Force India's German driver Nico Hulkenberg drives at the Valencia Street Circuit on June 24, 2012 in Valencia during the European Formula One Grand Prix. (Photo: Getty Images)

Force India
The Force Indias looked strong from Friday and Paul Di Resta impressed with second in Q1 and third in Q2. When it mattered in Q3 he had a brake locking moment that left him in 10th, two places behind team mate Nico Hulkenberg. The German gained a spot from Rosberg at the start and ran seventh but suffered an early KERS failure which handicapped him throughout. However he still managed to finish fifth. Di Resta went for a bold one-stop strategy. He was fifth before his single stop on lap 23. He was sixth in the closing stages but as he struggled with his tires he dropped back, although the Hamilton/Maldonado clash meant it was only as far as seventh.

Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi got the better of his team mate in qualifying to line-up in seventh, while Sergio Perez didn’t make it out of Q2 and had to settle for 15th. Kobayashi made a great start, getting ahead of Raikkonen, Maldonado and Rosberg to claim fourth. However he had a slow first pit stop and much of that work was undone. He then had a clash on the straight with Senna which led to a pit stop for Kamui and a penalty for the Brazilian. Layer he retired after another incident with Massa which earned the Japanese driver a grid penalty for Silverstone. Starting on the primes, Perez had a less eventful race on the way to 10th, stretching out a long final stint on softs.

Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso has come under pressure from Caterham in recent races, and the team had a poor qualifying that saw Jean-Eric Vergne fail to make it out of Q1 once again in 18th, and Daniel Ricciardo in 17th, both men beaten by Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn would be a factor in the race as Vergne managed to collide with him on lap 26, doing enough damage to lead to retirement. He was also given a grid penalty for Silverstone. Ricciardo fared a little better, running in the top six after the safety car by virtue of not making a second stop. When he did come in he fell back. After a collision with Petrov he crossed the line in 12th, later gaining a spot from Maldonado’s penalty.

Williams
After two disappointing weekends in Monaco and Montreal Pastor Maldonado bounced back to secure third in qualifying, while Bruno Senna was frustrated to be only 14th. Maldonado lost out to both Grosjean and Kobayashi on the first lap and lost out to Alonso in the first pit stops. Retirements ahead helped him back up to fourth and he was trying to claim a place from the troubled Hamilton when they collided on the penultimate lap. He finished 10th with no nose but was penalized and dropped to 12th. His original place went to Senna who had himself been given a drive through after a clash with Kobayashi led to a spectacular spin just past the pits.

Caterham
Helped by the latest upgrades Caterham was able to challenge Toro Rosso from the start of the weekend, and the improvement was clear in qualifying when Heikki Kovalainen made Q2 and qualified 16th, having displaced both Toro Rossos. Vitaly Petrov made a mistake on his lap in Q1 and was four places back in 20th. Kovalainen was running well in the first half of the race but needed a new nose after being hit by Vergne, who was later penalized by the stewards. He finished 13th after struggling with his tires at the end, while Petrov followed him home in 14th after also making a stop for a new nose after contact with Ricciardo.

HRT
The weekend got off to a bad start at HRT’s second home race when Pedro de la Rosa had a heavy impact with the tire wall on Friday, but fortunately the chassis escaped damage. In qualifying both

HRT F1 Team's Spanish driver Pedro Martinez de la Rosa speaks during a press conference at the Valencia Street Circuit on June 21, 2012 in Valencia ahead of the European Formula One Grand Prix. (Photo: Getty Images)

drivers outpaced the single Marussia, Pedro taking 21st and Narain Karthikeyan 22nd. In the race both drivers suffered with tire wear, in particular de la Rosa, who finished 17th. Karthikeyan led Pic in the early laps and survived a bump with the Marussia driver. Later he received a stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane. He was classified 18th.

Marussia
Timo Glock struggled with a stomach bug on Friday but felt better on Saturday morning so went out in FP3. The problem returned and he was forced to miss qualifying. It was too take to get anyone else in and when he still felt bad on Sunday it was agreed he should skip the race. Left to carry the team’s fortunes on his own, Charles Pic was only 23rd in qualifying. Pic followed Karthikeyan in last place in the early laps and the pair managed to have a small collision on lap 8. That led to a nose change at his first pit stop. Helped by some retirements he eventually scored his best result of the season in 15th, having managed to get ahead of both HRTs.

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED