Fernando Alonso ended the record run of seven drivers winning the first seven races Sunday with victory at the European Grand Prix in Valencia after his challengers fell by the wayside.
Three champions took the podium places, as Kimi Raikkonen finished second, while Michael Schumacher took third in his first podium finish since coming back to the sport in 2010.
Alonso regains the lead in the championship, which he holds by 20 points from Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who finished fourth despite qualifying in 19th.
Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel started on pole position and sped away in the early stages, pursued by Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, but both stopped with technical problems.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton looked set for third until Williams driver Pastor Maldonado speared into the side of his car two laps from the end, finishing the Briton’s race.
Russia’s Vitaly Petrov ran as high as 10th, raising hopes that he could give Caterham their first point, but slipped back and then lost his front wing in a crash with Daniel Ricciardo on lap 49 as the Toro Rosso driver tried to pass.
Ricciardo was hurled into the air, while Petrov’s enforced pit stop for a new nose dropped him to the near the back of the field where he stayed, finishing 13th, still his best result of the season.
Grosjean led the charge for Lotus in the early stages, overtaking Lewis Hamilton on lap 11 by hanging on around the outside before passing him on the inside of the next corner.
Alonso had started 11th but charged through the field in the opening phase of the race.
On lap 20, Kamui Kobayashi punctured Bruno Senna’s rear tire as he came up to lap him, hurling the Brazilian into a wild spin in which he narrowly missed colliding with his teammate Pastor Maldonado.
Senna was forced to pit with the puncture, and later served a penalty for causing the collision, while Kobayashi required a new front wing, ending his hopes of a top-five finish.
The safety car was brought out on lap 29 after Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne clattered the side of Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham while trying to overtake him.
Both cars carried on with heavy damage, leaving small pieces of debris scattered across the track. Vergne parked his car in the garage while Kovalainen pitted with a puncture.
Vettel ground to a halt shortly after the restart, handing the leads Alonso, who had earlier passed Grosjean for second.
The German expressed his frustration by throwing away his gloves.
Hamilton battled back from sixth following a botched pit stop, overtaking Raikkonen and Ricciardo and benefiting from Vettel and Grosjean’s retirements.
Alonso’s teammate Felipe Massa collided with Kobayashi shortly after the restart, the Japanese driver earning a five-place grid penalty for the next race at Silverstone.
Raikkonen reeled in Hamilton and passed him on lap 55 as the McLaren driver’s tires faded before Maldonado closed in.
The two raced side-by-side for several laps before Hamilton squeezed Maldonado off the track and the Venezuelan slammed into Hamilton as he rejoined the track, pushing the Briton into the wall.
Schumacher and Webber fought for a surprise third place on the last lap, with the seven-time champion from Germany prevailing.
