The word ‘surrender’ does not figure in the vocabulary of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. So this weekend’s race, and his early retirement from it, must be considered a setback, not the end of his title challenge. After two engine failures in one weekend, the only thing that looms heavily over his championship ambitions is having enough engines left to compete for the crown, and unfortunately this does not lie in his hands…

When the tyres for Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren weren’t ready as he arrived for his second pit stop during Sunday’s European Grand Prix, it looked as if the error had cost the reigning world champion a win in Valencia. Team principal Martin Whitmarsh, however, believes that eventual victor Ruben Barrichello was too dominant and that, mistake or not, Hamilton’s best hope was second. “Following our all-front-row qualifying result, naturally enough we had very high expectations for today’s race,” explained Whitmarsh.

It was not a glorious weekend for Red Bull. Two engines failures for Sebastian Vettel, leaving him with only two fresh V8s for the six remaining races, and Mark Webber missing a points-scoring position by one place.

Michael Schumacher may not be racing as many had hoped this weekend, but he is present in Spain and has been hanging out with British rock legend and Ferrari afficianado Eric Clapton.

Bridgestone have introduced new tin weights for their Formula One and GP2 tyre balancing process from the European Grand Prix onwards.

Bridgestone have introduced new tin weights for their Formula One and GP2 tyre balancing process from the European Grand Prix onwards.

As ever, the fuel figures told an interesting tale after qualifying in Valencia, with Brawn looking stronger for the race than either McLaren or Red Bull, and Williams and Ferrari also looking a threat. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton had an all-up weight of 653 kg, Heikki Kovalainen 655; Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello 662.5 and Jenson Button 661.5; Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel 654 and Mark Webber 664.5; Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen 661.5; Williams’ Nico Rosberg 665; Renault’s Fernando Alonso 656.5 and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica 657.5. We take a team-by-team look at Saturday in Spain…

Nobody at BMW Sauber has remained unaffected by the BMW board’s decision to withdraw from Formula One racing at the end of the season – not even the drivers. Nick Heidfeld has a long history with the team, going back to the days of Sauber-Petronas, so thoughts of them leaving are even more painful for him.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil set the fastest time in the final practice session here in Valencia on Saturday morning – after much of the session was red-flagged when Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull stopped out on the track, after lubricating it with an oil leak following a serious mechanical failure. Sutil had been fastest before the red flag came out after half an hour. The session resumed for five minutes and there was a flurry of quicker times – and it was again the German who set the standard…

Until last Tuesday, Fernando Alonso’s chances of racing at the European Grand Prix were in the limbo.