Good afternoon and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of the eighth race of the year in Valencia.
Sebastian Vettel did what he does best and blew away the field to take pole yesterday. The German is joined on the front row by Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, with Pastor Maldonado grabbing a surprise third for Williams.
In contrast, there was a disappointing day for Jenson Button and the two Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who start ninth, 11th and 13th respectively.
So far this season there have been seven different winners, will there be an eighth on the Spanish coast?
15.01Righty ho, that's about it from me. I can't believe I've just witnessed a race like that in Valencia after the last few years. If you want a more condensed version of events, try our report here. We'll be back for the next race when F1 comes to Britain in two week's time.
14.59Alonso is visibly choked up during the anthems, this is surely one of his greatest ever wins and that's a long list.
14.58All three men on the podium have driven for Ferrari and there's smiles all around as they come out for the national anthems.
14.57Alonso takes a 20-point lead in the drivers' championship and, believe it or not, Mark Webber is now second. Here's the current top ten, although there could be all sorts of post-race penalties after this one: 1. Alonso 111 2. Webber 91 3. Hamilton 88 4. Vettel 85 5. Rosberg 75 6. Raikkonen 73 7. Grosjean 53 8. Button 49 9. Perez 39 10. Maldonado 30
14.54As expected, Lotus were strong and could have had a one, two if things had worked out. Just Raikkonen on the podium in the end.
14.53Schumacher is absolutely delighted with third. I wouldn't want to be the journalist first interviewing Hamilton, he's going to be livid. Maldonado was the quicker man but he had no right to barge the 2008 world champion.
14.52Alonso sounds emotional on the team radio and stops his car in the middle of the track before saluting his adoring crowd.
14.51Time for a deep breath. So Vettel and Hamilton crash out, as does Grosjean. Schumacher gets a surprise podium, while the Force Indias have a good performance.
14.49Alonso is given a Spanish flag and the red and yellow canvas billows in the wind as he parades around the streets of Valencia.
14.49Raikkonen is second, with Schumacher third and Webber fourth. Rosberg, on fresh tyres, managed to pass Button and Di Resta for sixth late on.
14.48Amazing stuff as home favourite Alonso goes past the chequered flag to roars from the stand.
Lap 57FERNANDO ALONSO WINS THE EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX!
Lap 57Maldonado's lost his front wing and is falling back meaning that, somehow, Schumacher is on for a podium.
Lap 57The McLaren man slams the steering wheel after colliding with Maldonado. Replays show the Venezuelan came from off the race track to slam into the side of Hamilton.
Lap 56Hamilton's got no grip and Maldonado passes for third and HAMILTON IS OUT!!!
Lap 56Now Maldonado's all over the back of Hamilton, has the Englishman lost his podium. Two laps remaining.
Lap 55RAIKKONEN PASSES HAMILTON FOR SECOND!
Lap 55Three laps remaining.
Lap 54Alonso's lead is back out to 4.3s and he's surely got the win here.
Lap 54Schumacher swoops past Di Resta for sixth and Webber is waiting to also go ahead of the Scot.
Lap 54Four laps remaining.
Lap 54Schumacher and Webber take Perez, whose tyres seem to have gone off. They'll now track the Force India's in fifth and sixth.
Lap 53There's now around four seconds separating the top three of Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen. Grandstand finish? I hope so. Five laps remaining.
Lap 52Maldonado has closed the gap to Raikkonen and could mount a late charge for a podium place. Hamilton continues to close on Alonso despite a mistake on the final corner.
Lap 51Hamilton's now quicker than Alonso on that last lap. Another battle is for sixth and seventh, where Perez has been trying to get past Di Resta for a while now.
Lap 50Raikkonen's dropped out of the DRS zone while Alonso has retained a 4.2s lead at the front for the last few laps.
Lap 50Schumacher passes Button for eighth place and Webber follows suit and is back down to tenth. Both Schumi and Webber had much newer tyres on board there.
Lap 49The stewards reveal their decision on Hamilton... He won't serve a penalty for overtaking under yellow-flag conditions.
Lap 48Petrov loses his front wing in a collision with Ricciardo, who spins out but manages to continue. Yellow flags out, stewards investigating.
Lap 47Raikkonen's been around 0.6s behind Hamilton for a while now. He's got to do something bold to get past.
Lap 47Remember, this is a 57 lap race so there's just ten laps left.
Lap 46What a weekend this could be for the Spanish. First their football team cruise to the Euro semi-finals with two goals from Alonso and now his namesake leads the European Grand Prix.
