F1′s astonishing season continues to live up to the hype, as a fifth driver and constructor on Sunday won the fifth grand prix of 2012.

Not only is the victory Pastor Maldonado’s first, his walk up the steps at the Circuit de Catalunya was the first taste of the podium in his two-season F1 career.

It’s also the first Venezuelan triumph in the sport’s history, and a hugely popular victory for Williams, the once-great British team headed by Sir Frank Williams, whose 70th birthday was warmly celebrated in the paddock on Saturday.

“Boy did we need that,” said Williams on BBC television.

And asked how he feels on Sky television, he smiled: “Relief.”

“Some said Maldonado was a pay driver and he didn’t deserve his place in formula one but they’ll be eating their words now,” commented former team driver David Coulthard.

“That was a fantastic drive,” added Coulthard, referring to Williams’ first win since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004.

Williams enthused: “I didn’t see him (Maldonado) make one single mistake.”

“You can’t really fault him,” agreed Williams’ 1996 world champion Damon Hill.

Amazingly, however, away from the champagne, Sebastian Vettel’s sixth place leaves him at the top of the drivers’ championship, and he is now neck-and-neck with Fernando Alonso, who finished second on Sunday in the improving Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton, who finished dead last on Sunday and finished eighth, is third in the points classification, ahead of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen.

Finn Raikkonen finished third on Sunday, and is the favourite to become F1′s sixth different winner of 2012 in Monaco in a fortnight.

“We showed we still have the speed,” the Lotus driver said after the Spanish grand prix. “If we had a few more laps, we could have fought for a victory.”

Michael Schumacher has been pipped at the post in the race to be the world’s richest sportsman.

According to the Sunday Times’ annual listings, the seven time world champion’s (US) $823 million in career earnings is beaten only by golf legend Tiger Woods.

American Woods has earned $869 million in his own ultra-successful career, the newspaper found.

And the Sunday Times said the pair have each earned hundreds of millions of dollars more than other high-earning sportsmen, including Michael Jordan ($516m), Roger Federer ($316m) and David Beckham ($258m).

F1′s two other representatives, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, were way down the top-twenty list, with their respective earnings at about $161 million apiece.

McLaren’s world champions Lewis Hamilton ($89m) and Jenson Button ($85m), meanwhile, appear only on the list for British sportsmen, and they are both outpaced by the $129m earned by former Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine mainly through property investment.

However, Hamilton and Button have each earned more in their careers than David Coulthard, Nigel Mansell, former BAR boss David Richards (all $80m) and Sir Jackie Stewart ($67m).

Those earnings, however, are all dwarfed by Bernie Ecclestone’s estimated $4 billion, although the 81-year-old F1 chief executive does not appear at all on the list of the world’s richest overall.

That list is headed by mega-earners like Sauber sponsor Carlos Slim, who according to the Sunday Times is worth $71 billion.

F1′s surprise 2012 season has kept on bubbling in Bahrain.

It is a measure of the excitement and unpredictability of the new championship that, just days after some media said the reigning title winner was in ‘crisis’, Sebastian Vettel won from pole and took the lead of the 2012 points standings.

But the German only narrowly beat the returning 2009 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, with Lotus also completing the surprise podium as Romain Grosjean sampled the sport’s prestigious rostrum for the very first time.

Vettel leads the championship by 4 points from Lewis Hamilton, who finished just eighth.

Red Bull also leads the constructors’ chase, by 9 points from McLaren.

Vettel is the fourth different winner in F1′s four races so far this year, following Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg.

It is his first win since India last year.

“How many good stories can we have in formula one in terms of the racing?” David Coulthard said on BBC television. “We’re only four races in and we’ve had such a mix of winners.”

The FIA could sanction F1′s reigning back-to-back world champion for his behaviour during the recent Malaysian grand prix.

Before calling backmarker Narain Karthikeyan a “gherkin” and “idiot” in the wake of their collision, Sebastian Vettel was captured by his on-board camera twice displaying his middle-finger to the Indian driver.

“I think he’s highly frustrated because he’s having a tough season,” Karthikeyan told the Deccan Chronicle on Wednesday.

“It’s completely unprofessional to blame me for the incident. The derogatory remark only goes to show him in bad light.

“Just because he has a good car, he can’t call others an idiot,” Karthikeyan continued.

“I have won races in all the previous single-seater championships I have participated in so I don’t need a certificate from Vettel.”

Reports in Germany, including in the Kolner Express, Bild and Die Welt newspapers, claim that Red Bull driver’s behaviour may have breached the new stricter code of conduct introduced by FIA president Jean Todt.

The FIA has been contacted for comment.

“He has breached the code of conduct,” former F1 driver Marc Surer told Germany’s Sky television. “You sign it when you get the license and then you have to behave correspondingly.

“Any behaviour that hurts other people or the sport is an offense,” added the Swiss.

Asked what the penalties might be, Surer explained: “Anything from a warning to a license revocation. In this case I think it was quite understandable and there will be a mild punishment, if there is anything.”

Hans-Joachim Stuck, however, is slightly less forgiving.

“When you’re overtaking, misunderstandings can occur. I think Vettel needs to learn this.

“With him, the curve was always upwards and now it’s not the case, and he needs to deal with that,” the German legend told the DAPD news agency.

As for Vettel’s description of Karthikeyan as a “gherkin”, Stuck insisted: “It’s better than ‘asshole’.”

Vettel’s attack, however, was sustained, with Kleine Zeitung newspaper now quoting the Red Bull driver as having said: “Maybe formula one is not the place to learn how to drive.”

Stuck responded: “If Sebastian had left more space, it would not have happened. It happens sometimes so it’s a racing incident.

“He (Karthikeyan) didn’t do it on purpose and it always takes two.”

The HRT driver hit back by calling Vettel a “bully”, and even David Coulthard – a Red Bull team consultant – defended Karthikeyan.

“He can’t make his car invisible,” the Scot is quoted as saying by the Mirror.

Also defending Karthikeyan was Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg, who told the Indian press this week: “From what I saw, it was not Narain’s fault.

“So I don’t really understand why he (Vettel) said all that.”

Hukenberg’s Force India teammate Paul di Resta added: “Narain is entitled to do as much on the track in comparison with someone like Vettel.

“Both are F1 drivers and are there to represent their teams.”

 After putting his tumultuous 2011 season behind him, Lewis Hamilton has kicked off this year’s world champion in downbeat mood.
The 2008 world champion had put his well-documented personal problems and on-track struggles behind him with a positive approach to his sixth season in F1.

But after his teammate Jenson Button beat him in the 2011 standings, Hamilton could not hide his disappointment on Sunday when the 2009 title winner also beat him to the first corner in Melbourne, before Button and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel filled the top two podium spots.

“I just struggled out there,” confused pole-sitter Hamilton said afterwards.

David Coulthard, the former long-time McLaren driver and now paddock analyst, expressed concern about Hamilton’s “striking” post-race body-language and “stony-faced” performance on the podium.

“Has it (Button’s win) knocked Lewis?” he wondered in his Telegraph column.

Many in F1 are astonished by how Button, described as having entered Hamilton’s “lion’s den” at McLaren two years ago, is now being described by the famous British team as its title-winning hope.

“People underestimate him,” said team boss Martin Whitmarsh. “He’s such a calm, mature and easygoing fellow that people don’t realise necessarily the hunger that’s in him to compete and to win.

“He must now believe he’s in a good chance of a proper title run this year and providing we can continue to improve the car, not make mistakes, be reliable there’s no reason why he can’t do that,” he added.

On Hamilton’s side of the garage, meanwhile, is a downcast driver and an expiring contract.

“On his day, Lewis is unbeatable, and yet I suspect McLaren are wondering whether or not they want to keep him, because he brings so much baggage with him,” another former McLaren driver-turned commentator, Martin Brundle, told April’s Motor Sport magazine.

As for Whitmarsh, McLaren’s team principal insists there is no concern yet that Hamilton has already re-entered another spiral of despair so early in 2012.

Downplaying Hamilton’s post-race mood in Australia, he said: “When he starts getting happy with being third, or beaten by his teammate, then he won’t be the Lewis we all love and admire.”

The McLaren drivers and beaming returnee Romain Grosjean on Saturday looked to have knocked Red Bull from its dominant perch.
“McLaren had an upgrade at the last test and it’s performed here at Albert Park,” said former team driver and BBC commentator David Coulthard.

Lewis Hamilton beat his teammate Jenson Button to pole in Melbourne, but just a few tenths behind is the reigning GP2 champion Grosjean.

Frenchman Grosjean’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen had a dire return qualifying performance by missing the Q1 cut, describing the session as “shit” according to the German press.

In total contrast, Grosjean was beaming: “A few people believed in me through the toughest time and I’m back — almost at the top!”

