*Update: Maldonado and Vergne Receive Penalties* Alonso Takes Unique Victory in Spain as Leaders Retire

*Update: Pastor Maldonado and Jean-Eric Vergne have received post race penalties for separate incidents during the European Grand Prix earlier today. Maldonado was penalized with a 20 second, post-race drive-through penalty. That drops him from 10th position in the race to 12th place. The points standings have been updated below. Bruno Senna and Daniel Ricciardo both move up one spot. 

Jean-Eric Vergne will get be moved back 10 spots on the gird at the British Grand Prix on July 8, and he will be fined €25,000. The double penalty is due to his collision with Heikki Kovalainen that brought out the safety car. Race stewards ruled the collision available. 

Source for updates: Autosport (1,2) *End of updates*

The European Grand Prix at Valencia turned out to be exciting qualifying with a rather boring race at least in its first half. Sebastian Vettel had a mechanical issue in the second half of the race forcing him to pull off and quit. That is when the race really opened up. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen fought for the lead during the last laps of the race. Hamilton's tires went off in the last two laps, and he was knocked out of the race when Pastor Maldonado attempted to pass him. 

In an exciting qualifying performance yesterday, Vettel put his Red Bull on pole in one amazing lap. Behind him were Hamilton and Maldonado. 

Timo Glock was still ill and did not take part in the race. 

Then, in the race Vettel drove off with the lead immediately and stayed there for the first half of the race. He just kept pulling out a larger and larger lead. If there is a drive of the race though, it was from Alonso who qualified 11th but held second for most of the race. 

Romain Grosjean had a fantastic start passing Maldonado to take third. Kamui Kobayashi was also able to get around Maldonado in the opening laps, but Vettel had already pulled out a 7 second lead over Hamilton on the fifth lap. On lap 8, that Vettel lead was up to 9.2 seconds. The rest of the field was mostly clumped together. There were little battles going on with Jenson Button passing Michael Schumacher for 12th place on lap 8. Valencia is a hard place to pass, and very little passing was being done early on.

On lap 11, Grosjean finally got around Hamilton who had has seriously been hindering him to take second place, but Grosjean did not have what it took to catch Vettel either and fell 12 seconds behind him.

Raikkonen was the next man to pass Maldonado on lap 14 taking the Finn into fourth place. 

A few cars had come in earlier, but most cars started pitting around lap 15. Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Nico Hulkenberg and Maldonado all came in at once. Vettel waited until lap 17 to come in and had a 15.2 second lead. As he came out, Grosjean came in meaning his lead was no even momentarily challenged. Grosjean came out in 4th just behind Rosberg who he passed one lap later to take third. On lap 20, Grosjean passed Paul di Resta to take back his second position.

First contact comes on lap 21. Raikkonen was passing Bruno Senna, and Kobayashi attempted to as well. Senna and Kobayashi made contact, which spun Senna. Kobayashi had to get a new front wing, and Senna was able to stay in the race. Senna was given a drive through penalty for causing the incident.

Up front, Vettel's lead had grown to over 20 seconds over Grosjean by lap 23. Still, if there were an award for drive of the first half of the race, Grosjean deserves it. 

The safety car came out on lap 29 due to a collision between Jean-Eric Vergne and Heikki Kovalainen. Vergne was attempting to pass Kovalainen and collided with his wheels that shred Vergne's rear wheels and Kovalainen's front. Vergne's was much was and basically exploded on the way back to the pit littering the track with debris. The track had to be cleaned; so the safety car came out. Both cars made it back to the pit, but Vergne had to retire. It was basically an excuse for everyone else to come in for flat tires. it also gave Grosjean his first chance to battle with Vettel. 

The running order on lap 30 was Vettel, Grosjean, Alonso, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Hamilton. Of those, Ricciardo was the only one who did not stop during the safety car period. 

The safety car came in at the start of lap 34, and Alsono immediately passed Grosjean. Then, things got exciting. Massa made contact with Kobayashi puncturing Massa's front left tire and knocking off Kobayashi's front wing. 

Vettel stopped on track with a technical issue right after the safety car pulled in putting Alonso in the lead with Grosjean behind him. Vettel got out of the car very angry, threw his gloves to the ground and walked away. 

The top drivers were Alonso, Grosjean, Hamilton, Raikkonen and Schumacher. There was a little over two seconds separating the lead four cars. 

On lap 41, Grosjean pulled off with a mechanical issue. He and Alonso had been the men of the day, but like Vettel all was lost. Lotus said the issue was a bad alternator.

That put Alonso in first, Hamilton in second and Raikkonen in third. The three men challenged each other for the rest of the 57 lap race. 

Further back Vitaly Petrov had his front wing knocked off by Ricciardo during a pass attempt on lap 48. 

With seven laps to go, it was still Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen racing for the lead with about four seconds separating them. Neither Hamilton nor Raikkonen have won yet this season. 

Alonso had a clear lead in the end, but Raikkonen was all over Hamilton, and he took second place on lap 56 of 57. Hamilton was knocked out by Pastor Maldonado on the lap 56 when Maldonado was trying to pass. The two men made contact pushed Hamilton into the wall and out of the race. Maldonado had his front wing ripped off.

Alonso cruised to victory having picked up 10 spots throughout the race. Behind him was Raikkonen. 

Alonso now leads the drivers' championship points with 111. Webber is behind him with 91, and Hamilton has 88 points. 

Red BullRed BullAustria, 2004 > present12 models
1049 photos
3 videos
still leads the constructors' champion with 176 points. McLarenMcLarenUnited Kingdom, 1963 > present92 models
1883 photos
12 videos
has 137 points, and LotusLotusUnited Kingdom, 1952 > present68 models
951 photos
7 videos
has 126 points. 

Vettel Grabs F1 Pole in One Lap Showstopper