On lap 12, the Spanish Ferrari man pitted earlier than planned to try and jump some traffic, but the move did not pay off and dropped him to twelfth place, although many ahead of him had yet to pit. However, the stop had not been enough to get him ahead of Kubica and by lap 16, Fernando was right up behind the Renault and was trying to pass him and one lap later, as he pulled alongside the Pole, he was forced to run wide over a kerb, but came out in front of the Renault. The Stewards took nine laps to decide to give the Spaniard a drive-through penalty for this move and he took it on lap 30. Unfortunately, this was immediately after the restart from a safety car period, so that Alonso had no option but to slide down the order. This ruined his race, because up to this point, Fernando looked set to make up for his poor start and was just one step away from the podium places, if he could pass Rosberg, as others in front of him such as Hulkenberg, had yet to pit.

After the safety car came in, Felipe was thirteenth behind Buemi’s Toro Rosso, while Fernando was sixteenth behind Liuzzi in the Force India. On lap 34, it was Fernando’s turn to pass Buemi after a lap long duel. However, there was even more trouble for the Spanish Ferrari driver, as slight contact with Liuzzi’s Force India meant he too had a puncture, which dropped him to fourteenth. On lap 40, having had to pit on the opening lap, Felipe came in again for a fresh set of tyres, after surviving a thankfully harmless spin into the gravel and took the flag behind his team-mate.

Behind the podium trio, fourth place went to Button in the McLaren, followed by Barrichello (Williams,) Kobayashi (Sauber,) Vettel (Red Bull) who was thrown a life line by the Safety Car which allowed him to make his way up to seventh, with Sutil (Force India,) Schumacher (Mercedes) and Hulkenberg (Williams,) filling the remaining points positions.

With no points for the Prancing Horse yesterday, the Scuderia is still third in the Constructors’ championship, 113 points behind the leader, McLaren and 84 behind second placed Red Bull. Fernando and Felipe are fifth and eighth respectively in the Drivers’ classification.

Stefano Domenicali: “We seem to be really cursed at the moment, when everything that could go wrong, does. We are not happy, but we must not feel sorry for ourselves. Instead, we have to react calmly, remaining focussed and continuing to work in the way we did over the past few weeks. We go home with no points, but with the knowledge that we have a potential, in terms of the car, the team and the drivers, that is up to the right level to deal with the situation. We must not allow ourselves to give in to frustration: I am sure that the results and the points that have been lacking for so many reasons recently, will come. Clearly, the championship situation is looking complicated but we remain convinced we can still fight for the title. We will continue to push on the development of the F10, confident in our chances to make up the ground we have lost up until today.”

Felipe Massa: “I don’t know what to do, but I have to find some way of getting rid of the bad luck that is following me around! In the last few races, everything has happened to me. Today my race was soon over, when I touched with Fernando and got a puncture which dropped me to the back of the pack. The car was going well, but that’s not much use if you cannot get a result. The championship is not over after this race, but clearly my situation is compromised: I would need to win a lot of races while others run into the same difficulties that have come my way in recent races. However, we must not give up: we will keep our heads high and continue to push on the development of the car and then see what results come our way.”

Fernando Alonso: “I made a horrible start – we had some problems with the clutch – and then came the incident with Kubica which further affected my race. I do not wish to comment on the Stewards’ decision. The team acted correctly but the instruction to hand back the position arrived when I had already passed another driver and in the meantime, Kubica was visibly slowing down before retiring. On top of that, the penalty coincided with the Safety Car and so, rather than just losing a couple of positions, I lost around a dozen. Even with my difficult start, I am convinced I could have finished third, but instead I go home with nothing. The championship situation is definitely looking more difficult, but we have only just gone past the halfway point of the season and anything can still happen. The car is better and I was flying when I had a clear track ahead of me: we must continue to work and believe in ourselves.”

Chris Dyer: “We are very, very disappointed at how this race turned out. Our drivers’ chances were practically over on the opening lap, especially in Felipe’s case, as he had to pit with a puncture. Fernando found himself in traffic and we tried to gain him a few places by bringing him in early for his stop, but the plan did not work. Then there was the incident when Alonso overtook Kubica which was a key moment in our driver’s race, because of the Stewards’ decision: his penalty took away any chance he had of finishing in the points, especially as its arrival coincided with the Safety Car period. We are going through a difficult time, but we must not give up. We have shown that the performance of our car has improved at a track that does not suit it that well. We must continue to work in this direction.”