Another race, another winner - F1

I've been starring at a blank page for a while because in all honesty i think i'm still processing the weekends events and wondering how exactly can i convey such a roller-coaster weekend in to a blog post.
I know for this 2012 Formula 1 season i'm repeating myself by saying 'where do i begin' but this race weekend in Spain has been a whirlwind of emotions to the very end.

So, i'll start with the events of qualifying.
Tyre's were the talking point of quali (as usual). With the familiar back qualifiers it was the mid-field shock that stricked again. This time it was McLaren's Jenson 'understeer and no grip' Button and Red Bull's Mark Webber, both of whom looked unsettled throughout qualifying, they finished 11th and 12th respectively which meant they were knocked out in Q2.
Button's team mate Lewis Hamilton put in a mega lap which saw him take pole... and that is when the drama began.
Hamilton was unable to return to the pits after his lap, stopping out on track. Rules are rules and the rules state every car has to return to the pits with one litre of fuel on board under a practise session (which qualifying comes under) - enough to provide a sample. Under fueling Lewis Hamilton gave him an unfair advantage to his competitors. However, the FIA came to the conclusion that he would be excluded from quali and ended up being demoted from pole to the back of the grid.
Fans took to social networks, many agreeing that this was a harsh punishment as it was no fault of the driver; a reasonable penalty would have been deleting his Q3 lap time and basing his time from his Q2 lap which would have dropped him to just outside the top 10.
With Hamilton starting at the back (behind the HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan who was outside the 107% rule, fair or unfair?) meant that the pole was handed over to Pastor Maldonado, Williams' first pole since Nico Hulkenberg's wonder lap in Brazil 2010.

The race:
When the five lights went out the race to the first corner began. Fernando Alonso was the one, as predicted, who led the pack by Turn 2, though Pastor Maldonado didn't yield easily and stayed on the back end of the prancing horse in front of both Lotus drivers, setting the first fastest lap of the race. Lewis Hamilton had a stormer of a start from the back of the grid, making up five places in half a lap.
A clash between Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez saw the Sauber driver pick up a puncture, having to pit changing to the hard tyre (the preferred compound)
Lap 7 was when the first of the scheduled pit stops began with Mark Webber pitting for fresh rubber followed by Timo Glock and Kamui Kobayashi. Meanwhile, Hamilton was still out for making up places to get to the front, by the end of Lap 9 he was in 12th position.
McLaren's first pit stop was for JB... a clean pit stop, something McLaren are lacking in however a later stop with Hamilton didn't run as smoothly, bumping over a tyre on exit from his box.
Lap 14 saw the first gravel trap trip and it was Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher who underestimated Bruno Senna's braking point and went in the back of him, shattering his front wing and veering off in the gravel, throwing his steering wheel out the car and calling Senna an 'idiot'. Senna said after his race that he was expecting Schumacher to pass on the inside, not the outside, subsequently breaking earlier. Bruno Senna later retired to the pits after his getting together with Schumacher.
Lap 26 is where it possibly all went wrong for Fernando Alonso, Maldonado pitted for fresh tyre's - on return to the track he bashed out a few fast laps making up time to the Spaniard while Alonso was being held up by Marussia's Charles Pic after ignoring blue flags. Pic got handed a diver-through penalty but retired himself after an issue with the car.
Jenson Button had a topsy-turvey race, suffering from grip issues (now fair to say this is an on going joke) battling with Felipe Massa for position. Button finished the race in 9th, while Massa dropped off the pace and finished down in 15th.
Hamilton finished the race in 8th, in front of teammate Button, after starting from 24th that is quite a performance, a blast from the young Lewis Hamilton's past driving corker races.
The last pit stops of the race were nervy one's, Maldonado was held in his box for longer that he should have as the team were sorting his tyre's. Ferrari's stop was smooth and exactly what they needed.
Kimi Raikkonen led the race on Lap 46, with old tyre's on he was slower than both Maldonado and Alonso. The Venezuelan was able to ease past Raikkonen however the 'flying Finn' did a good job of holding Alonso up enough to make a difference for the rest of the race, after the Spaniard was able the pass for 2nd position he kept close to the leader. Keeping calm and collected, something we aren't always used to seeing for Pastor Maldonado, he kept focused and more importantly kept the Ferrari in his wing mirrors. At the end of the race Alonso's tyre's were through, wear from being so close behind the Williams car had taken it's toll.
The chequered flag was out and it was Pastor Maldonado that crossed the line first, followed by Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen joining him on the podium.
Williams first podium since Brazil 2004 - notice the South American theme! A fitting win for Sir Frank Williams 70th birthday - Happy Birthday Sir Frank and a massive congratulations to him and the team!!! A win the whole of Formula 1 will be glad and happy to see.

RESULTS:

Fastest Lap: Romain Grosjean: 1:26.250

Podium:

[1st-Pastor Maldonado, 2nd-Fernando Alonso, 3rd-Kimi Raikkonen]

The weekend unfortunately ended terribly for Williams. During celebrations in the pit garage shortly after the race a horrific fire broke out. Many mechanics from different teams instantly went to put the fire out, which pumped out a lot of nasty smoke. Frank Williams, his family and Pastor's family along with team members, film crews and outside friends and family were among those inside the pit box and in the pit lane at the time. Nobody was seriously injured but many mechanics who helped extinguish the fire got taken to the medical centre for treatment (smoke inhalation and suspected minor burns) A few of those got taken to local hospitals and all got released except one who is still under observation but is stable and will be released soon - so reports say. Hopefully all those effected will have a speedy recovery.
Teams continue to unite together and have offered to lend Williams any kit they need for Monaco after extensive fire damage to a lot of the equipment in the garage at the time.

*Michael Schumacher will have a five place grid penalty in Monaco after the incident with Bruno Senna during the Spanish GP.

Next Up:
Back to the bikes as we now head in to every other weekend for both MotoGP and Formula 1 instead of these long 3 week breaks, phew.
This weekend MotoGP heads to Le Mans in France.