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.”

It was a breakthrough for Mercedes and Nico Rosberg, but the Chinese grand prix was a “difficult day” for Michael Schumacher.

That is the admission of Shanghai winner Rosberg, whose first race win after more than 100 attempts also delivered German marque Mercedes’ first works victory for more than half a century.

“I felt he was very happy for me,” Rosberg told Auto Bild Motorsport, when asked what seven time world champion Schumacher’s reaction was.

Since returning to F1 more than two years ago, 43-year-old Schumacher – although stepping up his pace in 2012 – is yet to finish a single grand prix on the podium.

Nonetheless, he offered his congratulations “very, very warmly” after China, Rosberg revealed.

“At the same time I know that it was, of course, a difficult day (for him),” he admitted.

Norbert Haug, the team’s motor sport director, recently sounded inclined to keep Rosberg and Schumacher together beyond 2012, despite the fact the older and more famous German’s contract is ending.

He insisted there is “nothing negative” about their relationship.

As for ongoing rumours that Schumacher still enjoys number one status, Haug called that idea “absolute nonsense”.

“Do you know what Nico said to me, before Michael came? He said ‘If you can get Michael (on the team), then try everything for it’.”

Rosberg has not changed his tune.

“There was never a situation in which Michael got anything before I did,” he confirmed.

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He may be in Bahrain, but Fernando Alonso’s mind is thinking firmly ahead to Europe as the Spaniard prepares to struggle on Sunday yet again.

Ferrari’s number one driver squeezed into Q3 with the struggling F2012 on Saturday, and is targeting some minor points on Sunday.

“The two McLarens and the two Red Bulls are at the front, and there’s (also) Rosberg,” Alonso is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport, predicting how Sunday’s race will unfold.

“We’re not going to go past them. For us, we are racing behind the top five.”

He is hoping it will be his latest and last experience of life as a midfielder in 2012.

For Barcelona, the first European race of the season mid next month, Ferrari – so disappointed with its start to the season – is planning a major upgrade for the F2012.

An added bonus is that it can be tested at Mugello in early May.

“Despite our problems I am in third place in the championship, and tomorrow (Sunday) I have a chance to score well. That’s more than we expected.

“Next is Barcelona, a most important race for us. I hope the season starts again for me (there),” said Alonso.

Whilst admitting the RB8 has “very nervous” handling, Sebastian Vettel insists there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the 2012 Red Bull.

The German looks likely to struggle to add a third consecutive drivers’ title to his tally this season, after slumping to just sixth in the points standings after the first two races.

In China, he has reverted to a launch specification of the Adrian Newey-penned car’s exhaust layout, whilst Mark Webber is plugging ahead with a further development of the Australia-Malaysia solution.

“There is no question of something (being) wrong,” Vettel is quoted in Spanish media reports as saying in Shanghai, “just a few things that are probably just not working in an ideal manner.

“The problem we have is that the balance of the car is not as good as we had last year. It’s not a question of downforce, but of ensuring that all the parts are behaving as a whole.

“That is what we are trying to achieve.”

Vettel dismissed the suggestion that because Red Bull’s cars are in two different specifications this weekend, it means the team has “lost” its way.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “I firmly believe we have a very competitive car, at the moment we are just not able to take its full potential out.”

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old said he has spoken with Narain Karthikeyan, following their collision in Malaysia.

Vettel twice showed his Indian rival the middle finger, and described Karthikeyan – who was penalised by the stewards – as an “idiot”.

“I spoke with him and he apologised,” Vettel is quoted by Germany’s spox.com.

But when told that he was once a backmarker like Karthikeyan, the German insisted: “I was never as far behind as the HRT.

“Of course you have to drive your own race. But you still have to know what is going on around you.”

A Daimler shareholder has called on the German car giant to pull its works Mercedes team out of formula one.

Fund manager Ingo Speich, of the Daimler shareholder Union Investment, said at Daimler’s annual general meeting that he is disappointed Mercedes has lost ground to road car rivals Audi and BMW.

“Mercedes is no longer the measure of all things in the premium sector,” he is quoted as saying by Die Presse.

Speich referred to “a lost decade” for Daimler, and called on the company to follow BMW’s recent lead and pull out of formula one.

His speech reportedly received applause from other shareholders.

Mercedes is the biggest formula one team yet to follow the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull in signing a new Concorde Agreement beyond 2012.

Dr Helmut Marko has admitted Red Bull has work to do in order to return to the front in formula one.

Having dominated F1′s recent history, the energy drink owned team is now behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings after two races in 2012, while its highest placed driver is Mark Webber in fourth.

