Hamilton survives chaotic Belgian Grand Prix to lead championship

Lewis Hamilton takes his third Grand Prix victory of the season at Spa-Francorchamps following an incident-packed race.

The McLaren driver made a great start and despite running off the track during the shower period twice – at the Bus Stop chicane and at Rivage – this victory proved crucial to his championship prospects. He now leads the standings with 182 points, three ahead of Mark Webber, who recovered from a poor getaway to finish in second.

Robert Kubica took an excellent third for Renault but it could have been second. During his final pitstop, the Polish driver slid in the wet pitlane and that mistake cost him three championship points.

At the start, Mark Webber’s anti-stall system kicked-in and that brief moment allowed Lewis Hamilton to take the lead. The Red Bull started in pole position but even before the first corner – La Source – Webber was down to sixth position.

Once in the lead, Lewis Hamilton was never challenged at the front – despite a brief burst of rain that caused him to run off the track at the Bus Stop chicane on the opening lap.

Lewis pulled away from the rest at a rate of more than half a second per lap as the track quickly dried early on. He had an advantage of eleven seconds over Robert Kubica until the heavens open again on lap 35.

Pushing a little too hard on the slicks when the track was wet, the 2008 Formula One world champion slid wide at Rivage and it looked like he was about to retire in the gravel, but luckily he avoided the tyre barrier and was able to drive back on the track.

Lewis pitted for intermediates at the end of that lap, as did the second-placed Renault of Kubica and Webber, who was in third.

Webber emerged in second following a mistake by Kubica. The Renault driver overshot his pitbox and that mistake cost him a handful of seconds while his mechanics attempted to change his tyres.

After a second safety car period – which began on lap 38 when Fernando Alonso crashed out exiting Malmedy – Hamilton was able to pull away from Webber to the chequered flag.

By crashing out, Alonso’s title ambitions has hit a major blow and following his disastrous start to the race in which Rubens Barrichello smashed his Williams on the opening lap, it was unfortunate for the Ferrari driver to retire after fighting his way back up to seventh.

Taking part in his 300th Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello didn’t even finish the first lap at Spa, after losing control under braking at the Bus Stop chicane and crashing into Alonso.

Both Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel also had their championship hopes dashed, with the former suffering with front wing damage on the opening lap. That lost in downforce meant Button held a four-car train.

Seeking the opportunity to pass the McLaren, Sebastian Vettel got a run on the reigning world champion exiting Blanchimont on lap 16, but lost control of his Red Bull under braking and slammed into the side of his rival at the Bus Stop chicane – putting Button out of the race.

The young German broke his front wing and had to pit for repairs. He then received a drive-through penalty for causing the incident and later suffered a puncture after colliding with Vitantonio Liuzzi’s Force India on his way to a lapped P15. Not a great result for Sebastian Vettel with five trips to the pits as well…

Through the mayhem came Felipe Massa to take fourth in his Ferrari and Adrian Sutil – after pulling off a superb pass on Michael Schumacher – to fifth in his Force India.

Nico Rosberg was sixth for Mercedes GP after forcing his way by team-mate Michael Schumacher at Les Combes with three laps to the flag. The pair actually made contact in the same corner in the opening part of the Grand Prix.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, Vitaly Petrov (Renault) and Vitantonio (Force India) completed the top ten.

So heading into the Spa weekend, five drivers were separated by twenty points. After 44 chaotic laps, Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber took advantage and with six races left, it will be fascinating who will have upper hand with the pair split by three championship points.

Race results from Spa-Francorchamps, 44 laps:

1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h29m04.268s
2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +1.571
3.  Kubica        Renault                    +3.493
4.  Massa         Ferrari                    +8.264
5.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +9.094
6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +12.359
7.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +15.548
8.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +16.678
9.   Petrov        Renault                    +23.851
10.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes      +34.831
11.  De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari            +36.019
12.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +39.895
13.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +49.457*
14.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth         +1 lap
15.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault          +1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth            +1 lap
17.  Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth           +1 lap
18.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth           +1 lap
19.  Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth            +1 lap
20.  Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth              +2 laps

*Twenty-second penalty for cutting the chicane

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1m49.069s

Not classified/retirements:
Alonso        Ferrari                   38 laps
Button        McLaren-Mercedes          16 laps
Senna         HRT-Cosworth               6 laps
Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          1 lap

World Championship standings, round 13:

Drivers:
1.  Hamilton     182
2.  Webber       179
3.  Vettel       151
4.  Button       147
5.  Alonso       141
6.  Massa        109
7.  Kubica       104
8.  Rosberg      102
9.  Sutil         45
10. Schumacher    44
11. Barrichello   30
12. Kobayashi     21
13. Petrov        19
14. Liuzzi        12
15. Hulkenberg    10
16. Buemi          7
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Alguersuari    4

Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault          330
2. McLaren-Mercedes          329
3. Ferrari                   250
4. Mercedes                  146
5. Renault                   123
6. Force India-Mercedes       57
7. Williams-Cosworth          40
8. Sauber-Ferrari             27
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari         11

Next race: Italian Grand Prix, Monza. September 10-12.

Webber claims Spa pole in rain-affected qualifying

Championship leader Mark Webber takes an important pole position at the magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit, setting a time of one minute, 45.778 seconds.

This was Red Bull Racing’s twelfth pole position of the season and the Australian’s fifth. The margin between Webber and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was less than a tenth of a second following a rain-affected qualifying session.

Robert Kubica will start in third in the F-duct Renault ahead of Sebastian Vettel. As for Fernando Alonso – who was the fastest in Friday’s two practice sessions – the Ferrari driver will line up tenth on the grid.

The Spaniard lost significant time at the damp La Source hairpin and posted a lap time that was 1.6 seconds slower than Hamilton.

