68. 2012 Spanish GP: Maldonado shocks F1 with Williams victory

May 13, Barcelona

Prior to Barcelona 2012, Maldonado and his Williams team had been largely nowhere, barely even scraping into the top eight with Williams’ glory days long gone. However, on what was also a celebration of Sir Frank’s 70th birthday, something or a miracle occurred.

The first surprise was Maldonado pipping home hero Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari to pole on Saturday. But realistically nobody expected him to keep it there. Alonso drafted into the lead at the start and normal service was resumed. Or was it? Push as he might, Alonso couldn’t shake Maldonado off, who remained close behind and eventually managed to undercut ahead at the stops when Alonso was delayed in traffic. Surely the Spanish hero would catch and eventually pass the little old Williams? Nope. Maldonado stayed ahead on the harder tyres and even overcame a slow pitstop when his left-rear refused to slot into place to draft back into the lead past Kimi Räikkönen’s long-stinting Lotus. Across the final stages, Maldonado maintained a slender advantage over Alonso to secure Williams its first win since Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2004 Brazilian GP, and without any freak weather or extenuating circumstance in sight.

Just as memorable was the aftermath, with a freak fire engulfing the Williams garage following a fuel leak. The fact the result coincided with a special day for the Williams family was also enough to prompt wild conspiracy theories of a fix, all of which were dismissed – and regardless Maldonado would’ve still had to drive the car for 66 laps without fault, which he did. After becoming F1’s first-ever Venezuelan winner, Maldonado attained national hero status with people flying banners in his name in the capital Caracas and he even received a congratulatory phone call from then-president, Hugo Chávez. Safe to say, he never troubled the podium places again. RL

Results

1st Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault), 1hr 39min 09.145sec, 115.47mph
2nd Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
3rd Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus-Renault)
Pole position Maldonado (Williams-Renault), 1min 22.285sec, 126.52mph