29s he was putting in, and then win even more time over his own schedule with a fresh set of tyres for the final, say, 13 laps, when his lap times were creeping back towards the 1m30s. Just look at how much faster Raikkonen is in the final stint! He wins about 2 seconds per lap on Hamilton for about 18 laps long, that’s a huge amount of time!
Of course, there are one or two downsides to making an extra stop:
– I do not remember seeing Hamilton being stuck in traffic when he came out of the pits at the beginning of his final stint, other than him passing the two Toro rossos, so I don’t know why he was so slow in the first laps of his final stint. Just compare Maldonado laps and Hamilton’s laps from the starts of their respective third stints:
Maldonado, lap 26-29: 27.91, 28.27, 28.37, 28.50
Hamilton, lap 37-40: 29.66, 30.65, 31.13, 30,66
If those laps were planned as ‘bringing the tyres in slowly, then that cost him around 10 seconds! Maybe he was just stuck behind a Force India or something, I don’t remember. The effect was that he came out way behind Rosberg, rather than ahead of him.
– He had no new tyres left after his second stop, so he would not have benefitted from a late stop as much as Raikkonen and Grosjean did.
– Given McLaren’s current hot streak of operational errors, visits to the pits ought to be minimized.
Of course, I could be wrong and the McLaren just didn’t have the pace today to compete with Ferrari and Williams, but the first part of the race suggested that did.
dkpioe
14th May 2012, 11:40
first part of the race suggested he was passing much slower cars with a much faster car. after his first stop, he was back in the race for a top 5 finish i thought, especially as a couple top cars fell out and cars infront of his were slower in qualifying, but he did nothing great after that apart from reovertaking slower cars, i think he could have finished top 5 with the right strategy, not leaving 30 laps for the final set of tyres.
Spanky Speed (@spankyspeed)
14th May 2012, 17:45
Top 5 finish for Hamilton? How? Compare the Hamilton lap times with the Vettel lap times. Vettel was consistently faster and finished 6th.
Kimi4WC
15th May 2012, 0:18
Yeah, there is such denial regarding Hamilton this weekend. He did have a good race and maybe should win A Sympathy Award. While Vettel had a more impressive race all things considering. (But nothing to compare to top 4)
Spanky Speed
14th May 2012, 10:41
It’s quite remarkable that Grosjean as well as Räikönnen improved their lap-times by 1.5-2s after their last tyre change (hard to hard). The same happened in Bahrain. Looks like the Lotus performs the better the lighter it gets. If it continues like this I predict Lotus will claim the constructors championship. They will continue to score high with BOTH cars. Ferrari as well as RB both have the problem of a too large performance spread between the two cars/drivers. Let’s see if McLaren can get their act together.
In Bahrain Vettel was the only other driver who matched Le Lotus lap times. The same happened again in the last laps of the Spanish GP.
Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn)
14th May 2012, 12:06
What strikes me is that Maldonado set his fastest lap on only lap 26 and it was still good enough for the 6th fastest of the race. The Williams has some serious pace, you’d have expected many drivers to beat that time on lower fuel nearer the end of the race. Also shows what a good job Pastor did to take the lead during the pit stop phase.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
15th May 2012, 13:06
For those who want, interesting time at http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Pages/timing.aspx
Funny to see that Kovalainen fastest sector time are very closed (if not beter for sector 3) than Hamilton fastest sectors and the RedBull have a decent speed during race
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
14th May 2012, 13:49
Fastest lap by over 1s? Wow. They must be frustrated, knowing they have the fastest car out there but not being able to apply it when it matters.
Petrov scored his fastest lap twice too, I bet watching side by side videos of that would be pretty interesting.
Todfod (@todfod)
15th May 2012, 14:26
It’s amazing how Felipe is consistently 1 sec off his teammate in quali and now in the fastest lap of the race as well!
Hats off to Felipe for his consistency. Being off the pace by the same large margin requires talent as well..