Jenson Button was able to improve his grid position despite the rain at the end of Q3 to demote Felipe Massa down to sixth.

Rubens Barrichello will start seventh for Williams, as he celebrates his 300th grand prix, with Force India’s Adrian Sutil joining the race veteran on row four.

This was a bad qualifying session for Mercedes GP as both drivers were hit with grid penalties. Nico Rosberg in particular will lose five places following a gearbox change after the final practice session leading into qualifying.

As for Michael Schumacher, who made that aggressive move on Rubens at the Hungaroring, the seven-time world champion will start the Belgian Grand Prix in P21.

The first session began with most of the grid queuing up at the exit of the pit lane as they anticipated an incoming rain shower. But as the cars negotiated their out laps Renault’s Vitaly Petrov spun into barriers after exiting Turn 9, which brought out the red flag.

The resulting red flag period delayed the session just long enough for a deluge to hit Rivage and Stavelot on the first flying lap.

Lucas di Grassi, Adrian Sutil and Jarno Trulli all went off at Stavelot, while the McLarens of Hamilton and Button left themselves enough clear track to go straight to the top of the timesheet.

Sebastian Vettel had waited in the pits for 45 seconds longer than everyone else and was only P17 – the circuit much wetter by the time he completed his lap.

But as the track dried in the next ten minutes, that allowed the Silver Arrows and Williams to leap into the top five on slicks at the end of Q1.

The Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa also went out on slicks hoping to jump up into Q2, but slid off the road at Rivage and Stavelot respectively and were out.

Di Grassi and Petrov were unable to post times after their incidents, and were joined by Sakon Yamamoto, Bruno Senna and Trulli in being eliminated in Q1.

No more rain fell during the second part of qualifying and it was fascinating to see the drivers adopting different tyre strategies to set the quickest time in the damp and yet drying track.

The McLarens once again made the right call and Hamilton’s first flying lap was an impressive 1.7 seconds faster than anyone else. In fact both Lewis and Jenson were the only cars break into the one minute, 46 second barrier.

As for the Red Bulls, Vettel and Webber recorded a reasonable lap time in order to progress into Q3.

Adrian Sutil, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso survived trips off the road early in Q2 but all three were able to take part in the top ten shootout.

The same couldn’t be said to Jaime Alguersuari, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Sebastien Buemi. The trio were eliminated while Heikki Kovalainen pipped Timo Glock to be the quickest of the new teams with P16.

The final qualifying session saw Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber heading the timesheet with an initial pole position that was four tenths of a second faster than anyone else.

Yet again the weather played a role in the proceeding with a small shower hitting the start/finish line as the drivers were heading out for their second runs.

This was a disaster for Fernando Alonso, who had only managed tenth with his first run and wasn’t able to improve. Team-mate Felipe Massa suffered as well, with his car on the dirt exiting Malmedy.

But the McLarens were able to go quicker with Button in particular able to lap in a time of one minute, 46.206 seconds to knock Massa down to P6.

As for Hamilton, he found another four tenths of a second to join Webber on the front row of the grid, but he missed out on that decisive pole by less than a tenth of a second (pole time: one minute, 45.778 seconds).

Despite the set back, Hamilton is in the best position to take the lead from Webber in Sunday’s race thanks to his powerful Mercedes engine and straight line speed advantage with the F-duct system.

Sunday’s race is going to crucial and it will be fascinating if the element of rain will play a factor in this year’s championship battle.

Qualifying times from Spa-Francorchamps:

1. Webber        Red Bull-Renault      1m45.778s
2. Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m45.863s
3. Kubica        Renault               1m46.100s
4. Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      1m46.127s
5. Button        McLaren-Mercedes      1m46.206s
6. Massa         Ferrari               1m46.314s
7. Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth     1m46.602s
8. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m46.659s
9. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth     1m47.053s
10. Alonso       Ferrari               1m47.441s
11. Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m48.267s
12. Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  1m48.680s
13. Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m49.209s
14. Kovalainen   Lotus-Cosworth        1m50.980s
15. Rosberg      Mercedes              1m47.885s*
16. Glock        Virgin-Cosworth       1m52.049s
17. Trulli       Lotus-Cosworth        2m01.491s
18. Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari        2m02.284s
19. Senna        HRT-Cosworth          2m03.612s
20. Yamamoto     HRT-Cosworth          2m03.941s
21. Schumacher   Mercedes              1m47.874s**
22. de la Rosa   Sauber-Ferrari        2m05.294s
23. di Grassi    Virgin-Cosworth       2m18.754s
24. Petrov       Renault               no time

*Five-place penalty for a gearbox change
**Ten-place penalty for illegitimately impeding a rival driver during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

F1 2010 video game preview

This season’s Formula One World Championship has been the most intense and competitive yet with the top five drivers separated by just twenty points with seven events left to run. It would be great for the fans to experience this unique sporting contest in the footsteps of these racing idols with the possibility of driving these amazing fast racing cars.

Well it seems we have the chance – be it virtually and the use of our Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – with the launch of a new video game from the makers of Colin McRae DiRT and Race Driver GRID.

Out next month a new video game will be available on sale that has capture the excitement and drama of Formula One. Codemasters’ F1 2010 will feature all the drivers, teams, cars and circuits based on this year’s championship.

And judging by the various screenshots plus video diaries posted by Codemasters, this new game will be very special in placing the player into the world of Formula One motor racing.

The last time I have played a video game based on my favourite sport was Studio Liverpool’s Formula One Championship Edition on the PlayStation 3. The game was based on the 2006 season and despite the High Definition visuals, it was quite frustrating to play. The reason? Understeer. No matter what set-up you applied to dial out the annoying understeer problem, the car will always drift out wide when going around a corner…

In addition, because it is based on the 2006 season, the sport and regulations have changed so dramatically that it feels really dated compared to now. No Lewis Hamilton at McLaren? Groove tyres over slicks? Plus racing around on old tracks like Magny-Cours is not fun.

