Germany’s Sebastian Vettel cruised to his second win of the season on Sunday in an exhilarating European Grand Prix which saw Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber crash spectacularly.
Pole-sitter Vettel dominated on the Valencia street circuit to finish ahead of McLaren’s British duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
Vettel claimed his first win since the Malaysian Grand Prix and the seventh of his career as Webber failed to finish after smashing into Finn Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus on lap 10 of the 57-lap race. AFP
Webber was trying to pass the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen when he hit the back of the Finn’s car. The Red Bull reared into the air, before crashing onto the circuit upside-down.
It flipped the right way up before Webber sledded at high speed into the tyre wall. Amazingly, he emerged unscathed.
“We didn’t expect to be that strong,” said Vettel, “so it was great to be quick enough to slightly pull away, find the gap and then bring the car home.
“I had a huge lock-up of my brakes after the safety car, trying to brake as late as I could. The tyres weren’t up to temperature after going round slowly, but I could stay in front.
“I tried not to push too hard and when I got the message that Lewis had the penalty I backed off a bit more.
“It’s good to get a lot of points, it’s good for the championship and the guys can be extremely proud - they had very little sleep but it paid off, and now we have to focus on the next one (the British Grand Prix in two weeks’ time).” BBC Sport
Hamilton leads the standings with 127 points, ahead of defending champion Button on 121. Vettel jumped two places to third on 115.
The result consolidates McLaren’s lead at the top of the constructors’ championship with 248 points, ahead of Red Bull on 218.
“It’s very, very positive to be leading both championships, for myself and Jenson,” Hamilton said. “The results clearly show the effort that we’ve been putting in. It’s great that we’re now getting the results that we deserved.”
Rubens Barrichello of Williams, who won at Valencia last year, finished fourth and Renault’s Robert Kubica was fifth.
Local favorite Fernando Alonso of Ferrari slipped to ninth after starting fourth on the grid and he is fifth in the standings on 96 points.
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who has six European Grand Prix wins, had his worst race of the season, finishing 16th after starting from 15th place. His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg was 12th. The Associated Press
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