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2012 Spanish Grand Prix qualifying

Pastor Maldonado will start the Spanish Grand Prix from pole, as penalty means Lewis Hamilton starts last

Pastor Maldonado will start the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position, after the announcement Lewis Hamilton will start last following a penalty.

 

Lewis Hamilton's final lap of the day was four-tenths of a second faster than second-place Maldonado, and was set to be McLaren's 150th pole position.

 

But Hamilton was handed a grid penalty after stopping on his return to the pits. He will now start from the back of the grid.

 

Maldonado has now inherited pole position. He had been quick in practice but this is a stunning result for Williams, and a career best for the Venezuelan driver. A Williams driver hasn't been on pole since Nico Hulkenberg in 2010 for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

 

Alonso will start his home Grand Prix in second, ahead of Lotus teammates Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen and Sauber's Sergio Perez.

 

Nico Rosberg was the only other driver to set a time in the final qualifying session. He starts ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi.

 

The biggest casualties of the day were Jenson Button and Mark Webber, who failed to make it into the final qualifying session. They will start from 10th and 11th respectively.

 

Felipe Massa will start from 16th for Ferrari, just ahead of fellow Brazilian Bruno Senna, who was caught out in the first qualifying session. He went off in the final few minutes while battling to get into Q2, and will start the race from 17th place.

 

Narain Karthikeyan didn't meet the 107 per cent requirements, but the stewards have announced that the HRT driver will be allowed to race.

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2012 Spanish Grand Prix grid

PositionDriverTeamTime
1Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1'22.285
2Fernando AlonsoFerrari1'22.302
3Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1'22.424
4Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1'22.487
5Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1'22.533
6Nico RosbergMercedes1'23.005
7Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-RenaultNo time
8Michael SchumacherMercedesNo time
9Kamui KobayashiSauber-FerrariNo time
10Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1'22.944
11Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1'22.977
12Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1'23.125
13Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1'23.177
14Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Ferrari1'23.265
15Daniel RicciardoSTR-Ferrari1'23.442
16Felipe MassaFerrari1'23.444
17Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1'24.981
18Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1'25:277
19Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1'25:507
20Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1'26:582
21Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1'27:032
22Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth1'27:555
23Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1'31:122
24Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1'21.707*

* Penalty means Hamilton will start from the back of the grid

107 per cent time: 1'28:363

Did you watch the qualifying session? Who was your driver of the day? Who should have done better? And what are your predictions for the race tomorrow? Tell us your thoughts below.

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