With the upcoming F1 2010, not only do we have the latest drivers, teams, cars and tracks, but the developer have added new features to being in a role of a top-class racing driver. Read the Formula1.com article for the full details below:

F1 2010™ is the first multi-format, high definition Formula One videogame from Codemasters®, the developer and publisher of award-winning racing games, under its exclusive worldwide agreement with Formula One Administration Limited.

Complete with all the drivers, teams and circuits featuring in the current 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, F1 2010 will immerse players in the glamour and exhilaration of the world’s most exciting motorsport, from the paddock to the track.

Developed using Codemasters’ EGO™ Technology Platform, an evolution from the award winning EGO Engine, F1 2010 will deliver an unrivalled F1 experience, powered by cutting edge graphics, advanced physics systems and integrated network play.

Features:

All the cars, all the stars – fully licensed, F1 2010 features all the drivers and teams contesting the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, including drivers’ world champions Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher.

Every circuit, beautifully realised – race wheel-to-wheel on all 19 of the 2010 tracks, each modelled with exceptional attention to detail and jaw-dropping visuals. The revitalised line-up features iconic circuits including Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Monaco and challenges players to race at the returning Canadian Grand Prix, take on Singapore’s dramatic night race in high definition for the first time and debut ahead of the drivers on the all-new Korean circuit.

Be the Driver, Live the Life – there is more to being a Formula One driver than being the fastest person on track and F1 2010 is the first game to allow players to experience the exclusive world of Formula One like never before. From the paddock to the garage, everything is viewed from the driver’s perspective, as players are immersed in the building excitement and drama of a race weekend. Players will interact with rival drivers, team members, fans, and of course, the press, which all affect the way the gamer’s career plays out. Use the media to spur the team on or to criticise the lack of car development and pressure rivals in the hope that they fold during the championship run-in…

The world’s greatest cars, the most exciting racing – building on the heritage of producing award-winning racing games for over a decade, Codemasters is uniquely placed to realise the spectacle and exhilaration of racing 320km/h-plus Formula one cars. F1 2010 embraces the broad range of Formula One fans, from casual gamer to hardcore simulation enthusiast, and delivers a range of difficulty levels and driving aids for players of all skill levels to experience the thrill of becoming a Formula One driver. Players can fully customise a huge range of vehicle variables to suit their style of driving and eke every last ounce of performance from their car, or leave the leg work to their race engineer and head straight out onto the track. F1 2010 will also support a comprehensive range of racing wheels for the ultimate racing experience.

Fully dynamic weather – affecting strategy, performance and delivering stunning visual effects, F1 2010 features the most advanced weather system in any racing game. Codemasters’ ‘Active Track’ technology means the grip in the wet or dry for each circuit’s track surface is modelled down to just 30cm. Individual tyre performance is accurately modelled depending on the amount of grip, rain or standing surface water there is at any given point. Players can adjust their driving style by searching out grip or take the line that allows water to cool their tyres or adjust their strategy by making a pit stop to change tyres.

Unprecedented authenticity – Codemasters has used its unprecedented access to the world of Formula One to connect the development team directly with Formula One teams and tyre manufacturers. Extensive consultancy has taken place with a range of F1 professionals, including race engineers, mechanics and drivers. This real world experience is combined with F1 data, including CAD and on-board telemetry, to deliver a race experience complete with authentic handling, accurate circuits and precisely modelled racing cars. To ensure fans get the ultimate racing experience, former F1 driver Anthony Davidson has been embedded into the Codemasters development team as Technical Consultant to advise on handling and performance.

Build a career – whether players wish to work their way up from the bottom, switching teams as they go, or build a dynasty with their chosen team, gamers can fully realise their aspirations in F1 2010’s extensive and challenging career mode. Players compete with their closest rival, their teammate, to become the priority driver and shape the future development of the car by performing well in races and funding performance upgrades. Battles out on the track will develop into rivalries with drivers from other teams, but keep it clean or the media will be waiting…

Experience the drama of the pit – Codemasters has worked closely with Formula One teams to motion capture a fully manned pit crew, delivering a gameplay experience which is vibrant and full of pressure. The full pit lane, featuring each team in their various stages of strategy, becomes home to tense and exciting moments of drama as the drivers and crew work to return their car to the race as fast as possible.

Full online multiplayer – F1 2010 will include extensive online multiplayer options allowing players to take on their friends and the rest of the world in a range of race modes.

EGO powered F1 – F1 2010 is being developed on the EGO Game Technology platform, evolved from the award winning EGO engine. Enabling Codemasters’ development talent to share tools and technology across Studios and Central Technology teams, the EGO Game Technology Platform empowers Codemasters’ game designers to realise their creative visions across multiple platforms featuring cutting edge graphics, powerful AI, advanced physics systems and integrated network play.

Check out this latest YouTube video featuring the game in action:

It all sounds great and I am definitely looking forward to playing this game. The visuals look very realistic especially racing in the wet and the idea of taking part in press conferences giving interviews sounds appealing.

Hopefully the car handling – the most important part of racing games – will be forgiving and yet difficult to master to appeal to players into the pinnacle of motor racing.

Webber takes advantage from Vettel’s misery to win in Hungary

Mark Webber scored his fourth Grand Prix victory of the season at the Hungaroring after benefitting from his team-mate’s penalty. The Australian now leads the world drivers’ championship while the Red Bull Racing team heads the constructors’ standings as Formula One heads into the summer break.

