Buzzin F1 – Formula One Blog

Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing 2010

The Red Bull driver Sebastain Vettel took victory yesterday at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain while Mark Webber walked away from an horrendous accident.

Vettel who started from pole position dominated the race from the start followed by Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren and the second Red Bull of Mark Webber as they headed into the first corner.  Webber was soon moved back to five position as he was passed by both the Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

The Australian soon slipped further back to ninth before getting it all wrong on lap 10 when he dropped into the slipstream of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus.  Webber clipped the back of the Lotus, launching his Red Bull into the air and landing on the roof before flipping back over and going at full speed into the tyre wall.  Webber miraculously walked away from the high-speed crash as the safety car was deployed.

The usual mad dash for the pit lane followed the accident leaving Michael Schumacher to lead the Grand Prix followed by the second non-stopper Kamui Kobayashi.

As the safety car entered the pits it was Vettel still in the lead followed by Hamilton, Kobayashi, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica, Sebastien Buemi, Adrian Sutil, Nico Hulkenburg and Alonso.

On lap 21 of the race it was announced that Lewis Hamilton was under investigation by the stewards for passing the safety car.  The McLaren driver pitted on lap 28 to serve his drive-through penalty and rejoined the circuit still in second place.

Timo Glock was forced to make an unscheduled stop when he developed a puncture after coming into contact with the HRT car of Bruno Senna, who also ended up returning to the pits for a new nose cone.  Glock was later issued with a 20 second penalty for ignoring waved blue flags.

It was then announced that nine cars were under investigation for speeding behind the safety car Button, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, de la Rosa, Petrov, Sutil, Liuzzi, Buemi and Kubica. All nine drivers have since been given a five-second penalty added onto their finishing times although it didn’t make much difference to the outcome of the positions.

Nico Hulkenberg was forced to retire with only 7 laps of the race to run after developing a perished rear tyre that damaged the rear bodywork of the Williams.

Vettel crossed the line ahead of Hamilton, Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Kobayashi, Buemi, Alonso and de la Rosa completing the top ten drivers.

Here are the results;

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 57 laps 1hr 40m 29.571s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +5.0s
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +12.6s*
4. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +25.6s*
5. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +27.1s*
6. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +30.1s*
7. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari +30.9s
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +32.8s
9. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +36.2s*
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +44.3s