Austrian Marko, the motor racing advisor to Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz, insisted that Adrian Newey and his technical team have built a good car for 2012.

“But it doesn’t help,” he told Salzburg television channel Servus TV, “if we are the fastest only in certain conditions, rather than consistently.

“To tell you the truth, at the moment it’s almost as though the car decides when it is the fastest, and when it is not,” Marko said during the ‘Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar-7′ programme.

The outspoken manager also vigorously defended Sebastian Vettel in the wake of the Narain Karthikeyan affair, after Red Bull’s world champion lost his temper with the HRT driver following a clash in Malaysia.

Marko firmly pointed the finger at F1′s backmarkers.

“We have told our team manager to talk to both Marussia and Hispania about getting their drivers to simply pay more attention,” he said.

“They are driving in another league, they’re six or eight seconds slower, and so they need to watch out more than they do.

“They are 12 points Vettel lost that could be crucial in the world championship,” added Marko.

He also fended off the claim that Vettel’s behaviour in Malaysia, featuring the display of middle fingers and calling Karthikeyan an “idiot”, was not worthy of a role model.

“You’ve just been in a race, you’ve seen the chance of possibly a third place go away — you’re naturally upset because he’s a human as well.

“I think we can understand an emotional reaction,” added Marko.

Amid his performance slump and rumours Sergio Perez will soon replace him, Ferrari’s struggling Felipe Massa has been summoned to Maranello.

A report on the Italian team’s official website said there is “sorrow” within the team at witnessing the “particularly difficult time” being suffered by Ferrari’s Brazilian driver.

While Fernando Alonso leads the drivers’ world championship at present, 30-year-old Massa is yet to record a race finish better than his fifteenth at Sepang.

But amid the calls for Massa’s head, team boss Stefano Domenicali – recalling a similar situation after Malaysia in 2008 – said his driver has the ability to react now.

“The papers (in 2008) were demanding his immediate replacement and he managed to react in the best way possible, thanks to support from the team, which saw him win two of the next three races,” said the Italian.

“Felipe has changed his plans and, instead of heading home to see his family in Brazil, he will be in Maranello tomorrow to work alongside the engineers to calmly analyse everything that happened in these past two races, trying to identify why he was not able to deliver what he is capable of,” added Domenicali.

“That’s the right spirit and we are here, ready to help him.”

Ferrari’s new deal for the 2013 Concorde Agreement reportedly involves a $50 million annual fee.

It is believed the Italian team has now finalised its commercial agreement with Bernie Ecclestone.

The same is reportedly true for fellow top teams McLaren and Red Bull, whose annual additional fee is, according to German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, $35m apiece.

Ecclestone wanted to announce the conclusion of successful Concorde Agreement negotiations in Malaysia, but major teams including Mercedes and Williams were yet to sign up.

Instead, the F1 chief executive released a statement saying deals have been done with ‘the majority’ of the teams.

Mercedes, in particular, is more than unhappy.

“It can not be,” a Daimler insider is quoted as saying, “that transparency from our business partners is lacking regarding a contract through 2020.”

Mercedes could quit formula one or challenge Bernie Ecclestone in court, after it emerged top rivals Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have agreed new commercial deals.

With the FOTA alliance crumbling, F1 chief executive Ecclestone announced on Saturday that he has agreed terms with the “majority” of teams.

In addition to the three top teams, it is believed Lotus, Toro Rosso, Sauber and Force India have also signed up.

That leaves Mercedes and Williams apparently yet to agree, while it is believed the three bottom teams Caterham, Marussia and HRT have not even seen a copy of the new Concorde Agreement.

Mercedes would not comment publicly.

“We would like to ask for your understanding that our team currently has nothing to say on this matter,” said a spokesman.

Behind the scenes, however, high-level sources close to the Brackley based team admitted they are unhappy that the terms of the deal heavily favour the top three teams.

One bonus, for example, is for teams who have not changed their name.

Media outlets including PA Sport and London’s Telegraph were told by the sources that the Stuttgart marque could challenge Ecclestone’s methods against European Union competition law.

Or the carmaker and engine supplier could simply quit F1.

“It is understood the carmaker and parent company Daimler are prepared to play hardball”, wrote Tom Cary in the Telegraph, referring specifically to European laws involving the abuse of a dominant position.

Other authoritative publications, also apparently briefed behind the scenes by Mercedes, referred specifically to the same laws.

On the record, Mercedes’ competition vice-president Norbert Haug said in Malaysia: “I’m not sure who has signed. We’ve nothing currently to say.”