His drive on the softer option tyre was highly impressive. As for his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, the pole sitter was penalised with a drive-through penalty that cost him a certain victory. The German was left angry over this penalty and in the end had to settle with third, chasing Fernando Alonso to the chequered flag.

By scoring a great result in Red Bull Racing’s one hundredth race in Formula One, Webber now heads the championship with 161 points, four ahead of Lewis Hamilton – who had to retire with technical problems.

The Australian was bundled down to third on the opening lap behind his Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.

But a combination of a perfect strategy call from his pit crew and some exceptional speed in the RB6 helped Webber to beat Alonso to the flag by 17.8 seconds.

The key to Webber’s victory was the deployment of the safety car on lap 15, which allow the track marshals to recover debris from Vitantonio Liuzzi’s front wing between Turns 13 and 14.

While most drivers pitted for their mandatory tyre changes, Red Bull Racing decided to leave the Australian out on track and move into the lead.

As the race resumed Webber led from Vettel, Alonso, Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. The Australian was aware he needed to pull out enough of a gap to enable him to make his single pit stop under green flag conditions.

His challenge was made easier when team-mate Vettel was given a drive-through penalty for failing to keep within ten car lengths while behind the safety car, which dropped the German to third behind Alonso.

When Webber did eventually make his tyre change – on lap 43 – he had built up a lead of over twenty-three seconds. The Australian was able to rejoin the race still with four seconds in hand over the Ferrari.

As for Lewis Hamilton, by this stage of the race the McLaren driver was out with a suspected gearbox failure. That retirement means he has surrender his lead in the championship to Webber, who now has a four-point advantage.

Finishing in fourth was Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. The Brazilian was unable to match the pace of the leading trio and at the flag was 27.4 seconds adrift from the race winner.

Vitaly Petrov drove a sensational race in his Renault as he took a career-best fifth place, one position ahead of his 2009 GP2 Series title rival Nico Hulkenberg.

Hulkenberg’s Williams team-mate Rubens Barrichello held sixth for quite a while but made his tyre change late which dropped the Brazilian down the order.

The Saubers of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi finished in seventh and ninth respectively in between the McLaren of world champion Jenson Button, who had an awful opening lap.

As for Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion was on course to finish in tenth, but came under late pressure from Barrichello, who had far fresher Bridgestones in the latter stages of the Grand Prix.

The Brazilian closed onto the gearbox of his ex-Ferrari colleague and looked set to pass the Silver Arrows heading down to Turn 1 with a few laps left.

Coming out of the final corner, Barrichello got the slipstream from the Mercedes but Schumacher was quite aggressive in defending by squeezing his rival up against the pit wall. This incident was very dangerous but Barrichello held his nerve and took the final points position. An investigation will be made by the race stewards over that move by Schumacher.

Another driver who had the speed to finish in the top ten was Renault’s Robert Kubica. But unfortunately his race was compromised by a pit lane collision with Adrian Sutil while the safety car was out.

It was an unsafe release by the Renault pit crew and as Kubica accelerated, he was hit hard by Sutil’s Force India, who was turning into his own pit box.

Robert continued but was given a ten-second stop/go penalty for causing the incident. The Polish driver decided to pull out altogether a few laps later.

As for Sutil, his car was badly damaged and had to retire out on the spot. Nico Rosberg was also out after losing a right-rear wheel that left him stranded at the pit exit.

The only other retiree was Jaime Alguersuari, who pulled his Scuderia Toro Rosso off the track with smoke pouring from its engine bay on the second lap.

So a great result for Mark Webber. This race victory was crucial to his title prospects and the Australian should be proud of his achievements at Red Bull Racing. The RB6 is the class of the Formula One field and it will be fascinating to see if Ferrari and McLaren can close the performance gap after the summer break.

Race results from the Hungaroring, 70 laps:
1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           1h41:05.571
2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +17.821
3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +19.252
4.  Massa         Ferrari                    +27.474
5.  Petrov        Renault                    +1:13.100
6.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1:16.700
7.  De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari             +1 lap
8.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
9.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1 lap
10. Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
11. Schumacher    Mercedes                   +1 lap
12. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
14. Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +3 laps
15. Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +3 laps
16. Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +3 laps
17. Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +3 laps
18. Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +4 laps
19. Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth               +4 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:22.362

Not classified/retirements:
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             25 laps
Kubica        Renault                      25 laps
Rosberg       Mercedes                     17 laps
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         17 laps
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari           2 laps

World Championship standings, round 12:

Drivers:
1.  Webber       161
2.  Hamilton     157
3.  Vettel       151
4.  Button       147
5.  Alonso       141
6.  Massa         97
7.  Rosberg       94
8.  Kubica        89
9.  Schumacher    38
10. Sutil         35
11. Barrichello   30
12. Petrov        17
13. Kobayashi     17
14. Liuzzi        12
15. Hulkenberg    10
16. Buemi          7
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Alguersuari    3

Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault          312
2. McLaren-Mercedes          304
3. Ferrari                   238
4. Mercedes                  132
5. Renault                   106
6. Force India-Mercedes       47
7. Williams-Cosworth          40
8. Sauber-Ferrari             23
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10

Next race: Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps. August 27-29.

Vettel leads Red Bull dominance in Hungary

Sebastian Vettel secured his fourth consecutive pole position (the seventh this season) as Red Bull Racing continued to dominate the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

The speed advantage from the RB6 was highly impressive and that flexible front wing fitted to the Renault-powered car has caused many rivals – in particular McLaren – to complain.

Vettel’s pole lap around the 2.722-mile Hungaroring was one minute, 18.773 seconds, a superb performance as it breaks the previous lap record held by Michael Schumacher. Mark Webber lines up alongside his team-mate on the front row, but with a margin of 0.419 seconds.

