Spain – Qualification: Hamilton lands his blows!

Q1: No rush on the track for this first part of the qualifying session. Paul di Resta breaks the silence as four minutes have already passed out of the twenty scheduled. The Force India driver, on hard tires, is followed by the two Lotus cars. Most drivers are on track, except for the Red Bulls, with 10 minutes remaining. Hamilton sets the provisional fastest time for this first run with a 1:24.143. He is ahead of Pérez, Alonso, Grosjean, and Räikkönen.

With seven minutes remaining, Vettel and Webber are still in the garage, confident. Maldonado improves the best time, at 1:23.380, but he is the first on soft tires. The Red Bull team reveals their strategy, which was to save the hard tires and make only one run on softs to access Q2. Grosjean takes the lead with 1:23.248, Alonso takes provisional second place, ahead of Maldonado, Räikkönen, Button, and Webber, with two minutes left.

At the back, few surprises except that Karthikeyan did not pass the 107% mark; it remains to be seen if the stewards will allow him to race, given that the Indian driver achieved the required time during FP3. Pic is ahead of Glock. Hamilton improves under the checkered flag, finishing with a time of 1:22.583. Senna, who was battling to reach Q3 and beat Vergne’s time, made an error and ended up in the gravel, allowing the Frenchman to advance to Q2.

Eliminated in Q1: Senna, Petrov, Kovalainen, Pic, Glock, De la Rosa and Karthikeyan.

Q2: Kobayashi enters the track more than two minutes after the start of this part of the qualification. The Japanese driver and the Force India drivers register their first times at 1:24, far from the times to come. The drivers crossing the line afterward improve one by one: Pérez, Rosberg, Button, and Hamilton follow each other, with 1:22.465 for the 2008 world champion. Webber finishes half a second behind the Briton, in second position. Vettel takes the provisional fifth place. With six minutes remaining, Hamilton is ahead of Webber, Button, Rosberg, and Vettel. The two Lotus cars finally exit the pits.

Räikkönen slots in between Hamilton and Webber, but Grosjean does better and passes his teammate with a time of 1:22.667, two-tenths behind Hamilton. Jean-Eric Vergne is temporarily in the top 5 with two minutes remaining. The Saubers enter the top 10, as do the Mercedes. Maldonado sets the fastest time under the checkered flag, at 1:22.105, which knocks Button out of the standings, but he’s not the only one caught out, as Mark Webber is also in the danger zone. Kobayashi is stopped on the track and, despite his performance, is not expected to take part in Q3.

Eliminated in Q2: Button, Webber, Di Resta, Hülkenberg, Vergne, Ricciardo, and Massa.

Q3: Vettel hurried under the red light to wait for the track to open. He is the only one in this situation. The German is on soft tires and is not seeking performance in his first flying lap, at the end of which he returns to the pits. Hamilton is on track along with Schumacher. The McLaren sets a 1:22.560, which is slower than Maldonado in Q2. He is the only driver to have set a time in Q3 with only four minutes remaining. Rosberg falls short by four tenths.

The second round is about to begin, with everyone participating this time. Alonso temporarily takes the lead but is overtaken by Maldonado and then Hamilton, who secures pole position with a time of 1:21.707, five-tenths ahead of the Williams driver! The front row is thus British-Venezuelan! They are followed by Alonso, Grosjean, Räikkönen, Pérez, Rosberg, Vettel, Schumacher, and Kobayashi; the last three drivers did not complete any timed laps in Q3.

Lewis Hamilton, whose car stopped on the track during the cool-down lap, secures his 22nd pole position, the 3rd of the season and the 150th for the McLaren team.

Update: Narain Karthikeyan, who recorded a time beyond the regulatory 107%, has nevertheless been reinstated by the race stewards and will start from the last position on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton, who secured pole position, saw his performance annulled and will start from the last position on the grid following the decision of the race stewards, who deemed that the McLaren driver did not have enough fuel in his tank to return to Parc Fermé with the required minimum amount of one liter. The pole position officially goes to Pastor Maldonado.

Results of the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying: