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.”

Tony Fernandes has given a strident defence of his formula one team, Caterham.

The former Team Lotus outfit, headed by the cheery Malaysian entrepreneur Fernandes, entered its third season with high hopes it was set to join the midfield mix.

Instead, the green cars – whilst still the cream of the backmarker group – are still better only than fellow stragglers Marussia and HRT.

The Finnish broadcaster MTV3′s well-known analyst Mika Salo has advised lead driver Heikki Kovalainen to therefore quit Caterham at the end of 2012.

“Something has been wrong with the car,” Kovalainen is quoted as saying by Turun Sanomat newspaper this week. “We need to see what is not right.”

Fernandes, meanwhile, is looking fervently on the bright side, insisting Caterham has done markedly better than F1′s other 2010 start-ups.

“We are competitive,” he told the Sun, reminding that Caterham was the last 2010 team given its official entry by the FIA a few years ago.

“We’ve blown away Marussia and HRT when in actual fact they have been there six months longer,” insisted Fernandes.

“We are half a second away from the established midfield … you must remember that this team is only two years old.

“When I started, we were nine seconds away from the front. Last year we were about four seconds away from Red Bull.

“This year, on certain laps, we lapped at the same pace as them. So I am very happy and I am strengthening the team all the time,” he added.

But one of Caterham’s direct rivals, HRT, is looking to make a major step forwards this weekend in China, having struggled recently in the wake of team supremo Colin Kolles’ departure.

“We come into this grand prix having had much more time to prepare the cars,” Pedro de la Rosa is quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE.

“We will bring small improvements to China but what we really need is the cars back in Europe and then the team can concentrate at the (new headquarters) Caja Magica.

“Step by step we will improve,” said the Spanish driver.

 Caterham’s hopes of pushing into the midfield in 2012 are not dead yet.
That is the claim of team owner and boss Tony Fernandes, despite the former Team Lotus looking to have once again emulated the pecking-order of the past two years by outpacing only Marussia and HRT in Australia.

“We have obviously improved our pace relative to our 2011 speed,” the Malaysian businessman said.

“But the teams ahead have also improved, so even though we are closer than this time last year we still have work to do to bridge the gap in qualifying,” he added.

Fernandes insists, however, that the race pace shown by Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov in Melbourne last weekend was “on a par” with some other teams.

Former F1 driver and Finnish commentator Mika Salo, however, is not impressed.

“The Caterham car is neither fast nor reliable,” he told MTV3.

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.

 Sebastien Buemi has revealed surprise and disappointment with Toro Rosso’s reaction, after the Italian team performed a clean sweep of its driver lineup for 2012.
The Swiss and his teammate Jaime Alguersuari were given their marching orders just before Christmas, leaving the aforementioned Spaniard without a role this season.

Buemi has at least kept his F1 career alive with the Red Bull reserve role, but the 23-year-old has expressed disappointment with comments made recently by his former team boss Franz Tost.

“Of course I would prefer to race for myself,” he told the Blick newspaper, “but maybe this new role is the opportunity of my life.”

At the same time, he takes issue with Austrian Tost, who is appointed to head Red Bull’s rookie team Toro Rosso.

He said recently: “We are talking about a double world championship-winning team (Red Bull), which means that drivers who get elevated there must have the ability to win races and championships.

“And it was from that perspective that second thoughts set in when it came to Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari,” said Tost.

Buemi responded: “After we were put out, Alguersuari and I said not a single bad word about Toro Rosso, we were always loyal.

“So I am amazed that from the boss there comes suddenly such negative comments.”

 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.

Former Ferrari driver Mika Salo has admitted he was “surprised” his former team opted to honour Felipe Massa’s contract for 2012.
The Finn, who raced at the famous Maranello team for a time in 1999 after Michael Schumacher broke his leg, said Fernando Alonso is the “clear number one” nowadays.

“I don’t think Massa will be staying after this season,” former Sauber and Toyota driver Salo, who attended last week’s Jerez test, told the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.

“I was surprised that he was allowed to continue this year.”

Salo, 45, said there is a similar pecking-order at Red Bull, where Sebastian Vettel last year utterly dominated his teammate Mark Webber.

He also commented on McLaren’s duo, comprising two world champions.

“If McLaren has a good car then the drivers will be taking points off one another — that’s not something that will happen in the other teams.

“On the track, (Lewis) Hamilton is the fastest but not quite as smart as (Jenson) Button in the races.”

Salo sees less of a close battle at Lotus this year, where his countryman Kimi Raikkonen is returning to F1 alongside GP2 champion Romain Grosjean.

“Kimi should be much faster than Grosjean,” he said, “who is only there because (Eric) Boullier is his manager.”

As for Williams’ lineup of Pastor Maldonado alongside Bruno Senna, Salo said: “I think this is one of the worst pairings. Both are susceptible to mistakes.