The surprises continued beyond the top three: Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher is fourth, and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel sixth.

“We are aware we need to improve,” said Mark Webber, who qualified the sister Red Bull in fifth as both RB8 cars had KERS issues.

In much bigger strife is fabled Ferrari, with neither F2012 making it through to Q3.

Fernando Alonso threw his red car into the gravel and Felipe Massa is a disastrous 16th, with Sky analyst Martin Brundle described the handling of the F2012 as “horrible”.

“Forget the reds,” the summary report at Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport website, written by correspondent Andrea Cremonesi, said.

Said Spaniard Alonso: “We need to change the direction quickly if we’re to challenge for the championship. We have to react.”

Meanwhile, Lotus boss Eric Boullier answered “maybe” when asked on Sky UK television if the team will lodge an official protest against Mercedes’ qualifying result, based on the belief the W03′s F-duct solutions are illegal.

A few days ago, Red Bull’s team boss said Jenson Button – not the other McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton – is a more likely championship challenger for 2012.
On the eve of the new season, Christian Horner has now told British reporters that – with Hamilton’s current contract expiring this year – it is “difficult to envisage Lewis in our team”.

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion who had a tumultuous 2011 and was famously beaten by Button in the drivers’ points standings, insists he doesn’t mind.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard of (the remarks) but they definitely don’t wind me up,” the Briton is quoted by the BBC.

“There are a lot of opinions, and everybody has their right to an opinion, but it doesn’t really affect me.

“It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day when I go out and do the job.”

In fairness to Hamilton, he sounds confident and refreshed heading into the new season, has patched up his relationship with his girlfriend, and appointed Didier Coton to look after him in the paddock.

“Lewis was a child prodigy — this is the problem,” 1996 world champion Damon Hill told the Sun. “When you have been brought up from an early age to be a product, at some point something will crack.”

Another pundit, former McLaren driver David Coulthard, urged Hamilton not to be put off by Red Bull’s apparent lack of interest in his services.

“I don’t think Lewis will ever be out of demand for the top teams,” said the Scot.

“What are Lewis’ other options? I don’t think Mercedes are waving around a cheque book — I’d be surprised if Michael (Schumacher) and Nico Rosberg are in the top-four earners in formula one.

“You also want a competitive car and if McLaren give him that, then he will probably stay,” said Coulthard.

Eddie Jordan has advised Lewis Hamilton to stick with McLaren.
With the 2008 world champion’s current contract coming to an end this year, he said recently he would address the issue of his future “sooner rather than later”.

“After the first couple of races it’s something we will probably want to get out of the way,” said Hamilton last month.

For the moment, however, there is speculation, after Bernie Ecclestone said he doubts the 27-year-old will stay with the Woking based team forever.

The major German daily Bild then reported that Hamilton has been earmarked as Mercedes’ ‘plan-B’ in the event Michael Schumacher does not stay in 2013.

But Jordan, a former F1 team owner and boss, believes Hamilton should stay put.

“Given their (McLaren’s) resources and level of investment, can you tell me that Lewis would be better off in another team?” he said on Tuesday at a BBC event.

Jordan believes, however, that the famous British team can do a better job of handling Hamilton.

“I think – and this is in some way a criticism – that they will have learned from their mistakes last season,” he said.

One remedy is the placement by Hamilton’s management of Mika Hakkinen’s former manager Didier Coton, and another is the driver’s move from secluded Geneva to bustling Monaco.

Hamilton has also reunited with his girlfriend Nicole, and had a long winter break.

“McLaren appear to have given him a chunk of time off, to go away and to focus,” former long-time McLaren driver David Coulthard said.

 Kimi Raikkonen’s former teammate has admitted he was surprised when the 2007 world champion decided to return this year to formula one.
Scottish veteran David Coulthard shared the McLaren garage with the now 32-year-old Finn seven years ago.

He told Russia’s Championat: “When the rumours began, I thought it would never happen.

“I believed he was really enjoying competing in rallying and had decided to end his formula one career,” said Coulthard.

The former McLaren and Red Bull driver, however, clarified that he is supportive of Raikkonen’s return.

“I am in favour (of it),” he said, “and the others are not going to have it easy because they are going to be proving their abilities against six world champions.”

And Raikkonen, Coulthard added, is one of the best.

“Last year I was with Kimi at the Red Bull Ring with Sebastian Vettel and a few others. We competed together in a variety of cars and bikes, and Kimi was quick in all of them.

