Vettel wins and Webber emerges from smash unscathed
Sebastian Vettel took yet another victory for Red Bull in Valenci
Sunday, 27, Jun 2010 02:22
By Adam Leveridge.
Sebastian Vettel took yet another victory for Red Bull in Valencia, however, the Milton Keynes-based outfit had something else to celebrate, when Mark Webber emerged from a horrific high-speed crash with Heikki Kovalainen, completely unscathed.
Lewis Hamilton overcame a drive-through penalty to finish second ahead of Jenson Button in the second McLaren, while Rubens Barrichello just missed out on a podium finish for Williams in fourth place.
Vettel got away from the grid well, while Hamilton scythed past Webber in the second Red Bull, hanging the Aussie out to dry at turns one and two.
Hamilton tried to get his nose underneath Vettel's Red Bull at the tight turn two, made contact with the German and created a vibration on his front-left corner with damage to his front wing.
Webber was forced to hold the outside line at turns two and three, allowing Fernandp Alonso, Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Jenson Button and the Williams pairing of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenburg through, and he eventually settled back into the train on the trailing edge of the top ten.
Michael Schumacher had a strong getaway from 15th place and he found himself behind Sebastian Buemi in the lead Toro Rosso, who held 11th place.
Nico Rosberg in the sister Silver Arrow and Jaime Alguersuari in the second Toro Rosso both had off-track moments on lap one and fell to 14th and 16th places respectively.
Tens lap in and Webber and Rosberg became the first to stop for new tyres in the hope of using the clean air to jump up the order after a disastrous opening few laps of the race.
It went from bad to worse for Webber, who was delayed in his stop by a jammed front-left wheel, as the Aussie was launched out of the grand prix in the most spectacular fashion when he collided with Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus, while attempting a pass.
Webber tried using the slip-stream from Kovalainen on the approach to turn 13, but the Finn held the middle ground and Webber misjudged his closing speed, flying over the top of the Lotus.
Webber was launched into the air and found himself upside-down, before performing another roll to clatter the barriers, the right way up.
Kovalainen was sent into the barriers too, but recovered to the pits, while the field scrambled for new tyres in response to the safety car intervention.
Webber was removed from what remained of his Red Bull RB6 completely unscathed, but was taken to the medical centre for precautionary tests.
Button was a big winner out of this situation, as he was able to make the jump for new tyres first and he found himself in fourth place once most of the stops had played out, however, the big losers were Ferrari and Schumacher, as Alonso fell to 10th, Massa to 17th and Schumacher to the rear of the field, after being held at the pit-lane exit while the train of cars passed behind the safety car.
The safety car released the field on lap 15 and Vettel backed the pack right up on the approach to turn 25, in an attempt to get the jump on Hamilton.
However, the young German was a bit over-exuberant into the final left-hander, locking his brakes and running out wide.
But he held on to the lead, as Hamilton was unable to pass until he had crossed the start/finish line to start lap 16 and he began to pull out an advantage while the McLaren driver saved fuel.
Button in the sister McLaren was heavily hampered behind third-placed Kamui Kobayashi, who was a full two seconds slower than the leading pair during the first half of the race.
The race stewards then placed Hamilton under investigation for passing the safety car, as it emerged in response to Webber and Kovalainen's incident.
The 2008 world champion hesitated as the Mercedes SLS AMG entered the race track and was thought to have made the pass after the second safety car line on the track, gaining a significant advantage over the Ferraris behind him.
Hamilton was handed a drive-through penalty for the infringement, but a succession of fastest in-laps meant he held on to second place over Kobayashi and Button.
All three the put the hammer down in an attempt to catch the race leader and were setting times in the low 1m40s, compared to Vettel's mid 1m41s.
Meanwhile, at the bottom end of the top ten, Alonso's running had been curtailed behind Sebastian Buemi and Adrian Sutil, having passed Nico Hulkenburg's Williams after the safety car intervention.
Hamilton continued to narrow the gap at the front of the field, but with seven laps to go Vettel had the Briton pegged and he crossed the line with an eight second advantage.
Kobayashi eventually gave up third place with a handful of laps to go, promoting Button onto the podium and Barrichello to fourth for a jubilant Williams team.
A steady stop from the Sauber team saw Kobayashi feed out in ninth place, behind the Buemi/Alonso fight, but the Japanese driver took advantage of his fresh tyres to grab eighth from Alonso on the penultimate lap under braking.
He then set after Buemi and, with a well-timed lunge at the final corner, snatching seventh place, pending the results of a stewards' investigation into incidents involving nine runners, and rounding off an impressive performance from the Sauber racer.