“Senna had few good races last year but faded badly by the end.

“Maldonado is a bit of a hothead, so I don’t see it being a good year for them.

“For (test driver) Valtteri Bottas there could be a good opportunity to get a race.”

 McLaren has signed up the son of a former team driver to test its 2012 formula one car later this year.
In 1995, Denmark’s Jan Magnussen – also a former McLaren test driver – made his formula one race debut with a one-off McLaren seat.

He moved on to contest 24 grands prix with Stewart until he was stepped down for poor performances in 1998.

Now, the 38-year-old’s son Kevin, who is 19, has been signed up for McLaren’s young driver programme, which will include a seat at the young driver test later this year.

Like Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey, Magnussen will also work in McLaren’s state-of-the-art simulator.

He first caught McLaren’s attention in 2010, and last year finished runner-up in the British F3 championship with eight poles and seven wins.

This year, he will contest the Renault World Series.

“The team has shown great faith in me so far and I feel that this is an important step in my career,” said Magnussen.

The BBC’s television punditry team looks set to break up at the end of the season.
Former McLaren driver and lead BBC commentator Martin Brundle earlier this week denied a report in London’s Telegraph that said he is poised to accept a $1.6 million offer to switch full-time to Sky in 2012.

The BBC and pay-channel Sky will share the British hosting rights next year, with the public broadcaster to televise only a handful of grands prix.

French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet revealed in his Auto Plus column that he sat down for breakfast in the Buddh circuit paddock with Eddie Jordan, an expert pundit on the BBC coverage.

“He swallowed a few spoons of soup and then told me Martin Brundle is leaving for Sky next year,” revealed Moncet.

“And he (Jordan) doesn’t want to continue if, as expected, the BBC transmits only half the races,” added Moncet.

Moncet, who calls races for France’s TF1, quoted the former team owner Jordan as saying: “I will do everything or nothing.”

Alain Prost will be the ex-driver representative on the stewards’ panel in Monaco this weekend.
It is the four time world champion and former team owner’s second appearance in the role, after kicking off the FIA’s driver representative era in Bahrain last year.

Prost, now 55, is one of the most successul drivers in F1 history; his 51 wins bettered only by Michael Schumacher’s 91.

He dominated in Monaco between 1984 and 1986, and also won in 1998 when his arch-nemisis Ayrton Senna crashed at Portier whilst easily leading.

It also emerged in Monte Carlo on Wednesday that the FIA has installed “higher kerbs and speed bumps” to stop drivers from short-cutting the chicanes at the tunnel exit and the Swimming Pool.

At the same time, teams were struggling to get their motorhomes up and running after being delayed by the Ste-Devote fire.

Fernando Alonso does not think his former team McLaren is set to endure a season in the midfield in 2011.

When asked by El Pais newspaper about the British squad’s apparently uncompetitive MP4-26 car, the Ferrari driver answered: “They’re better than they look.

“Winter testing doesn’t explain anything. They say themselves that they are expecting a little more, so perhaps they will be at a similar level to the best (in Australia) and then go on ahead.

“When we get there, we’ll see. McLaren are not going to be fighting for tenth place, but rather (for) the podium,” added Alonso.

Meanwhile, when asked about F1 drivers’ complaints about the extreme degradation of the Pirelli tyres, Alonso said his main concern is the effect on braking.

“Before (with Bridgestone), you would come to the end of the straight and step on the brake with all your strength. Now if you do that, you block the wheels, especially the rears.

“The traction is also worse. Before you would step on the accelerator quickly out of a corner, but now it’s more measured. You have to be much more sensitive,” he explained.

Shocking new details of Robert Kubica’s rally crash have emerged.

Video footage of the car that was following the Pole’s Skoda Fabia in the minor event in Italy, and newly emerged photographs, show that a length of armco barrier skewered the car from front to rear.

Currently sedated due to the pain, he will stay in intensive care for a few more days, before his other injuries are operated on. Reports have said Kubica lost 5 pints of blood after the crash and was initially in a “critical” condition.

Kubica’s co-driver has criticised the roads and the front-impact safety standards of the car, but others argued that the highly paid 26-year-old should not have been competing at all.

“You’ve got to look after that investment,” triple world champion and former team owner and boss Sir Jackie Stewart told the Telegraph.

“It’s quite a challenge to stop drivers doing the things I believe are unwise leading up to a F1 season,” he added.

Renault chief Eric Boullier, however, said the freedom to rally is so important to Kubica, who for years was not allowed to according to the terms of his BMW contract.

Former BMW-Sauber team boss Mario Theissen told the Associated Press: “What’s the point in pushing hard for the highest safety standards in F1 if a driver is then seriously hurt in other racing activities?”