“He’s a real natural talent,” he said.

The precise pecking-order is clouded, but one thing is clear: 2012 looks set to be a highly competitive season in formula one.
“There are a lot of cars out there that look competitive,” said McLaren’s Jenson Button, on the day Williams’ Pastor Maldonado set the quickest time in the midst of the second group test in Barcelona.

Earlier this week, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was the pacesetter, causing Mercedes’ Norbert Haug to tell Bild newspaper: “That’s great.”

“I didn’t expect that,” agreed world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Hulkenberg smiled: “‘Test champion’ gives me nothing. But I am in good shape.”

Vettel continued to Kleine Zeitung newspaper: “This year everything is closer together”, he said, after his teammate Mark Webber admitted there is “no question” Red Bull needs to keep working on the pace of its new RB8.

According to Die Welt newspaper, Vettel continued: “Most of the competitors are difficult to assess. It’s the same old game.”

He is referring to unknown fuel levels, tyre age and differing approaches and programmes — and teams’ deliberate sandbagging or ‘show-run’ efforts.

“I never paid too much attention to direct comparisons on headline laptimes,” insisted David Coulthard, “but on the longer runs you can start to build a picture.”

Williams engineer Mark Gillan told Auto Motor und Sport: “It seems as though the entire field has moved much closer together. It will be a tough fight.”

An early assessment of the pecking order might have Red Bull and McLaren at the front, and Mercedes and Lotus possibly ready to join the fight.

“It looks like Red Bull are fairly stable,” Coulthard agreed to Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency, “(and) McLaren and Mercedes maybe closer than they were.

“Ferrari is a bit of an unknown but I wouldn’t write them off. Let’s be patient, another three weeks of tweaking and then we’ll find out,” said the former McLaren and Red Bull driver.

 Rubens Barrichello is set to decide next week whether he will switch from formula one to the Indycar series for 2012.
F1′s longest-serving veteran has been left without a race seat this season, but he recently enjoyed an Indy test with the KV team, in which his close friend Tony Kanaan is involved.

“There is a lot going on, we have spoken with many people and there are things to be resolved, including the family aspect,” the 39-year-old told radio Bandeirantes on Tuesday.

“There is great anticipation and if everything goes well I think we can make the announcement of the decision early next week,” added Barrichello.

“I’m sure anyone who knows me can see in my eyes what I want. The first race is March 25 and there is no time to waste.

“If we want to be in a competitive way, everything has to be right and that means sponsorship, team, family — everything.”

Barrichello’s first F1 team boss, however – Eddie Jordan – has urged the likeable Brazilian to forego the Indycar opportunity.

“I love Rubens — our story began when he was only 19,” the Irishman is quoted by Globo.

“I love his family, his parents, and I think he should retire with dignity.”

Barrichello’s contemporary David Coulthard, however, said: “I wish him luck in the United States. We had a great relationship throughout my career and I know how passionate he is about racing.”

But fellow Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi warned of the dangers of American oval racing.

“Today, Indy is different to when I drove — the risk is higher but it is a risk that he knows he will need to take.

“Still, I think he can have fun doing what he likes,” said the former series, F1 and Indy 500 winner.

Ferrari bosses have dismissed reports Felipe Massa could lose his Ferrari seat after the forthcoming season finale at Interlagos.
At the weekend, Nico Rosberg said suggestions he could switch from Mercedes to be Fernando Alonso’s 2012 teammate, and that he recently visited Maranello, were “nonsense”.

Indeed, Brazilian Massa has a binding contract for next season.

But British commentator David Coulthard insisted that “in formula one, anything’s possible. I’ve learned that in my 17 years (in the sport).”

At Ferrari’s end-of-season event at Mugello at the weekend, however, Ferrari chiefs Stefano Domenicali and president Luca di Montezemolo re-confirmed Massa and Alonso for 2012.

Team boss Domenicali said it will be an important season for Massa.

“I am counting heavily on Felipe’s will to fight back as he knows next year will be a key one in which, and I’m convinced of it, he will be able to show his true worth,” he said.

Montezemolo smiled: “I feel for you (reporters), but next year there will be no change to our drivers (lineup).”

David Coulthard thinks it is possible Ferrari will soon oust Felipe Massa.
Despite Brazilian Massa having a contract for 2012, recent speculation has linked the race seat alongside Fernando Alonso next year with Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.

“In formula one, anything’s possible,” said former grand prix winner and now British pundit Coulthard, appearing on Austrian television Servus TV.

