European Grand Prix - Wallpaper

Notable Points: We are absolutely dumbfounded. What an amazing race!

Sebastian Vettel took POLE on Saturday BUT the Red Bull racer was stranded in the race.

Vettel led away at the start but eventual winner Fernando Alonso starting eleventh, was eighth by the end of lap 1. Sebastian Vettel set a blistering pace at the beginning and was pulling away at a second a lap from the chasing pack. By lap 12 he had a huge lead over Romain Grosjean chasing in second place. The Frenchman having made an impressive pass on Lewis Hamilton on lap 10.

Lap 13 and Alonso was seventh, he moved up a place during the ensuing pitstops and then passed Maldonado for fifth. He would pit on lap 16 and re-joined in ninth place. Sebastian Vettel pitted on the same lap and resumed in the lead. At this rate the Red Bull Racing driver would be an easy winner... back to Alonso... eighth on lap 18, sixth on lap 19...

Lap 20 saw an opportunistic Kamui Kobayashi make a lunge on the right of Bruno Senna, contact between the two saw both pit and resume in the race. Senna was given a drive-thru penalty for causing an avoidable accident. Alonso made it past Di Resta on lap 22 for fourth. The Force India driver was quickly demoted by Raikkonen and Maldonado and it transpired that he was the only driver on a single stop strategy. Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean lying in second set the fastest time on lap 26. Incident on lap 28 when Jean-Eric Vergne made a huge misjudgement and made contact with Heikki Kovalainen. The Frenchman would be fined severely by the stewards and will take a grid drop at the next race in Silverstone.

The Safety Car was called into action on lap 29 whilst the debris was cleared. Alonso and Hamilton pitted immediately but the McLaren driver was impeded by a tardy pitstop due to equipment failure. Vettel pitted from the lead and Alonso was now in third and he soon passed Romain Grosjean for second after The Safety Car pulled in. Another crash for Kamui Kobayashi when he made contact with Felipe Massa. The Japanese driver was before the stewards and will take a grid drop at the next race.

Vettel retired on lap 34... Alonso was now in first place and set the fastest lap on lap 38. Romain Grosjean retired from second place on lap 41... Around lap 50 an impressive duel between Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber was developing nicely. This duo were eighth and ninth on lap 51, Sergio Perez was demoted next with Schumacher now seventh with Webber eighth on lap 53. Paul di Resta could not resist this duo as he was ovetraken next. Kimi Raikkonen overtook Lewis Hamilton on lap 55 and the McLaren driver would be under immediate pressure from Pastor Maldonado. Lap 56 - The Venezuelan was clumsy in choosing his opportunity and was alongside the McLaren and then off the race track and re-joined making contact with Hamilton. Lewis would retire in the barrier with the Venezuelan driver continuing. He would be classified as tenth at race end but and ensuing time penaly dropped him out of the points.

Fernando Alonso duly took the checquered flag with Kimi Raikkonen second. Amazingly Michael Schumacher finished third and this was his first podium finish since making his comeback. The podium was three drivers who have all driven for The Scuderia Ferrari...

At the rate the Red Bull Racing car driven by Sebastian Vettel left the following field we would predict that this car is streets ahead of the pack at this stage... Time will tell if the rest of the field can catch up!

Drive of The Day: Fernando Alonso. Superb drive by the Spaniard at one of his home events in 2012. He leads The World Drivers' Championship.

The finishing order is [ here ] and you can read all the Reports for the 2012 European Grand Prix [ here ].

We hope that you enjoy it...