Another different winner in Valencia?
Lewis Hamilton may have finally added his name to the 2012 Formula One winners list but that does not mean that there will finally be a first repeat winner in the eighth season race on Sunday.
The 2008 champion was still missing on the list ahead of his June 10 victory in Canada, but there are still at least three men left who have the class and the right car to top the podium at the European Grand Prix.
Record world champion Michael Schumacher finally wants to put an end to an incredible string of bad luck and join Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in the winners list.
There is also the Lotus duo of ex-champion Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, who both only lack a victory in order to complete a full set of podium finishes.
Similar to Monte Carlo, the 5.419km harbourside street circuit offers only very little room for overtaking, making the pole position all important with three of the past four winners starting from first place on the grid.
The 43-year-old Schumacher showed in Monaco that he still has the class when he was the surprise qualifying winner, but a five-place grid penalty and a another technical problem cost him his first victory since 2006.
Schumacher was then also stopped by a malfunction in Canada and is now even more determined to bounce back and improve on his meagre two championship points.
"Our entire focus is now on the race in Valencia. I am sure that everybody's motivation is even stronger ... We can travel to Valencia in an optimistic mood," he said.
Raikkonen and Grosjean could also further raise the F1 record to eight different winners, and not to be counted out either are Sergio Perez of Sauber, who has two second-placed finishes, and Felipe Massa, because he drives a Ferrari and won the first Valencia race in 2008.
The established forces, meanwhile, have had enough of all the shake-ups and want consistency at last in Valencia, where the action starts on Friday with two free practice rounds ahead of qualifying saturday and Sunday's race over 57 laps.
"I hope not! I hope we're able to keep it at seven and no more!" said Hamilton after being asked folloowing his Canada win whether the series of different winners will continue.
Two-times reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel may have the best chance to end the trend as he won the last two Valencia races and is now in search of a hat-trick there.
Vettel's Red Bull and Hamilton's McLaren are the only teams with two season victories as Mark Webber (Red Bull) and Jenson Button (McLaren) have also been on top.
Hamilton leads the championship with 88 points from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (86) and Vettel (85) and even fifth-placed Rosberg is less than a race win (25 points) behind on 67.
"My win in Montreal was obviously an extremely satisfying moment for me - but, actually, it does very little to alter things in the world championship," Hamilton said.
"While it's always pleasing to be leading the championship, I'm only two points ahead of Fernando - which is nothing, particularly when there are a handful of really strong drivers all separated by a couple of points, so there's still everything to play for.
"People are always asking me to predict what will happen at the next race and I always tell them it's really difficult to make an accurate prediction."
