Motor racing-European Grand Prix team by team analysis

VALENCIA, Spain, June 24 (Reuters) - Team by team analysis of Sunday's European Grand Prix in Valencia (listed in championship order):

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RED BULL (Mark Webber 4, Sebastian Vettel retired)

Vettel led from pole position until his car expired with an alternator problem after the safety car period. Webber started in 19th position on hard tyres and then switching to softs. Red Bull stretched their lead in the constructors' championship.

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MCLAREN (Jenson Button 8, Lewis Hamilton retired)

Hamilton started on the front row and was running second towards the finish when his tyres faded and Raikkonen went past. He was then pushed into the wall by Maldonado while defending third place. Button started ninth and finished eighth.

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LOTUS (Kimi Raikkonen 2, Romain Grosjean retired)

Grosjean's hopes of winning vanished when his car suffered an alternator failure after two thirds of the race and while in second place. Raikkonen secured his third podium of the season.

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FERRARI (Fernando Alonso 1, Felipe Massa 16)

Alonso started 11th and won in Spain for the second time in his F1 career to go top of the championship and become the first repeat winner of the season. It was his 29th career win. Massa had problems with his car from lap eight, with damage found after the race, and lost any hope of points after a collision with Kobayashi.

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MERCEDES (Michael Schumacher 3, Nico Rosberg 6)

Rosberg set the fastest lap of the race. Schumacher started 12th and returned to the Formula One podium for the first time since the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix and for the 155th time in his career. Both drivers made two stops.

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SAUBER (Sergio Perez 9, Kamui Kobayashi retired)

Kobayashi retired after 34 laps and picked up a five place grid penalty for Silverstone for causing a collision with Massa. Perez started 15th and did two stops, with a final 32 lap stint in soft tyres.

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WILLIAMS (Bruno Senna 10, Pastor Maldonado 12)

Maldonado lost out after colliding with Hamilton while fighting for third place on the penultimate lap. He finished 10th but was handed a time penalty after the race that dropped him to 12th. Senna collided with Kobayashi and had to pit with a puncture for a new front wing. He was then handed a drive-through penalty.

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FORCE INDIA (Nico Hulkenberg 5, Paul Di Resta 7)

The team moved ever closer to Williams with their strongest result of the season. Di Resta was the only one on a one-stop strategy.

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TORO ROSSO (Daniel Ricciardo 11, Jean-Eric Vergne retired)

Vergne collected a 10 place penalty on the Silverstone grid and a 25,000 euro fine for causing the collision with Kovalainen that brought out the safety car. Ricciardo made contact with Petrov's Caterham in a collision that cost him any chance of reaching the scoring places.

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CATERHAM (Vitaly Petrov 13, Heikki Kovalainen 14)

Kovalainen had a KERS problem early on and was then in a collision with Vergne. Petrov ran 10th at one point.

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MARUSSIA (Charles Pic 15, Timo Glock did not start)

Glock did not start due to ill health.

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HRT (Pedro De la Rosa 17, Narain Karthikeyan 18)

Karthikeyan picked up a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Alison Wildey)