The German said he always had “sympathy” for Kubica’s passions, but “The driver is key to success in F1.

“Only he can turn the tremendous effort of several hundred equally determined people into results.”

To L’Equipe in France, however, Boullier defended Kubica’s freedom to rally on the basis that “He could also have been run over by a bus going to get his bread”.

But Martin Brundle said it was “crazy” for Kubica to be rallying in between key F1 tests, and Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier agrees.

“If I was to blame someone, it would be his team, who should never have released him (to rally),” he told the French language Rue Frontenac.

“Especially (not) so close to the start of the new season, and between two test sessions. What bad timing,” added Carpentier.

Commented Jacques Laffite, a commentator for French television and ex-F1 winner: “My position has always been that these guys who take risks every Sunday should be free to do what they like.

“Today, we are seeing things differently, obviously,” he told L’Equipe.

“An F1 driver is part of a team of about 700 people, so it is right to have some restrictions,” added Laffite.

Flavio Briatore said after visiting Kubica: “You can’t blame anyone, the accident was just that.”

And it seems that even Ferrari doesn’t stop its drivers from participating in dangerous activities, as when Fernando Alonso heard about Kubica’s crash, he was skiing in Val Gardena.

Virgin boss John Booth said trying to control F1 drivers is futile.

“We took Jerome (d’Ambrosio) and Timo (Glock) skiing a couple of weeks ago,” he said at the launch of the MVR-02.

“We said Ok guys, stick to the piste, blah blah blah, so we got to the top of the lift, the gates opened and they were just flat out. They were everywhere.

“And that’s how they are. That’s what makes them so good. You can’t wrap them in cotton wool,” he added.

F1 drivers and engineers canvassed Karun Chandhok for his impression of this weekend’s new grand prix venue in Korea, the Indian has revealed.

Chandhok, 26, contested the first half of 2010 with the HRT team, and was later deployed by Red Bull to the new – then incomplete – Yeongam layout for a demonstration in an F1 car.

So, as the only driver in the world to have completed real laps in Korea, Chandhok revealed to Reuters that title contenders Mark Webber and Jenson Button have asked him about the circuit’s nuances.

“You’d expect people to be calling, really,” said Chandhok, who is not travelling to Korea this week.

The report said technical people from various teams, and his former teammate Bruno Senna, also asked Chandhok questions about his laps in Korea.

“To be fair, a lot of people have very good simulators and they have a lot of faith in their simulators and simulation software,” he explained.

“I think a lot of them tend to believe that more than anything else.”

But he said Australian Webber spoke to him about Korea.

“Obviously he was very curious to see what I thought about the place and what the circuit was like,” said Chandhok.

And a more recent discussion was with Button.

“We were chatting about this and that and he was quite curious about Korea,” added the Indian, revealing that the McLaren driver asked him about the camber of the corners.

“I think some of that stuff is not so apparent until you get there. So he had questions about that sort of stuff,” said Chandhok.

Pedro de la Rosa has vowed to catch up with his former team boss Peter Sauber at the end of the season.

The Spaniard raced with the Swiss team in 2010 until last month’s Italian grand prix, whereafter he was replaced for the last five races by Nick Heidfeld.

Sauber said he made the decision in order to gauge the true pace of the Ferrari-powered C29 car.

De la Rosa has told Spanish radio Cadena Ser this week that he will catch up with the 67-year-old after the Abu Dhabi finale “to see if it was the right decision”.

He admits that Sauber’s explanation that it was de la Rosa’s consistency that motivated the decision “hurt me”.

But he said German Heidfeld is a “good driver, but the quality all the way through the field is very close”.

39-year-old de la Rosa also admitted that the occupant of the sister car, Kamui Kobayashi, is “much better than you think”.

He also said that if he had strong sponsors, “I would still be there”.

On the three-race championship fight, de la Rosa tipped countryman Fernando Alonso “but I don’t know if that’s my brain or my heart speaking”.

He also said the layout of the Korean circuit looks “mixed”, with the tighter sections favouring the Red Bull, and the Ferrari to be better on the long straights.

Former team principal Bob Bell has left Renault, the formula one team announced on Wednesday.

Bell’s role as managing director, assumed after Flavio Briatore was ousted and banned last year in the crashgate scandal, will be taken over by current team boss Eric Boullier.

“We would like to thank Bob Bell for his contribution to the performance of the team and for helping see us through a period of transition since Genii Capital became a shareholder in the team,” said majority team owner and chairman Gerard Lopez.

Ulsterman Bell, 52, joined McLaren as an aerodynamicist in the 80s before switching to Enstone based Benetton in 1997.

He moved to Jordan in 1999 and returned to Benetton – now Renault – in 2001 as deputy technical director, becoming technical director to replace Mike Gascoyne in 2003.