“I’ve learned that in my 17 years (in F1),” he added.

Coulthard said that when it comes to one of the most coveted seats in the sport, only performance matters.

“He’s a very nice, likeable guy who drives with his heart,” said the Scot. “But he no longer shows the sort of performance he did before his accident in Hungary (2009).

“Ferrari probably have no choice but to look for another driver.”

Coulthard agreed that, in India last weekend where Massa clashed again with Lewis Hamilton and twice broke his suspension over kerbs, the 30-year-old seemed to be buckling under the pressure of his situation.

“In formula one you’re always under pressure,” he insisted.

“Even Sebastian Vettel is under pressure, just a different sort. Massa may know that his formula one career is slowly coming to an end. With these results, he will not be at Ferrari for many more years.

“Ferrari will be looking seriously at the two drivers it has and deciding what is the strongest possible package they can have for 2012,” added Coulthard.

The death of Indycar driver Dan Wheldon is making waves even in the world of formula one.
As a Briton and a former track rival of contemporaries including Jenson Button, the 33-year-old was well-known in the F1 paddock and his death has been felt as a big blow.

Not surprisingly, formula one figures suggest Indycar has a lot to learn from F1.

“It is the most dangerous form of motor racing at the moment,” 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter, who wants his son Tomas to quit Indycar, told the BBC.

Also criticised since the crash has been the small size of the Las Vegas speedway, the large number of competing cars, the skills of some of the drivers and the very nature of high speed oval racing.

Former Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson, a former junior rival of Wheldon’s, said: “The safety record in Indycar is not good and I would never drive there. It’s just not worth it. The cars are agricultural.”

Agreed David Coulthard – who moved to German touring cars after retiring from F1 in 2008 – in his Telegraph column: “I could have moved my family over there and made a life for myself in the United States.

“But the risk-reward ratio was simply too high for me. Formula one, I felt, was at an acceptable level but Indycar was, and is, probably 20 years behind F1 in terms of safety.”

Added 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell: “Formula one does an exemplary job.”

Coulthard added: “With any luck it (Wheldon’s death) will spur on the IRL to improve its safety record. Say what you like about Max Mosley but one thing that we in formula one must all thank him for was his response to (the deaths at) Imola in 1994.”

Sir Jackie Stewart agreed: “I think there needs to be more discipline by the (Indycar) governing body. If drivers do consistently collide with each other, there should be heavier penalties.”

British Racing Drivers’ Club president Derek Warwick said: “They need to understand the quality of the drivers that are in the field as well.

“With formula one the drivers are all great drivers who have won championships from working their way up from formula 3 to GP2 before they get a super licence to be able to race.

“I sometimes question the depth of talent in Indycar races and that will lead to inexperience and the inexperienced generally end up having accidents. They need to tweak what they’re doing a little bit,” said the 162 grand prix veteran.

Former McLaren driver Mark Blundell, who has also raced in America, added: “These kinds of cars shouldn’t have been running on these kinds of circuits.”

Stewart told Sky Sports: “It was such high speed on such a small track with too many cars together and not that many top racing drivers in there.

“It may be that we have to have smaller engines with smaller horsepower and slower speeds in Indycar racing.”

But Johnny Herbert, who flirted with a switch to America after retiring from F1 in 2000, thinks Indycar fatalities are inevitable.

“They will continue as long as this extreme form of motor sport exists,” the Briton wrote in his column for The National.

“The tremendous speed at which the cars travel, while separated by inches on those steep oval tracks, means you will likely see more deaths, no matter what safety measures are implemented.”

The current regulations are a reason for Lewis Hamilton’s current struggles, according to David Coulthard.
The veteran Scot analysed the reasons for the 2008 world champion’s difficult season, with Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button the leading McLaren at present, in his latest column for the Daily Telegraph.

“There is no doubt that these tyre regulations are better suited to drivers who pace themselves; who feel their way through a race rather than go all-out,” said Coulthard, a former McLaren and Red Bull driver.

He is referring to the new era of no refuelling and heavily degrading Pirelli tyres, insisting Hamilton needs to quickly adapt.

“All world-class drivers have been able to adapt to new regulations. Think of Michael Schumacher, who has run the full gamut from 3.5 litre, active ride-height cars to 2.4 litre V8s with slicks,” said Coulthard.

“Until he (Hamilton) can adapt fully to these regulations and play a cuter game he is unlikely to be consistently competitive.”