Fernando Alonso and Ferrari became the first repeat winner in Formula 1 for the 2012 season. Up to the Grand Prix of Europe on Sunday, June 24th, there had been seven races and seven different drivers on top of the podium. Alonso made the run, caught the top spot for a second time in the season and took the points lead overall.

He is also Spanish so winning in Valencia made him a home turf hero.

Not too bad in a car that was criticized in many circles as an ugly duckling before the season was under way. The team tinkered it and Alonso has managed to pull every ounce of speed from it to get where they are. The car may have started the season as an unattractive prom date but they have dressed her up nice for two top runs.

The surprise for this race was Michael Schumacher. So surprising in fact Schumacher himself was caught off guard. He finished third for his first podium appearance of the season but wasn’t totally aware until he was told after the race. Perhaps we’ll see more of him in the top spots as the season moves forward from here. If his team can manage to have him drive fast and hard without ever letting him know exactly where he is…

Kimi Räikkönen managed to throw the #9 Lotus Renault over the checkers in the second slot. Team mate Romain Grosjean burned up an alternator. Sebastian Vettel suffered the same issue with the Red Bull Renault.

Vettel’s team mate, Mark Webber, took the fourth slot in the #2 Red Bull Renault. The similar airflow and engine designs will likely give some electronic feedback as to why Räikkönen and Webber managed to have power while their mates lost alternators. The heat may have been an issue.
Perhaps the auto parts guy gave them alternators for a Renault Clio instead of the Renault F1. For all we know the part numbers may be just one digit off…

Lewis Hamilton… Oh my.

Since the close of the race and the packing up and moving towards the next venue F1 officials have thrown a 20 point penalty on Pastor Maldonado for causing Hamilton to have an unscheduled date with the outside wall.

We don’t see it. We like Hamilton but it certainly appears as if he made the situation happen in the first place. Hamilton drove wide in the previous turn pushing Maldonado to the outside and off. Maldonado had nowhere to go with the #18 Williams Renault and had to get back on track. Hamilton drove deep to the inside of the next turn effectively cutting the line further for the #18. The McLaren left rear touched and rolled over the right front of the Renault and “hello wall”.

This put Hamilton out from a points finish to a DNF. He would have likely still held the top season points lead. It was aggressive driving on old tires that put Hamilton on the wall.

However, it was likely that smash up that left Schumacher confused as to where he was at the end. If Hamilton and Maldonado had stayed on course Schumacher may have been a slot a or two further back.

What events came into play to get him there it is possible Schumacher was the happiest third place finisher we’ve seen in a while.

F1 moves on to Silverstone in Britain then to the season halfway point in Germany. The English have Hamilton in the top 5. Germany has Sebastion Vettel. It will be September before the F1 teams run in Italy. It will be interesting to see if Ferrari and Alonso are still running on top when they get there. Alonso won in Spain. Can Ferrari win in Italy?