Fernando Alonso wins in Valencia for the first time to become the first driver to win two races this season. It wasn't as simple as that though as the 11th placed man saw Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean suffer technical faults to put themselves out of the race. To help the Spaniard's case in the overall championship, Lewis Hamilton also didn't finish after crashing with Pastor Maldonado. All these incidents allowed Michael Schumacher to gain his first podium place since his return to F1.
Timo Glock was unable to take his slot on the grid so the race would commence with only 23 cars. From the start, Vettel charged into a comfortable lead. Grosjean managed to overtake Pastor Maldonado into third with Kamui Kobayashi in fourth and Raikkonen in sixth. Alonso had managed to get himself up to eighth with Jenson Button falling to 13th.
Grosjean then began his hunt to become the eighth different winner by overtaking Hamilton to move up to second on lap ten. Raikkonen was able to overtake Maldonado on lap-13 to gain fifth before then managed to get ahead of Kobayashi in the first pit stop stint. Alonso then did the same to get himself ahead of the Finn on lap-16.
The first piece of unusual drama on the Valencia track came on lap-20 when Bruno Senna and Kobayashi come together. The Williams suffered a puncture and was also adjudged to have caused the collision, therefore receiving a drive through penalty.
Eight laps later, it was Jean-Eric Vergne and Heikki Kovalainen to collide with both cars suffering punctures. For Vergne, who looked to have caused the collision, the damage was too bad to continue. The debris was also too substantial for normal racing to continue and the Safety Car was deployed. With the Safety Car out, many took this opportunity to pit. But it turned out to be a bad stop for Hamilton who found himself overtaken by Alonso.
The Safety Car came in on lap-33 and the following lap was utter carnage. Alonso managed to overtake Grosjean to gain second place. Felipe Massa and Kobayashi then contacted, causing the Ferrari to sustain a puncture with the Sauber losing its front wing. Kobayashi couldn't continue and has been handed a five place grid penalty for the next race for causing a collision. Hamilton was then also able to overtake Grosjean to take third. But the biggest drama on lap-34 saw the comfortable Sebastian Vettel have his car stop on him, forcing the German out of the race when it looked like he was going to win it at a canter.
Narain Karthikeyan received a drive through penalty on lap-40 for speeding in the pit lane. A lap later, Grosjean suffered the same fate as Vettel as the Lotus' alternator failed, causing another retirement. This left Alonso firmly in the lead with Hamilton now in second and Raikkonen in third.
The next collision came on lap-48 when tenth place Vitaly Petrov lost his front wing courtesy of Daniel Ricciardo trying to overtake the Caterham. Fortunately, Petrov was able to continue but it ruined his chances of getting a surprising point from an impressive weekend.
Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber began a late charge in the final five laps, overtaking Sergio Perez and Paul Di Resta to gain sixth and seventh respectively. With two laps remaining, Hamilton made a mistake as his tyres started losing grip and it allowed Raikkonen to overtake the McLaren to gain second place.
Maldonado then tried his hand at overtaken the stricken McLaren. They went abreast on the penultimate lap and the Venezuelan had no choice but to collide into Hamilton while trying to come back onto the race track. The Williams lost his front wing while the McLaren was in the tyre wall. This collision allowed Schumacher and Webber to gain another two places with the German sealing the final podium spot. Race result:
1.Alonso (Ferrari), 2.Raikkonen (Lotus), 3.Schumacher (Mercedes), 4.Webber (Red Bull), 5.Hulkenberg (Force India), 6.Rosberg (Mercedes), 7.Di Resta (Force India), 8.Button (McLaren), 9.Perez (Sauber), 10.Maldonado (Williams) (suffers a ten second penalty so will drop further places) 11.Senna (Williams), 12.Ricciardo (Toro Ross), 13.Petrov (Caterham), 14.Kovalainen (Caterham), 15.Pic (Marussia), 16.Massa (Ferrari) DNF: Vettel (Red Bull), Hamilton (McLaren), Grosjean (Lotus), Kobayashi (Sauber), Vergne (Toro Rosso) DNS: Glock (Marussia)
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