Before the race got underway my instinct told me that it was definitely Kimi´s turn to win today and that Maldonado wouldn´t make it to the chequered flag... My instinct turned out to be pretty wrong!
Alonso got a dream start and he was able to overtake Maldonado immediately. Kimi´s start was impressive as well as he was able to get past his team-mate Grosjean right away. Unfortunately Kimi´s race pace wasn´t as strong as I had hoped it to be and the Iceman couldn´t quite keep up with the pace that both Alonso and Maldonado had. Soon it became obvious that the battle for the victory would be between the Spaniard and the Venezuelan...
Once again Schumi was involved with an incident that lead to retirement from the race. On lap 13 Schumi tried to overtake Senna in his Williams and ended up hitting the rear of Senna´s Williams... So both of them were out of the race! Afterwards the stewards drew the conclusion that it was Schumi at fault and he was handed a 5-place grid penalty at Monaco in two weeks.
During the second pit stops Maldonado was able to take the lead from Alonso. Kimi was the last of the top three to come and change the final new set of primes and the last stint of the Finn was extremely impressive! He was able to decrease the gap to Alonso by even two seconds a lap! Both Alonso and Maldonado struggled with their tyres at the end and on the closing laps Kimi got right behind Alonso but there simply weren´t enough laps left for him to overtake the Ferrari driver! But it was such a pleasure to watch Kimi chasing Alonso lap by lap and second by second! You could actually see how Kimi was able to "taste the blood" as he was closing the gap metre by metre... Highly entertaining F1 racing! So well deserved podium place for the Iceman although he was disappointed with the 3rd place and didn´t hesitate to show it.
Hamilton´s performance was strong again. He started the race from the back of the grid but managed to finish 8th and score some points even though he once again had one delayed pit stop again. Vettel´s race wasn´t problem free either. At the beginning of the race it seemed that he could easily battle for P4 or P5 but he was handed a drive through penalty for ignoring yellow flags. He also had a problem with his front wing so the change of the nose meant a little longer pit stop. But I loved to see Vettel not giving up but fighting for every position that was there to be taken! The German made staggering overtaking moves on Rosberg and Button for example. Vettel finally finished 6th which was the maximum that could be reached after all those setbacks.
So five rounds and five different winners from different teams so far! The battle for the championship is unbelievably tight! Maldonado took his maiden victory which must be a truly special moment for him :) Williams has taken a significant leap forward! Last season you would have been considered crazy if you had said that you can win races with Williams next year! Times change so fast in the F1 world...
There was a frightening fire in the Williams garage after the race! An electrical problem in the fuel rig caused the fire but luckily there seems to have been no serious injuries. So there´re Vettel and Alonso leading the championship with 61 points... Kimi jumped 4th in the drivers´ standings and Lotus is only some 14 points behind McLaren in the constructors´ standings...
It´s Mother´s Day in Finland today. On one hand Kimi brought happiness into my day by finishing on the podium. I also felt proud of Vettel who turned his setbacks into mesmerising overtaking moves... But on the other hand I do miss seeing Seb on the podium and preferably on the top step, please! So happy Mother´s Day to everyone and let´s see if we´ll have a new winner also in Monaco at the end of the month...
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