But when compared to its nearest challenger, the Ferraris, the advantage was highly significant. A full second slower to the flying Red Bulls!

Controversial German Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso qualified in third ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa. The Spaniard’s best lap in Q3 made him the only non-Red Bull driver to dip below the one minute, 20 seconds target all weekend.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes were next up with Vitaly Petrov producing his best-ever qualifying result with seventh. In doing so, the Russian out-qualified his Renault team-mate Robert Kubica by a single position.

Another impressive performance was Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa with Nico Hulkenberg in the Williams completing the top ten.

As for the current world champion Jenson Button, the McLaren driver will start in a disappointed P11. Yet again, he complained about the loss of grip despite the MP4-25 was quite reasonable in the final practice session leading up to qualifying.

At least Button is ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. The pair had a difficult session although the seven-time world champion suffered the most with only P14 for Mercedes GP.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi will start the Hungarian Grand Prix down in P18 after being baulked by Bruno Senna’s Hispania at Turn 14 on his final qualifying lap. After entering the pitlane, Kobayashi appeared to have ignored an instruction to stop at scrutineering, although the Japanese driver denied he had done anything wrong.

In the battle of the new Formula One teams, Timo Glock achieved Virgin Racing’s third ‘pole position’ against Hispania and Lotus. The German will start the race in P19, while Sakon Yamamoto had his most convincing performance since returning to Formula One. Even though he qualified last (P24), he was just five hundredths of a second slower than his Hispania team-mate Bruno Senna.

Qualifying times from the Hungaroring:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:18.773
2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:19.184
3.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:19.987
4.  Massa          Ferrari                1:20.331
5.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:20.499
6.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:21.082
7.  Petrov         Renault                1:21.229
8.  Kubica         Renault                1:21.328
9.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:21.411
10. Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:21.710
11. Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:21.292
12. Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:21.331
13. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:21.517
14. Schumacher     Mercedes               1:21.630
15. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:21.897
16. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:21.927
17. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:21.998
18. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:22.222
19. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:24.050
20. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:24.120
21. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:24.199
22. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:25.118
23. Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:26.391
24. Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth           1:26.453

Alonso takes victory at Hockenheim despite team orders

Fernando Alonso took his second victory of the season despite the Ferrari team instructing Felipe Massa to let the Spaniard by during the German Grand Prix.

Even though team orders have been banned in Formula One following deliberate ‘race fixing’ by the Scuderia in the past (case in point: Austria 2002), it is ironic that the Italian-based squad adopted this route to secure a one-two result.

As for Sebastian Vettel, who started his home race in pole position, the Red Bull driver was unable to recover from a poor start and had to settle with third at the flag.

The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished in fourth and fifth respectively while Red Bull’s Mark Webber took sixth.

At the start, Felipe Massa made a superb getaway from third on the grid to lead into Nordkurve. For Sebastian Vettel, he focused too much on preventing Fernando Alonso to get by and that mistake allowed Massa to sweep around the outside and into first place.

The trio ran in close company initially, before the red cars started dropping the Red Bull following the pit stops.

Alonso immediately seemed quicker on the harder compound Bridgestone, closing right onto his team-mate’s gearbox and drawing alongside on the back straight as they lapped Bruno Senna and Timo Glock on lap 20.

But then Massa lifted his pace and started pulling away, setting several new fastest laps and opening up a 3.4-second lead.

This did not last though as the double world champion responded by setting some fastest laps of his own thereby reducing the gap back down to under a second. On lap 47, Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley told his driver that “Fernando is faster than you” and asked him to confirm he ‘understood’. A lap later, Massa lifted off after the hairpin and Alonso accelerated past on the straight to take the lead, denying a Massa victory on the first anniversary of the horrific Hungaroring crash that ended his 2009 season.

Vettel occasionally trimmed the Scuderia’s advantage during the German Grand Prix and a late push got the Red Bull driver onto Massa’s tail, but he was unable to overtake.

Despite the straight-line speed advantage, the McLarens were never fast enough to fight for the podium and finish only in fourth and fifth. Nevertheless, the drivers still head the championship standings.

For Mark Webber, the Australian had to nurse his Renault-powered Red Bull amid worryingly high oil consumption.

A lap down, Renault’s Robert Kubica beat the Silver Arrows to seventh, with Nico Rosberg getting ahead of Michael Schumacher during the pit sequence after a good start from the elder German had earlier swapped their positions.

Renault got both cars in the points as Vitaly Petrov took tenth, while both Williams lost ground on the opening lap and could not recover into the points, despite Nico Hulkenberg waiting until lap 34 before pitting.

Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa also tried a bold strategy, running 51 laps on the hard set of Bridgestone before changing to the soft tyre, but his plan for a late charge backfired when he hit Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, breaking the front wing and taking the Finn out of the best of division two of Formula One, who had been running ahead of Timo Glock’s Virgin Racing up to then.

Other teams in trouble were Toro Rosso and Force India, who both saw both their cars damaged in first-lap incidents – in Toro Rosso’s case after Jaime Alguersuari crashed into the back of Sebastien Buemi at the hairpin.

Yet again controversy played a part in Formula One with Ferrari issuing team orders to let Alonso through. The sport’s reputation is put on the line once again and we shall see if the race stewards will exclude the red cars from the result following this action.

Following hours after the chequered flag, the race stewards have fined Ferrari $100,000 and for bringing the sport into disrepute. The results from Hockenheim will stand. See the comments for the latest updates.

