2012 Formula 1: Alonso triumphs in Valencia, Michael Schumacher on Podium

Emotional Fernando Alonso just about managed to hold it together as he crossed the chequered flag in front of his home crowd at the street circuit in Valencia, for the European Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver won with race starting from eleventh position, as Sebastian Vettel suffered an unfortunate mechanical failure after leading most of the way. Kimi Raikkonen finished second for Lotus as his teammate Gromain Grosjean as well suffered some technical glitch, while Michael Schumacher grabbed his first podium since 2006. 

Pastor Maldonado once again had an incident in the dying moments of the race, as he pushed Hamilton into the wall, while trying to overtake him. Pastor Maldonado eventually finished tenth, but was awarded 20 seconds penalty by stewards dropping him further down to twelfth position.  Kamui Kobayashi has been handed a five place grid penalty for his scuffle with Felipe Massa, while Jean Eric Verge has got a 10 place penalty for next race after dangerous incident with Petrov. 

Mark Webber finished fourth helping Red Bull held on to the lead in constructors’ championship. Nico Hulkenberg finished his career best fifth, helping Force India attain their season best taking 16 points with Paul di Resta in seventh. Nico Rosberg finished sixth after a bad start dropping him several positions down the order. Jenson Button in eighth was the only McLaren to finish, ahead of Perez and Bruno Senna . 

The next race will be the British Grand Prix at Silverstone circuit, which is the home track for many teams and drivers. The round 9 may get us few more surprises, as both championships are still wide open.