Vettel triumphs in dramatic European GP

Race winner Sebastian Vettel celebrates victory in the European GP in Valencia

Jun.27 (YallaF1.com) Sebastian Vettel conquered the streets of Valencia to win a dramatic European Grand Prix which saw his team mate Mark Webber survive a massive accident in the early stages of the race.

Sebastian Vettel celebrates his second victory of the season on the Valencia podium

Webber ran into the back of Heikki Kovalianen’s Lotus, upon making contact the Australian’s Red Bull was launched into the air. It flipped and bounced upside down on the track before ramming at high speed into the tyre barriers.

Miraculously Webber climbed out apparently unscathed in what was one of the biggest crashes seen in Formula 1 since Robert Kubica’s huge shunt in Montreal 2007. The fact that the Red Bull driver could walk away from the scene is a tribute to the strength of the current generation F1 cars.

At the front, when the red lights went off, Vettel got away reasonably well despite the close attentions of Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren Mercedes who blitzed past Webber as did Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Vettel was soon pulling away impressively and by the fourth lap was over two seconds ahead of second placed Hamilton with third placed Alonso in his mirrors.

Sebastian Vettel leads the pack on the first lap

Webber, who started on the option tyres, decided to pit early on lap seven but his luck deserted him there too as his crew struggled with the left front coming off. He rejoined way down and on lap 10 mayhem ensued as he tangled with Kovalainen which brought out the safety car which would prove to be decisive.

It was frenetic in the pits as almost everyone came in at the same time. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) who stayed out a lap longer than most came into the pits from third place but when he tried to rejoin he was forced to stop as a pack of cars went by at that moment. He rejoined down in 19th.

The trio on the Valencia were thirsty after an action packed European GP

By the time things were settled behind the safety car the order at the end of lap 12 was: Vettel, Hamilton, Kobayashi, Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Buemi, Sutil, Hulkenberg and Alonso. Some unfamiliar names in the top ten and notably the Ferrari’s somehow mucked up their stops as Alonso and Massa were suddenly nowhere after running third and fourth early on.

Action resumed on lap 14 not before Vettel gave Red Bull a fright as he got it very sideways going onto the start/finish straight. He recovered and managed to fend off Hamilton his pursuer.

Vettel soon had the gap to Hamilton up to two seconds but the McLaren driver was in trouble with the race stewards who judged that he overtook the safety car as it exited the pits and gave the Briton a drive through penalty.

Sebastian Vettel chased by Lewis Hamilton

After serving his penalty Hamilton emerged from the pit lane still in second as expected mounted an attack on Vettel’s lead. But by this point the German was well in control of proceedings, and although Hamilton did close the gap to around six seconds, late in the race Vettel belted out a succession of fast laps and the fastest lap of the race to seal victory in Valencia.

“We didn’t expect to be that strong,” said Vettel who moves from fifth to third in the championship standings, “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.

Race winner Sebastian Vettel greets his crew after the race

He added, “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).”

Hamilton, who continues to lead the championship, as usual was unrelenting in his pursuit and second place a worthy reward for a strong showing. He said, “At certain stages it looked like he was slowing down, so I tried to close the gap, but he was able to react to that. Therefore I just tried to bring the car home in one piece – there’s nothing worse than getting almost the whole way through the race and then for something to happen at the end.”

Jenson Button fends off the Williams pair and Mark Webber early on

While the two up front played cat and mouse the reigning World Champion Jenson Button (McLaren Mercedes) once again eked out a good result on a circuit which he is not particularly fond of and where his smooth style is not rewarded. Nevertheless the Briton kept out of trouble and claimed third place when it mattered and retains third place in the driver’s standings.

The safety car was kind to Button and when the field was unleashed he was up to fourth, behind Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) who was the only one who opted not to stop for fresh rubber during the safety car period.

Kamui Kobayashi pressures Pedro de la Rosa

Kobayashi went on to deliver his best performance to date, reviving memories of his first few races in F1 late last year, with a strong drive which saw him in third for most of the race albeit with a stop required. The Japanese driver showed remarkable pace, keeping Button at bay until he had to pit for tyres at the end of lap 53.

He rejoined in ninth behind Alonso and Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), but his afternoon was not over. With fresh rubber he quickly reeled in Alonso and then Buemi in the space of three laps to take a well deserved seventh place finish and without doubt the driver of the day.

Fourth, behind Button, was Rubens Barrichello who scored Williams’ best result of the season and dug into his vast experience to keep at bay Robert Kubica (Renault) who had to settle for fifth place.

Adrian Sutil (Force India) failed to make it into Q3 during qualifying but made amends to finish sixth ahead of Kobayashi in seventh followed by Buemi and Alonso.

Alonso and team mate Felipe Massa will be aggrieved as the timing of the pace car forced them to do a lap more than they would have wanted and compromised their race. Afterwards Ferrari were decidedly displeased with what they felt was a lenient penalty for Hamilton.

Pedro de la Rosa took the final point to make it a double points finish for the Sauber team, by far their best showing of the season.

By evening though things changed as nine drivers were summoned to the FIA officials in Valencia, accused of driving too quickly under safety car conditions. Less than three hours after the chequered flag, all of them were found guilty and handed 5 second time penalties.

Button, Barrichello, Kubica and Sutil finished in third through sixth, but their penalties did not affect those placings. Alonso, however, moves past the penalised Sebastien Buemi for eighth place, while Nico Rosberg – 12th at the flag – moves ahead of both De la Rosa and Vitaly Petrov.

The German therefore takes the final point from Sauber’s de la Rosa, while Vitantonio Liuzzi drops from the non-scoring 13th to 16th.

Provisional Race Result -  27 June 2010

Note – Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Buemi, De la Rosa, Petrov, Liuzzi and Hulkenberg all had five seconds added to their race times for speeding under safety-car conditions. Glock had 20 seconds added for ignoring blue flags.