Race results from Hockenheim, 67 laps:

1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    1h28:38.866
2.  Massa         Ferrari                    +4.196
3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +5.121
4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +26.896
5.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +29.482
6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +43.606
7.  Kubica        Renault                    +1 lap
8.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +1 lap
9.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +1 lap
10. Petrov        Renault                    +1 lap
11. Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1 lap
12. Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
13. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
14. De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari             +1 lap
15. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
16. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +2 laps
17. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +2 laps
18. Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +3 laps
19. Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +4 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:15.824

Not classified/retirements:
Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth               58 laps
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              51 laps
Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth                 20 laps
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               4 laps
Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           2 laps

World Championship standings, round 11:

Drivers:
1.  Hamilton     157
2.  Button       143
3.  Vettel       136
4.  Webber       136
5.  Alonso       123
6.  Rosberg       94
7.  Kubica        89
8.  Massa         85
9.  Schumacher    38
10. Sutil         35
11. Barrichello   29
12. Kobayashi     15
13. Liuzzi        12
14. Petrov         7
15. Buemi          7
16. Alguersuari    3
17. Hulkenberg     2

Constructors:
1. McLaren-Mercedes          300
2. Red Bull-Renault          272
3. Ferrari                   208
4. Mercedes                  132
5. Renault                    96
6. Force India-Mercedes       47
7. Williams-Cosworth          31
8. Sauber-Ferrari             15
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10

Next race: Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring. July 30 – August 1.

Vettel snatches Hockenheim pole from Alonso

Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim by a margin of two thousands of a second from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Alonso had looked the favourite for top honours, as he was the fastest in both Q1 and Q2. He was still out in front in the early part of Q3 with Vettel only 0.034 seconds adrift.

On the final qualifying runs Vettel found a further couple of tenths and set a lap time around the 2.842-mile circuit with one minute, 13.791 seconds to displace the Spaniard from pole. The double world champion looked set to beat his rival’s time but fell short by the smallest of margin in the last sector.

Despite the setback, Alonso should be satisfied by the improved pace in the F10 and with team-mate Felipe Massa starting in third, Ferrari is beginning to regain lost performance when compared to Red Bull Racing and McLaren.

British Grand Prix winner Mark Webber lines up in fourth after making a mistake on his final qualifying run – running wide at Nordkurve (Turn 1).

As for the McLarens, Jenson Button outqualified his team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.06 seconds to take fifth. The British pair will form row three on the Hockenheim grid.

Robert Kubica will start the German Grand Prix in seventh ahead of Rubens Barrichello – who is proudly wearing a T-shirt saying he is faster than The Stig off Top Gear!

The two Nicos of Hulkenberg and Rosberg will line up in ninth and tenth respectively.

For Michael Schumacher, competing in Mercedes GP’s home race and in front of his passionate fans, the seven-time world champion could only manage P11. Schumacher would have taken part in the top-ten shootout, but was knocked out in the final moments of Q2 by Willi Weber’s protégé Hulkenberg.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was another driver to miss out in going through to Q3, as the Japanese held a top ten place for most of Q2 before a mistake on his final run meant he was shuffled back to P12, still only 0.066 seconds from the top ten.

Force India had a very tough qualifying session. Adrian Sutil will take a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change following a practice failure but could only manage P14 nevertheless, while Vitantonio Liuzzi caused a seven-minute stoppage when he spun out of Sudkurve in Q1 and smashed into the pit wall, leaving him P22 on the grid. He was unhurt, although his Force India was heavily damaged – and Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock was lucky to avoid a flying wheel detached in the crash.

Lotus had another one-two in the battle of the new Formula One teams competing this season, with Jarno Trulli ahead of Heikki Kovalainen, but Glock had been ahead of them until his Virgin had a mechanical problem. His team-mate Lucas di Grassi fared worst of all, unable to run in qualifying at all due to gearbox problems.

Qualifying times from Hockenheim:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:13.791
2.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:13.793
3.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:14.290
4.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:14.347
5.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:14.427
6.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:14.566
7.  Kubica         Renault                 1:15.079
8.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:15.109
9.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:15.179
10. Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:15.339
11. Schumacher     Mercedes                1:15.026
12. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:15.084
13. Petrov         Renault                 1:15.307
14. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:15.467
15. de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:15.550
16. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:15.588
17. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:15.974
18. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:17.583
19. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:18.300
20. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:18.343
21. Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:18.592
22. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:18.952
23. Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth            1:19.844
24. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         no time

Webber clinches victory at Silverstone

Mark Webber took his third Grand Prix victory of the season with a great drive at Silverstone. This was payback time for the Australian following the team’s bias to Sebastian Vettel over the new front wing design.

Lewis Hamilton put up a brave fight in challenging for the lead but ultimately the speed of the RB6 meant he had to settle for second in the McLaren. Despite that he still leads the drivers’ championship with 145 points.

Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg was able to fend off Jenson Button in the late stages of the British Grand Prix to take third. For the reigning world champion, this was a solid performance despite starting in P14.

And what about pole sitter Sebastian Vettel? Well, the Red Bull Racing front wing controversy certainly didn’t help but his chances of winning at Silverstone was ruined by a first lap puncture, caused by a light contact with Lewis Hamilton’s front wing endplate. Despite losing ground over that right-rear puncture, the German was able to recover from lost ground thanks to a safety car to finish in seventh position.

Yet again the controversy over the decision made by the race officials meant Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished in P14. The Spaniard was left frustrated despite making a pass on Robert Kubica at Club corner but the race stewards believed he cut the corner and was given a drive-through penalty for his punishment. If Fernando conceded that race position back to the Renault driver immediately (Robert would later drop out with a differential problem), he wouldn’t have to suffered that penalty and would have recorded a points finish.

As for Felipe Massa, he was unlucky to suffer a puncture after making contact against his own Ferrari team-mate! The wheel-banging incident occurred at Becketts following Alonso’s slow start off the grid. Still finishing in P15 was not the ideal result for the Scuderia.