 Paddock regulars insist the formerly-dominant Red Bull team cannot be written off after a single defeat in Australia.
On paper, reigning back-to-back champion Sebastian Vettel’s second place on Sunday doesn’t look bad.

But Melbourne was in fact the first race since before either of the German’s title-winning campaigns in 2010 and 2011 that a Red Bull car failed to lead a single lap.

“You cannot discount them, they (Red Bull) are always there,” said Albert Park winner Jenson Button, “but it seems that the tables have turned.”

After not winning a title since 2008 with Lewis Hamilton, Button’s McLaren colleagues will hope that is true.

“Red Bull needs to dress warmly,” German racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck told Sport1, “although I see McLaren on an equal footing only.”

He warned against over-analysing the Melbourne result.

“This is not a benchmark for the rest of the season — the Malaysia circuit is much more meaningful because who is good there is good everywhere.”

However, McLaren hinted after Melbourne that it could actually have performed more strongly last weekend.

“We were more than marginal on fuel,” boss Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper. “There is no question we could have been faster (in Australia).”

But so could Red Bull, Vettel insists.

“In Melbourne, we learned a lot about the behaviour of our car, which has great potential,” he said.

“We need to make it harder for McLaren in Malaysia.”

Triple world champion Niki Lauda agrees: “Red Bull will catch up quickly.”

Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko insisted: “We have not brought everything out of the car yet. So we are very optimistic about the next races.”

He is also dismissive of Red Bull’s other rivals.

“Only McLaren are on par with us,” said Marko, who scorned at Mercedes, the team who fared strongly in Melbourne before suffering in the race.

“They were more like a chicane,” the acid-tongued Austrian added, according to laola1.at.

 The debate about Mercedes’ controversial new ‘F-duct’ solution looks set to speed across the Indian Ocean.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, and particularly his Lotus counterpart Eric Boullier, had warned in Melbourne at the weekend that they might protest the qualifying and race results.

They are arguing that Mercedes’ technical innovation is not legal, but ultimately the 2012 season opener was run without a protest being filed.

But the threat is merely on the back-burner, as Boullier and Horner seek urgent talks with the FIA and Mercedes’ Ross Brawn.

“We want to sit together at a table with Mercedes and the FIA and find a solution,” Frenchman Boullier is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Separately, Horner agreed: “We are expecting some pretty heated discussions in the next five days.” By then, the F1 circus will be firmly based at the Sepang circuit, for the second round of the season at Sepang.

McLaren, the dominant winner of Sunday’s season opening Australian grand prix, is staying out of the debate about the Mercedes concept.

“I think the system is legal,” said team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Auto Motor und Sport writer Tobias Gruner explained: “The reason for (Whitmarsh’s) opinion is simple — his engineers at Woking have been hard at work on a copy for some time.”

 Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche on Thursday indicated he would like Michael Schumacher to extend his Mercedes GP contract beyond 2012.
Seven time world champion Schumacher’s existing three year contract, dating back to his decision to return to F1 in 2010 after a three-year sabbatical, runs out this year.

Zetsche is quoted by Seddeutsche Zeitung newspaper as saying Mercedes is fully committed to formula one, with an “engagement for the long term”.

As for involving 43-year-old Schumacher in those plans for 2013, Zetsche admitted it was “an attractive possibility”.

“He is still a motor sports icon,” he added.

Schumacher said at the Jerez test this week that while he might not have a title-winning car this year, Mercedes will build one in the future.

“We have to build our way there. I’m confident we can do that, in future, but let’s take it step by step,” said the German.

As for the possibility of a new contract, Schumacher answered: “I never gave any prognosis about my career. The right time will come to discuss my future.”

 Heikki Kovalainen insists he does not need number one status at Caterham.
Entering his third year with the former Lotus team, and with his teammate Jarno Trulli reportedly on the cusp of being ousted, it is an open secret in the paddock that Finn Kovalainen is the favourite.

But that doesn’t mean the 30-year-old needs a favoured status.

“I think I’ve been able to take my place in the team with at least an equal footing with my teammate,” he is quoted by the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.

“As long as we have the same, I do not need anything else. It has worked so far,” insisted Kovalainen.

What he would like, however, is an assurance from the team that he will not be sidelined on Friday mornings by test drivers.

For 2012, Caterham has signed Dutch GP2 driver Giedo van der Garde to take part “in a number” of morning practice sessions.

“It is still being discussed,” insists Kovalainen. “It is still open.

“Of course, I am firmly of the view that we don’t need that — I would like to drive all the sessions.”