“This is a special team – Ferrari – with the grandstands full of Spanish
flags and the fans in red,” said Alonso.
“I’m feeling very proud to be a Spanish sportsman, and this is the best
victory I’ve felt in terms of emotions.”
It was a difficult day for Hamilton, who looked set for second place despite
yet more pit-stop issues with the McLaren team. But with just a lap to go,
he and Pastor Maldonado were embroiled in a battle for second which ended
with Hamilton spinning into the wall and out of the race.
Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen finished second, while Michael Schumacher picked up his
first podium since his comeback finishing in third, becoming the oldest
podium finisher since Jack Brabham in 1970.
The Valencia Street Circuit has had its detractors before as host of the
European Grand Prix, but there was more excitement in this one race than in
the previous four combined.
For 28 laps that was hardly the case for Vettel as the German was in a world
of his own, sailing off to what appeared to be a third consecutive victory.
But one bump of the wheels involving Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen and Toro
Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne turned the race on its head.
It resulted in a front-left puncture for Kovalainen and a rear-right for
Vergne, the latter making a total hash of his return to the pits, leaving
debris all over the track.
With rubber and carbon fibre everywhere it forced the safety car into play to
allow the stewards to clear.
Unsurprisingly virtually all of the leaders made a second stop at that stage,
with the exception of Vettel.
However, with a 20-second cushion over Lotus’ Romain Grosjean such was his
dominance he had enough time in hand to wait for a lap and still emerge out
in front.
When the safety car pitted after 33 laps Vettel again eased away, but just for
one and a half laps as he ground to a halt, enduring only a second
retirement in his last 29 races.
Attempting to explain, Vettel said: “I lost drive and I had to stop. Why?
I don’t know. There’s not much we could have done better, but with
reliability we all work on the limit.
“Up to that point we had had a perfect start, perfect pit stop, a perfect
race. We’ve made a good step and hopefully we can carry that momentum into
the next Grand Prix.”
For the most part chaos had ensued at various stages over the first half of
the race behind Vettel, with positional changes aplenty.
At one point, with Vettel away and clear, sixth to 14th were covered by six
seconds and it was akin to watching dodgems as they weaved their way around
the track.
But Vergne’s misdemeanour changed everything, not least for Hamilton as a
furious round of pit stops ensued with the safety car on track.
The team have made countless errors that have cost the 27-year-old this
season, and on this occasion a front jack failure added to his woes,
although there was worse to come later.
With Vettel out it left Lotus’ Romain Grosjean to chase Alonso for the lead,
but an alternator issue resulted in his race being run after 40 laps.
That elevated Hamilton into second, but with Raikkonen on his tail as he tyres
fell off a cliff in the dying stages.
The Finn eased up to second on lap 55, leaving Hamilton clinging onto a podium
as he fought with Williams’s Pastor Maldonado.
On the penultimate lap, and as they went wheel to wheel through turns 12 and
13, Maldonado crashed into the side of Hamilton, forcing him out of the
race.
It means Hamilton is 23 points behind Alonso, with Vettel 26 down going into
the next race at Silverstone in a fortnight.
Behind a joyous Schumacher, Webber grabbed fourth after starting 19th, the
Australian followed by Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
European Grand Prix result:
Alonso – Raikkonen – Schumacher – Webber – Hulkenberg – Rosberg – Di Resta –
Button – Perez – Maldonado
F1 drivers’ world championship standings:
Alonso (111 points) – Webber (91 points) – Hamilton (88 points) – Vettel (85
points) – Rosberg (75 points) – Raikkonen (73 points) – Grosjean (53 points)
– Button (49 points)