A safety car period caused by a contact between Adrian Sutil’s Force India and the Sauber of Pedro de la Rosa, left chunks of the latter’s rear wing deposited on various straights. This caution period was a lifeline for Vettel, who had made little progress up to that point, but then started carving through the traffic with a series of spectacular passes, including one on Michael Schumacher.

Passing Adrian Sutil proved a tougher challenge for the Red Bull driver and it took many laps before Sebastian muscled his way pass to take seventh on the penultimate lap.

While at the front, Mark Webber delivered the masterclass with victory at Silverstone. Hamilton managed to tag along until the pit-stops, but thereafter the Australian was unstoppable, setting fastest laps whenever required and leading by six seconds before easing off at the end.

Rosberg returned Mercedes GP to the podium with a solid run to third, despite losing a barge board when sweeping round the outside of the yet-to-stop Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso. The German finished just ahead of Button, who surged through from P14 to fourth thanks to a great opening lap and staying out much longer than most before his single tyre change.

Rubens Barrichello gave Williams another top five finish, with Kamui Kobayashi following the Brazilian to the chequered flag awarding the Sauber team their best result of the year.

So a fantastic result for Mark Webber. Even though the Australian was miffed over that front wing change, this was sweet poetic justice over the team preferring the number one driver Sebastian Vettel. His victory at the British Grand Prix means he now jumps into third in the standings with 128 points, 17 behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton and only five from Jenson Button. In the constructors’ standings, McLaren still leads with 278 over Red Bull Racing’s 249 and Ferrari’s 165.

Race results from Silverstone, 52 laps:
1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           1h24:38.200
2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +1.360
3.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +21.307
4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +21.986
5.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +31.456
6.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +32.171
7.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +36.734
8.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +40.932
9.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +41.599
10. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +42.012
11. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +42.459
12. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +47.627
13. Petrov        Renault                    +59.374
14. Alonso        Ferrari                    +1:02.385
15. Massa         Ferrari                    +1:07.489
16. Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +1 lap
17. Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +1 lap
18. Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +1 lap
19. Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
20. Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:30.874

Not classified/retirements:
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari           45 laps
De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari               30 laps
Kubica        Renault                      20 laps
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              10 laps

World Championship standings, round 10:

Drivers:
1.  Hamilton     145
2.  Button       133
3.  Webber       128
4.  Vettel       121
5.  Alonso        98
6.  Rosberg       90
7.  Kubica        83
8.  Massa         67
9.  Schumacher    36
10. Sutil         35
11. Barrichello   29
12. Kobayashi     15
13. Liuzzi        12
14. Buemi          7
15. Petrov         6
16. Alguersuari    3
17. Hulkenberg     2

Constructors:
1. McLaren-Mercedes          278
2. Red Bull-Renault          249
3. Ferrari                   165
4. Mercedes                  126
5. Renault                    89
6. Force India-Mercedes       47
7. Williams-Cosworth          31
8. Sauber-Ferrari             15
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10

Next race: German Grand Prix, Hockenheim. July 23-25.

Vettel leads Red Bull front row at Silverstone

Sebastian Vettel took his fifth pole position of the 2010 season following a dominant performance at Silverstone. The speed of the Red Bull RB6 was impressive and with Vettel taking pole with a lap time of one minute, 29.615 seconds the young German is looking in good shape in repeating his 2009 victory.

Red Bull Racing locked-out the front row once again with Vettel taking the top honours while team-mate Mark Webber having to settle for second position, just 0.143 seconds down. The battle between the pair was the highlight of the session as they traded the fastest sector times around the 3.666-mile circuit.

The closest challenger to the charging Red Bulls was Fernando Alonso. Even though the double world champion was left frustrated to be caught behind Rubens Barrichello’s Williams on his last Q3 run, the Ferrari driver was still able to hold off crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton to third.

For the 2008 British Grand Prix winner, racing in front of the passionate home crowd, the McLaren driver could only manage fourth despite the team abandoning the exhaust-blown diffuser following Friday’s practice sessions.

The new upgrade caused problems to the MP4-25’s floor, which affected the aerodynamics due to the excessive heat. So the Woking-based team decided to drop this new update and revert back to the old set-up. That lost time in adapting the cars for the British drivers cost significant performance and this was especially true for Jenson Button.

The reigning world champion will start his home Grand Prix in a disastrous P14. Jenson was later interviewed that his car was ‘undriveable’ and was a lost to explain why its grip had suddenly disappeared in Q2, leaving him on row seven.

For the Silver Arrows, this was a better qualifying performance than Valencia with Nico Rosberg taking fifth place – 0.8 seconds and five positions clear of Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher.

Joining Rosberg on row three is Renault’s Robert Kubica, with the Brazilians of Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello taking the fourth row in the Ferrari and Williams respectively.

As for Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa, the Spaniard qualified his best-ever position with ninth.

The Force India of Adrian Sutil will start in P11 with team-mate Tonio Liuzzi in P15, but the Italian could face questions over impeding Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams.

In the battle of the second division of Formula One, the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen and Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock had a close duel for the top spot among the new teams, eventually won by the Finn again, although the margin to the established midfield teams was back up to two seconds.

Bruno Senna’s replacement driver at Hispania, Japanese racer Sakon Yamamoto will start last in the British Grand Prix, but the gap to his team-mate Karun Chandhok was a respectable 0.4 seconds. It will be fascinating if Yamamoto can keep up the pace with 52 laps around the fast, flowing Silverstone circuit come race day.

