Fernando Alonso secured a scintillating victory in Valencia after a somewhat chaotic European Grand Prix.
The Spaniard battled through from 11th on the grid to become 2012’s first repeat winner, handing him the championship lead after his main rivals failed to score.
The race looked to be in Sebastian Vettel’s hands before a safety car closed the pack. However it was a reliability issue that ended the German’s race.
Romain Grosjean then looked to be in charge before his alternator failed. That left Alonso to go largely unchallenged as he crossed the line as the eventual victor.
A scrap between Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado saw the McLaren end up in the wall with two laps to go, handing the final podium spot to Michael Schumacher – first since his return, making him the oldest driver to stand on the podium.
For a full race report, check out our live commentary here.
2012 European GP Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 25 | |
| 02. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +6.4 | 18 |
| 03. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +12.6 | 15 |
| 04. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +13.6 | 12 |
| 05. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +19.9 | 10 |
| 06. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +21.1 | 8 |
| 07. | P. di Resta | Force India | +22.8 | 6 |
| 08. | J. Button | McLaren | +24.8 | 4 |
| 09. | S. Perez | Sauber | +27.7 | 2 |
| 10. | P. Maldonado | Williams | +34.6 | 1 |
| 11. | B. Senna | Williams | +35.9 | |
| 12. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | +37.0 | |
| 13. | V. Petrov | Caterham | +1:15.8 | |
| 14. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | +1:34.6 | |
| 15. | C. Pic | Marussia | +1:36.5 | |
| 16. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +1 lap | |
| 17. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | +1 lap | |
| 18. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | +1 lap | |
| 19. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +2 laps | |
| 20. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | +17 laps | |
| 21. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +24 laps | |
| 22. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +24 laps | |
| 23. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | +31 laps | |
| 24. | T. Glock | Marussia | DNS |
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