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Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel drove his Red Bull to a narrow and dramatic victory ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in the Spanish Grand Prix here on Sunday.
The 23-year-old German used his natural speed and clever strategy to steal the lead after starting second behind team-mate Mark Webber, resisted all that 2008 champion Hamilton could throw at him in the closing stages of the 66-lap contest.
After a thrilling duel, Vettel finished six-tenths of a second ahead of the 26-year-old Briton to reel off his fourth win in five races this season - his 13th career win - and extend his lead in the drivers’ world championship.
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It was the first time that a driver, who did not start from pole, had won the Spanish Grand Prix in 11 years. Sydney Morning Herald
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Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button once again chose a different tyre strategy to the other frontrunners and this time made it work, finishing in third place after pitting three times rather than four.
The race was a disappointment for Mark Webber, though, the polesitter never really recovering from a poor start and eventually coming home fourth.
Webber was passed by Fernando Alonso and Vettel at the lights and despite the Ferrari driver leading for 19 laps in front of his home crowd, he faded badly in the closing laps to finish a lapped fifth.
Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher finished an improved sixth ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg, with Renault’s Nick Heidfeld coming through from the back of the grid to take eighth place. SkySports
It was a good day for Sauber, with Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi driving hard races for ninth and 10th, the Japanese driver clawing back after being delayed by a puncture picked up on the opening lap.
Renault’s Vitaly Petrov faded from the points in the closing laps, but was too far ahead for Paul di Resta to challenge after another race in which the Scottish rookie comfortably beat Force India team mate Adrian Sutil as they both stopped only three times.
Sebastien Buemi fought hard all the way through but couldn’t better 14th for Toro Rosso, just two-tenths ahead of Pastor Maldonado in the lead Williams. The Venezuelan finished well ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari and team mate Rubens Barrichello, while Jarno Trulli was the first Lotus home with 18th place after a strong midfield run in which he led team mate Heikki Kovalainen until the Finn crashed due to driver error.
Virgin had to play second fiddle initially to Tonio Liuzzi’s HRT, but Timo Glock eventually caught and passed the Italian, who later retired. The German led home his Belgian team mate Jerome D’Ambrosio, with Narain Karthikeyan 21st and last for HRT. Besides Liuzzi and Kovalainen, the other retiree was Felipe Massa, who had a very tough race in his Ferrari and dropped from a low points-scoring position thanks to a gearbox problem. Formula 1
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