WordsHere's Vettel: "I lost drive, the engine stalled and I had to stop. Why that is, I don't know." The German is hoping for a better performance at the next race at Silverstone.
Lap 45Raikkonen is told that he must get past Hamilton and he can then maybe push for a win when Alonso's tyres lose time near the end of the race.
Lap 44Frontrunners Vettel and Grosjean are both out after suffering technical issues. Alonso has driven superbly to get to the front and now Raikkonen is closing on Hamilton in second.
Lap 44Right, let's try and get our head around what's happening here. This is the current top ten: 1 Alonso 2 Hamilton 3 Raikkonen 4 Maldonado 5 Hulkenburg 6 Di Resta 7 Perez 8 Button 9 Rosberg 10 Petrov
Lap 42Perez, who had been hassling Button, passes the McLaren man for seventh place. Schumacher comes in for his second pit stop of the afternoon. Di Resta and Rosberg the only remaining one-stoppers out on track.
Lap 42The Frenchman is absolutely furious! Again, I'm not sure what the technical issue is but replays seem to show that the Lotus again just cut out approaching the swing bridge.
Lap 41Big problem for Grosjean! HE'S OUT!
Lap 41Alonso puts in a great lap to double his lead up to 1.4s.
Lap 41We're still waiting on an interview with one of the Red Bull lot to explain what on earth happened with Vettel.
Lap 40Turns out Raikkonen isn't under investigation at the moment, it's just Hamilton. Bit strange, that one.
Lap 40At the front, Grosjean is hunting down Alonso while Raikkonen is on the back of Hamilton. Lotus looking good as expected.
Lap 39Webber pits from ninth after that terrible last lap.
Lap 39Kobayashi's collision with Massa has forced his retirement from the race.
Lap 38Disastrous two corners for Webber, who was trying to get past Ricciardo but was then passed from behind by Maldonado. The Aussie is all out-of-sorts and is also overtaken by the two Force Indias!
Lap 38Hamilton's also under investigation for overtaking under the yellow conditions.
Lap 37How has a race at Valencia been so exciting? Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
Lap 37The Spanish fans are delirious but Alonso is under all sorts of pressure from Grosjean.
Lap 36Replays show that Massa's tyre was flattened by a smack in the side from Kobayashi. Not sure what the stewards will make of that one.
Lap 36Not sure what the problem with Vettel's car was but he suddenly slowed and had to pull up on the side of the track.
Lap 36So Hamilton's now third behind Alonso and Grosjean. Raikkonen's just past Ricciardo under what seemed to be yellow-flag conditions.
Lap 35Too much drama! Massa suffers contact and has a punctured tyre but it's his teammate who's providing the entertainment.
Lap 34Alonso takes up the lead and the Spanish crowd go wild!
Lap 34VETTEL'S GOT A BIG PROBLEM! HE'S OUT!
Lap 34Hamilton passes Raikkonen! The Englishman moves up a place with a dive down the inside.
Lap 34Alonso squeezes into second place with a quite brilliant move. Vettel couldn't get away as quickly as he would have liked and was under pressure. No other movement that I could see.
Lap 33Here comes the safety car, he'll back up the pack before choosing when to bolt away.
Lap 33Vergne tells Sky Sports F1's Natalie Pinkham that there's no one to blame for his clash with Kovalainen. He feels it's a racing incident. I'm not so sure, he seemed to cut across the Caterham man too quickly.
Lap 33Surely this is the last lap under the safety car?
Lap 32Top-ten update: 1 Vettel 2 Grosjean 3 Alonso 4 Ricciardo 5 Raikkonen 6 Hamilton 7 Rosberg 8 Schumacher 9 Webber 10 Maldonado
Lap 32Scrap that, the stewards decide that the lapped cars may overtake. The four cars behind Vettel go past him and this means Grosjean will be right up with Vettel. This is a bit tastier eh?
Lap 31We're still under safety car conditions in Valencia. Vettel is leading and has a pack of four backmarkers between him and Grosjean so should be safe upon the restart.
Lap 31So, Hamilton's dropped behind Ricciardo, who is fourth and has only stopped once, and Raikkonen.
Lap 30Vergne has to retire from the race and the stewards will investigate the incident after the race.
Lap 30How many times this season have we said that McLaren have ruined Lewis's race? It's happened again as Hamilton is passed by Alonso in the pit lane because his front left wouldn't go on. They really have got to sort this out. Hamilton's back in sixth but won't have to stop again hopefully.
