The 2012 Spanish Grand Prix was, by all accounts, a remarkable race weekend.
Pastor Maldonado started the race on pole after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying for running out of fuel on his final run, while team-mate Bruno Senna qualified down in 17th position.
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The Venezuelan went on to win the grand prix, prompting conspiracy theories from some shocked fans.
For example, one conspiracy theory claims that Bernie Ecclestone allowed Williams to cheat on that particular race weekend as a belated present for Frank Williams’ 70th birthday.
And, a fire on Maldonado’s car after the race was deliberately started to destroy the “evidence”, according to the same conspiracy theory.
However, speaking eight years after the shock win, Alexander Wurz – who was working as a driver consultant at the team back then – has insisted that there was nothing illegal about the victory.
“Definitely not,” Wurz replied when asked if he believes the conspiracy theory is true.
“I was still with the team and those were the times when Toto Wolff was with Williams. And the fire was dangerous, catastrophic,” Wurz added in his recent interview with Motorsport-Total.com.
“The car was very fast because as a team we were the first to understand that we had to heat the front tyre over the rim. It was Ed Wood, who was then the chief designer, and me.
“We stood on the track and talked about the volume flow of the air that goes through the rim and always cools the tyre. And everyone had understeer. We were the first to find out.”
The team subsequently took action to alleviate this issue, leading to their car being exceptionally quick around the circuit that weekend.
“That is a big issue now, the copying issue par excellence in Formula 1 with Racing Point and Mercedes. We were the first to do it right. Then everyone copied it and Williams fell behind again. But we were also very fast in the race before and after,” Wurz concluded.
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