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Maldonado Wins Maiden Grand Prix Race In Spain

BARCELONA, Spain- Ever since their last victory in 2004, Team Williams was hoping for something that would give their cash-strapped team a boost. On Sunday afternoon at the Grand Prix of Spain at the Circuit de Catalunya, Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado gave the team this wish by just edging home hero Fernando Alonso to win his first and his nation’s maiden race. Kimi Raikkonen, after a last pit stop, made up seconds and just finished in third by six tenths of a second behind Alonso.

“It was so close,” Maldonado said. “We were looking to manage the tire degradation so I couldn’t push that hard, just to keep the tires alive for the end of the race and Fernando got very close. There were some moments where he was so close especially at end of the straight, but I was managing the gap and controlling everything. Our pace today was very strong, the car was fantastic, so was the team. We did a small mistake at the last pit stop but it didn’t affect our performance. It was a tough race because of the strategy as well, it was hard especially because of rear tires, after a couple of laps we were struggling with them, but I need to say I am pretty happy because car was so competitive since the first lap.”

With Lewis Hamilton disqualified from the pole because of fuel issues, Maldonado assumed the top spot and knew that Alonso with his great Ferrari speed, would coast by him when the starting lights went out. But the exact opposite happened, as Maldonado squeezed Alonso into a corner, only to have the Spaniard recover and pass him.

With the home crowd roaring for their home hero, Alonso maintained this lead and around lap 11, many drivers came into the pits for the harder compound tire. But both Lotus drivers Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean opted instead for the softer compound, which turned out to be the best decision altogether.

By lap 15, the tire compounds began to find their grip and going down the main straight, both Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna collided as the German ran too close to the Brazilian’s Williams. Both were knocked out of the race, with Schumacher clearly frustrated at his lost chances to get more valuable points.

“He moved to the right, but he shouldn’t move back in the braking phase to the left that sharply.” Stated Schumacher. “I’m just behind him and I don’t know how sharply he is going to move. So it was all very dangerous. We had a chance of good points today so it is doubly frustrating. I have to say I don’t know what he was trying to prove but in Brazil last year he was driving into my car and today he was doing funny things. A lap before he had an accident together with Grosjean so I don’t know what he was going through his mind.”

Senna, on the other hand, explained in a calmer tone.

“I prefer not to put the blame onto anyone.” He said. “Of course he’s not going to say it’s his own fault, but at the end of the day he had much newer tires than me, I was on very old rubber by then, so I guess our braking points were uneven. I’d already seen Grosjean braking very late and hitting me into Turn One, and I didn’t want Michael to do the same. When I went to brake, he probably just tried to cross and he hit me, so what can you do?”

Alonso remained in the lead through lap 21, with only just under a couple of seconds over the Venezuelan. But only a few laps later, HRT’s Narain Karthekeyan’s day ended and the Indian parked his car on the grass leading to the main straight, where the yellow flags came out. But Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel were not quickly aware to slow down in this section, and were both given drive through penalties, ruining their chances to move up the grid.

As the second round of pit stops occurred, Maldonado managed to move ahead of Alonso and lead for the first time in his career. Sergio Perez on lap 41 encountered a bad pit stop, in which one of his tires was put on wrong, and because of this, the Mexican drove out of the pits, and had to pull over and out of the race, a result of a badly placed piece of rubber.

A lap later, Maldonado came in for his final stop, but a slow stop put him back to third. But Alonso had to stop as well, and only a good stop put him out just ahead of Raikkonen, while Maldonado regained his lead, this time for good. Alonso fought off the Finn, but Raikkonen realized that he could not challenge Alonso because of poor tires and had to stop, which put him in fourth, just behind Grosjean, until the Frenchman too had to pit. Raikkonen began to drive flat out, but could only go so far to just miss a chance to overtake Alonso for second.

But Maldonado held off Alonso, and for the first time in eight years, the Williams F1 team won itself a Grand Prix race.

Grosjean remained in fourth, where he ended up finishing. Kamui Kobyaschi took fifth in his Sauber, while Vettel just held off fellow countryman Nico Rosberg for sixth. The two McLarens of Hamilton and Jenson Button were next in eighth and ninth, respectively, while Nico Hulkenberg got the last point for Sahara Force India.

A win for Williams now means that all the work the team did over the winter season has paid off. Now with Monaco two weeks away, and Maladado very good at street racing, there could be a chance to get more results.

“It’s a wonderful day, unbelievable for me and all the team.” Stated the Williams driver. “We’ve been pushing so hard since last year to improve race by race and here we are. We need to keep continuing like that to develop it as soon as possible. Consistency will be the most important thing in this championship.”

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