Lap 29Uh oh! We have a safety car because of the debris on track. Grosjean comes in straight away and is joined by Hamilton and Alonso in the pit.
Lap 28Collision! Kovalainen and Vergne both have a flat, shredded tyre. Replays show that the latter was about to overtake the Finn but turned back too quickly and tapped tyres.
Lap 27Di Resta is told that with current tyre wear he can get to the end of the race on his pair of medium tyres. Button pits again and drops to fifteenth.
Lap 27From the way things are looking I think Hamilton will definitely take third. He had said before the race that he wanted to finish where he started, in second.
Lap 26Senna serves his drive-through, he was already in last place.
Lap 25Alonso's nibbling away at Hamilton and is within around five seconds of his great rival.
Lap 24Di Resta finally pits and comes out in 15th place. He could be on for some points if he is one-stopping.
Lap 24Maybe not, a message appears saying that Senna must serve a drive-through penalty. That seems very harsh.
Lap 24The stewards announce that they will review the Senna-Kobayashi incident after the race.
Lap 24Time for a top-ten update: 1 Vettel 2 Grosjean 3 Hamilton 4 Alonso 5 Raikkonen 6 Di Resta 7 Maldonado 8 Massa 9 Hulkenburg 10 Button
Lap 23Vettel is now far enough ahead of Grosjean that he can make a pit stop and still be out in front. Scary.
Lap 23Di Resta reports back that he's struggling with the rear. His team tell him to stay out for a few more laps as Alonso goes past.
Lap 22Di Resta is the only man yet to stop and could be considering a one-stopper. The Scot is currently fourth and is about to be passed by the charging Alonso.
Lap 21Senna's right rear has been torn to shreds while Kobayashi comes in for a new front wing. Both men continue in the race.
Lap 20Collision! It was inevitable there'd be an incident in that massive battle and Kobayashi tries to go up the inside of Senna on the straight but there's no room and Senna is spun round. His front wing is seriously damaged.
Lap 20This has turned in to quite a remarkable midfield battle with a mix of drivers on fresh and old tyres. Webber and Schumacher pit from this bunch.
Lap 20Alonso and Schumacher go toe-to-toe for a few corners before the former dives down the inside. Hamilton passes Rosberg and must now try to hunt down Grosjean.
Lap 19Alonso continues his brutal drive and takes both Webber and Senna in quick succession.
Lap 18Grosjean's being slightly held up by Rosberg, yet to pit, and this is allowing Hamilton to close the gap on the Frenchman.
Lap 18There's a real bunch of cars behind the top three, some have pitted, some haven't and it's wheel-to-wheel stuff!
Lap 17Race leader Vettel pits from the lead and he is followed by second-placed man Grosjean. Both men resume on the softer compound of tyre. Grosjean comes out comfortably ahead of Hamilton.
Lap 17Hamilton is making his way up through the field and is back into fifth after easily sweeping past Schumacher, who is yet to stop.
Lap 16Alonso stops from third after his impressive last few laps and comes out ahead of Raikkonen, great work from Ferrari!
Lap 15Alonso gets past Maldonado, who then goes into the pit with Raikkonen and Kobayashi.
Lap 14Hamilton pits from third and the McLaren team finally produce a decent sub-three second stop.
Lap 14Raikkonen is past Maldonado at last as he saves his overtaking power for the corner after the DRS zone. Fourth place for the Finn.
Lap 13Raikkonen almost gets past Maldonado but can't hold the overtake as Alonso does get the job done on Hulkenburg for seventh.
Lap 12Massa pits from tenth and puts on a set of the medium, white-marked tyres. Let's see what his times are like.
Lap 12Hamilton is told on the team radio that he needs a tweak of his front wing because of balance problems.
Lap 11Button pits for a fresh set of rubber from 12th. He resumes in 19th.
Lap 11Brilliant stuff from the Frenchman, who uses the DRS to get close before diving down the outside of the right-hander and holding track position for the next.
Lap 10Grosjean passes Hamilton for second!
Lap 10Alonso's all over the back of Hulkenburg and will surely make a move for seventh soon.
Lap 9Vettel's lead to Hamilton is now nearly ten seconds. Race over already?
Lap 9After the fast-and-furious opening laps, we should expect very little overtaking from now on.
Lap 7Massa again tries to use the DRS to go down the outside of Di Resta, the Brazilian gets ahead but can't make it stick and is again ousted by the Force India man.
