Pastor Maldonado’s victory at the Spanish Grand Prix underlined that the only certainty in Formula One this year is its uncertainty.
A year after Sebastian Vettel ran away with back—to—back world titles the opening five races have seen five different winners from as many teams.
“Sensation in Formula One wonderland,” titled Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday.
And it somewhat also fitted the current scenario in the sport that Williams’ celebrations were abruptly cut short by a fire in their motorhome which left several people injured and saw Maldonado carry a teenaged relative to safety — some 90 minutes after being shouldered on the podium by Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
Jenson Button won in Australia, Alonso in Malaysia, Nico Rosberg in China and Vettel in Bahrain. Maldonado’s success Sunday equalled the mark of 1983 which also saw five winners in the first five races.
Rosberg’s success was the first for Mercedes in more than five decades as a works team, Alonso barely held off Sauber’s Sergio Perez in what was the best finish for the Swiss team on its own, and Maldonado is the first winner for Venezuela and the first for Williams in eight years after being dismissed as a “pay driver” last year for bringing vital sponsors to Williams.
“Two weeks ago Williams were nowhere and now they driving circles around all of us. That is difficult to understand,” Vettel said.
Alonso said: “It’s very strange. We were 57 seconds behind Vettel in Bahrain, and we were lapping (his team—mate Mark) Webber here. No one understands probably. Not us either.
There is absolutely no margin for mistakes in a season which has seen nine of the 12 teams and 18 of the 24 drivers earn points, and the top eight — led by Vettel and Alonso — separated by just over a race win 26 points.
Alonso may have won for Ferrari on Sunday had he not been held up briefly by a backmarker and pitted for the first time a lap earlier.
Lewis Hamilton lost his chance when McLaren didn’t give him enough fuel to return the car from qualifying in first place and Lotus wrongly believed that Raikkonen could win because Maldonado and Alonso would pit again.
Strategies are becoming all—important with Vettel not taking a timed lap in the final qualifying to have an extra set of tyres in the race and others switching to plan B during the race.
“It’s so close between all the teams and drivers that if you have a small problem or a small issue during the weekend then it’s going to cost you a lot. If you’re three tenths behind then you’re suddenly not in the last qualifying,” said Raikkonen.
The key is understanding and managing the Pirelli tyres.
“It gives a lot of chances for all the teams who have the speed and when the tyres are working for them they are much better than the others. The tyres seem to be the key thing. If you get them working well you seem to be fast,” said Alonso.
Maldonado certainly agreed: “We have been working so hard from the beginning of the year trying to understand these tyres and to develop our car around the tyres.” Next up is the biggest race of them all in Monaco where Raikkonen and Hamilton will hope to finally top the podium as well — which would be a record as six different winners in the opening races have never happened before.
While the unpredictability is thrilling for the fans, Alonso (and the other stars) would finally prefer a little bit more of consistency.
“You arrive in Monaco and you don’t know if you will be a winner or if you will be out of the points. That’s what we feel at the moment, not only for us.
“But in a way, after eleven years in Formula One and seeing Ferrari dominate most of them, now that I’m at Ferrari, I would like to have more stability and a dominant car,” Alonso said.
