Hamilton demoted, Maldonado inherits pole position. Hamilton's penalty is a bit severe IMHO; "excluded" from qualifying and will start last. Yes, it was a breach of the rules to stop on the track without an emergency and yes, he did that because they decided he wouldn't have made it back with the required full liter of fuel for testing and yes, that means they broke one rule to avoid breaking another and yes, they could have avoided the issue by putting more fuel in the tank. They broke a rule or two, I get it. I still think dropping him all the way to the back -- even behind Karthikeyan who requires a waiver to run because he missed the 107% mark -- is extreme. It's because he doesn't officially have a qualifying time since he was "excluded" but it seems like there ought to be another option like just excluding him from Q3. Oh well, Maldonado and Williams on the pole! After Williams' poor run last season that's an unexpected result regardless of the reason.
Avoiding spoilers for a bit... Wow, I definitely didn't predict that ending. The new tie at the top of the driver standings is equally surprising. If this season keeps up as it's going it will be a multi-record breaker and a gold mine for statistics fans. :yesnod:
Huge fire breaks out in Williams garage (GPUpdate.com) Warning, there's a race-result spoiler in this post-race story: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9QLET_u1DA[/ame]
Williams working to determine cause of fire, FIA says 31 people treated in total (AutoSport.com) Pastor Maldonado helping out during the incident:
After 5 races, not only 5 different winning drivers but 5 different teams! And we still have Kimi who seems to have a good shot at a win.....two weeks to Monaco.
It caught fire? Could this season be any more dramatic? What's next? An HRT win followed by an alien abduction?
A bit of video of the Williams fire from the other side of the pit box. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ5SotvBjYw]WILLIAMS BOX EXPLOSION - GRAN EXPLOSIÓN EN MONTMELO - YouTube[/ame]
A few frank but understandably kind words from Frank Williams about pay driver Pastor Maldonado. Frank Williams says Pastor Maldonado was always the real deal (Autosport.com)
Maldonado proved that he is more than just some Gentleman driver with a big wallet. He in no way backed into this win, he took it too them, leading the field and holding off one of, if not arguably the best active driver in F1!! Bravo Mr Maldonado, you are an F1 winner!!!
Made me think of the 2005 San Marino GP: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK2uV9ApLts&feature=related"]Fernando alonso VS Michael Schumacher Imola 2005 onboard[/ame] Crank It Up for V10 goodness!
Coner Daly to test for Force India Up and coming GP3 racer, Conor Daly, will enjoy his first taste of F1 power this week when he gets behind the wheel of the VJM05 on Thursday 17 May. The 20-year-old American driver will help the team with its aero testing programme, which takes place at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire. Fresh from his race win during the opening round of the GP3 season in Barcelona last weekend, Conor visited the team's Silverstone headquarters on Tuesday for a seat-fit and to familiarise himself with the systems on the car. It was a chance to meet his engineering crew and run through the functions on a Formula One steering wheel. The programme on Thursday is one of the full-size aerodynamic tests that teams are allowed to complete during the course of the season. The focus is to measure aerodynamic forces to correlate with wind tunnel data.