Lap 7Button passes Schumacher, who is on the slower medium compound of tyre, for 12th place.
Lap 6Ferrari's qualifying was pretty pants but they'll be delighted in that both drivers have made up three places early on. Massa has a go at Di Resta to try and take ninth but he's shut out by the Scot.
Lap 6Vettel sets another fastest lap with a 1:45.409.
Lap 5Hamilton is told by his team that he's doing a "great job". Really? He's under serious pressure from behind and is already around seven seconds off the lead.
Lap 5The ever-daring Kobayashi locks up massively on the final corner as he took a look down the inside of Grosjean. Hamilton doesn't seem to have much speed and could be holding up the Sauber and Lotus drivers.
Lap 4Replays show Grosjean took a brave dive down the inside at the first corner. His teammate Raikkonen had been ahead of him but got caught up behind Maldonado as they approached turn one.
Lap 3Right, here's an early top ten after those frantic opening laps: 1 Vettel 2 Hamilton 3 Grosjean 4 Maldonado 5 Kobayashi 6 Raikkonen 7 Hulkenburg 8 Alonso 9 Di Resta 10 Massa
Lap 3Hamilton's under lots of pressure from Grosjean with Vettel now four seconds clear. Ridiculous pace from the Red Bull driver.
Lap 2Kobayashi has had a brilliant start, moving from seventh up to fourth.
Lap 2Rosberg dropped down from sixth to 11th on the opening lap.
Lap 2Vettel's already pulled out a remarkable two-second lead over Hamilton!
Lap 1Alonso's moved up from 11th to eighth, while teammate Massa has also moved up three places to tenth.
Lap 1Button's had a shocker and is behind the two Ferraris and the two Mercedes, who have also had a bad start.
Lap 1Great start from Vettel and Grosjean, the latter is up into third.
LIGHTS OUTOne, two, three, four and five red lights illuminate before going out and we're underway at the European Grand Prix!
Formation LapVettel sets off on the single circuit of the track to warm the tyres and prepare the cars.
12.59Here's a final top ten ahead of the off: 1 Vettel 2 Hamilton 3 Maldonado 4 Grosjean 5 Raikkonen 6 Rosberg 7 Kobayashi 8 Hulkenburg 9 Button 10 Di Resta
12.58We have 25 official turns in Valencia although many of them are small kinks in the track that many drivers just breeze past at full pelt.
12.57Victory for Vettel would make it a hat-trick of wins on the Spanish coast. In both 2011 and 2010 he qualified on pole and never looked back. Ominous?
12.54As always the first corner will be crucial, you feel if Vettel can hold his lead then he may streak away from the field. Hamilton especially will be looking for a lightning start as victory for the German will see him go top of the drivers' rankings.
12.52Force India's prinicpal Vijay Mallya is pleased his drivers are both in the top ten but thinks they may have been "too eager" in Q3 and could be higher up the grid.
12.50Ferrari's technical director Pat Fry thinks the heat will lead to a two or three-stop race. Wonder if we'll see anyone go for the one-stopper?
12.48We heard the Spanish national anthem in Donetsk last night at the football and the same tune rings out in the paddock as we close in on T-10 minutes.
12.46Brundle tells Maldonado the quickest way to the loos. The Venezuelan expects a tricky race for all.
12.42Button tells Brundle that the locking of brakes could be a major issue. Many drivers could be seen smoking their front tyres on entry. The McLaren man seems jovial and regularly looks at the camera in his chirpy interview.
12.40Felipe Massa tells Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle that the track is "hot" and could cause tyre problems.
12.39We will have 57 laps of the 5.4km street circuit this afternoon. Vettel's pole lap yesterday was a 1:38.086.
12.36Outside of this, there are some huge names in the remaining 14. The Ferraris of Alonso and Massa are 11th and 13th, with Schumacher filling the Italian sandwich. Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber amazingly couldn't get out of Q1 and has his work cut out in 19th!
12.34The remainder of the top ten is a bit more jumbled than usual, with the two Force Indias, a Mercedes, a Sauber and a McLaren completing the top ten.
12.33As mentioned above, Vettel is on pole (shock!), with Hamilton, Maldonado and the Lotus duo of Grosjean and Raikkonen completing the top five.
12.32However, as always this season pit-stop strategy and use of tyres should make for a compelling race this afternoon.
12.31So, Valencia this week. The street circuit on the east of Spain is nearly as hard to overtake on as Monaco so don't expect too many fireworks in that sense.
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Pascal Lemesre
