Maldonado wins first Grand Prix for Williams in eight years

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Published time: May 13, 2012 14:42
Edited time: May 13, 2012 21:39

Pastor Maldonado of Venezuela has stunned the Formula 1 world by driving his Williams Renault to victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

­The race leader changed at the first corner as home favorite Fernando Alonso produced a great start to overtake surprise pole holder Maldonado of Williams.

Lap 13 became unlucky for Michael Schumacher, with the seven-time world champ crashing into another Williams, that of Bruno Senna, to see the race end for both cars.

After the second wave of pit stops, Maldonado returned to first place and never gave it away, surviving some pressure from Alonso during the closing stages.

Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus once again produced a solid display to finish third, with teammate Romain Grosjean right behind.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who was the fastest in qualifying but had to start from last after failing to provide the stewards with the necessary amount of fuel to test, managed to climb up to eighth position.

Russia’s Vitaly Petrov was 17th, losing over 15 seconds to Caterham teammate, Heikki Kovalainen.

"I think it’s a wonderful day, not just for me but for all the team,” Maldonado is cited Formula 1’s official website as saying. “We have been pushing so hard since last year to try to improve race by race and here we are. Yesterday we were here after a great qualifying and today we did it again. It was a tough race because the strategy as well, it was tough especially because of the rear tires – after a couple of laps we were struggling with [them]. I need to say I’m pretty happy because the car was so competitive since the first lap. Fernando did a better start than me but I was just following the pace and it was so great. It’s my first podium and my first victory and you can imagine what I feel.”

Maldonado’s success is the first race win for Williams since Brazil in 2004 and the 114th overall.

The 27-year-old, who’s just in his second year in Formula 1, also became the first ever Venezuelan to triumph in a Grand Prix.

Despite the victory, Maldonado sits 9th in the drivers’ standings, with defending champ Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso tied for the lead at 61 points.