Qualifying times from Silverstone:
1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:29.615
2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:29.758
3.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:30.426
4.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:30.556
5.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:30.625
6.  Kubica         Renault                1:31.040
7.  Massa          Ferrari                1:31.172
8.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:31.175
9.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:31.274
10. Schumacher     Mercedes               1:31.430
11. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:31.399
12. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:31.421
13. Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:31.635
14. Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:31.699
15. Petrov         Renault                1:31.796
16. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:32.012
17. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:32.430
18. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:34.405
19. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:34.775
20. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:31.708*
21. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:34.864
22. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:35.212
23. Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:36.576
24. Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth           1:36.968

*Docked five places due to impending Nico Hulkenberg during Q2

Vettel wins dramatic race in Valencia

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Sebastian Vettel took his second victory of the season in a dramatic European Grand Prix in Valencia. Lewis Hamilton put in a brave fight for McLaren with second position and even a drive-though penalty for overtaking the safety car was unable to affect his determination to beat the Red Bull. Team-mate Jenson Button finished in third but he is one of nine drivers to be investigated by the race stewards during the safety car period.

As for Mark Webber, this was a race to forget. The Australian made a poor start and was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and both Ferraris into the Turn 2. At the end of the opening lap, the Red Bull was down in ninth while team-mate Vettel was resisting the pressure from Hamilton at the front.

Hamilton’s run off the line was so good he was able to get partially alongside Vettel into Turn 2, where firm contact was made, sending the Red Bull slightly sideways and taking a chunk from the McLaren’s front wing, though both continued ahead of Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica and Button.

Unable to make progress around the twisty street circuit, Webber made an early pitstop at the end of lap seven, where he lost a few more seconds as his left-front wheel proved stubborn.

That lost time put the Australian behind Heikki Kovalainen and as he tried to pass the Lotus three laps later he went flying over the back of the car on the fast approach to the Turn 17 hairpin.

The Red Bull wiped out an advertising board hanging over the track before landing upside down, rolling back onto its wheels and ploughing into the tyre barriers – though remarkably Mark climbed out unscathed.

With the safety car called, most drivers from fifth-placed Button back immediately dived into the pitlane, while the top four continued. Vettel was already past the pit exit by the time the safety car emerged, but for Hamilton he was not so fortunate. After a moment’s hesitation, he accelerated past but having passed the relevant safety car line across the track, that meant the McLaren would later be penalised for overtaking the safety car.

Vettel and Hamilton were therefore able to rejoin first and second, while the Scuderias were caught behind the safety car and fell down to P10 and P17 – leaving the team furious.

Fortunately for Hamilton, Sauber decided not to call in Kamui Kobayashi under the yellow and he jumped up to third. So while the top two charged clear at the restart – which saw Vettel hold the line despite outbraking himself and sliding through the final corner – the Sauber bottled up the rest of the pack. By the time race control awarded Hamilton his drive-through penalty, he had enough of a gap over Kobayashi to take the penalty without losing a position. A remarkable job.

Hamilton started carving into Vettel’s lead setting purple sector times around the Valencia street circuit. His progress was superb although the Virgin of Timo Glock and Bruno Senna’s Hispania held him up momentarily. The pair were fighting over track position and shortly afterwards making contact. But Vettel had the advantage and was able to resist Hamilton’s charge with a new fastest lap five laps from the chequered flag.

Kobayashi kept Button and the rest at bay until finally making a single pitstop on lap 53, which handed McLaren its second podium position, ahead of Rubens Barrichello, Renault’s Robert Kubica and the Force India of Adrian Sutil.

The frustrated Alonso spent the final laps all over Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso but ended up losing eighth to Kobayashi as the Sauber rejoined on its fresh Bridgestone and dived past the double world champion with a lap to go. Kobayashi then chased down Buemi too and grabbed seventh at the very last corner.

But these positions may yet be subject to change, with the race stewards set to investigate whether Button, the Williams, the Renaults, the Force Indias, Buemi and Pedro de la Rosa exceeded the permitted speed on their way back to the pits under yellow.

After several hours following the chequered flag, the race stewards penalised Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Nico Hulkenberg, Robert Kubica, Vitaly Petrov, Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi, Pedro de la Rosa and Vitantonio Liuzzi with five seconds penalties for exceeding the safety car-in lap time.

The penalties mean Fernando Alonso is elevated from ninth to eighth, as he overtakes Buemi, and Nico Rosberg gets the final point from Pedro de la Rosa, tenth in the race.

As for the Silver Arrows, this was a nightmare weekend. Nico Rosberg lost so much ground on the opening lap and by the end, he was classified in a disappointing P12. As for team-mate Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion suffered from a bad strategy call during the caution period and ending up P16 after multiple pitstops.

So Germany takes top honours ahead of the England in Valencia. An omen to the World Cup match taking place in South Africa?

Race results from Valencia, 57 laps:

1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h40:29.571
2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +5.042
3.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +12.658
4.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +25.627
5.  Kubica        Renault                    +27.122
6.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +30.168
7.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +30.965
8.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +32.809
9.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +36.299
10. Rosberg       Mercedes                   +44.382
11. Massa         Ferrari                    +46.621
12. De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari             +47.414
13. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +48.239
14. Petrov        Renault                    +48.287
15. Schumacher    Mercedes                   +48.826
16. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +50.890
17. Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +1 lap
18. Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
19. Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +2 laps
20. Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
21. Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +4 laps

Fastest lap: Button, 1:38.766

Not classified/retirements:
Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth            50 laps
Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth               9 laps
Webber        Red Bull-Renault             9 laps

World Championship standings, round 9:

Drivers:
1.  Hamilton     127
2.  Button       121
3.  Vettel       115
4.  Webber       103
5.  Alonso        98
6.  Kubica        83
7.  Rosberg       75
8.  Massa         67
9.  Schumacher    34
10.  Sutil         31
11.  Barrichello   19
12.  Liuzzi        12
13.  Buemi          9
14.  Kobayashi      7
15.  Petrov         6
16.  Alguersuari    3
17.  Hulkenberg     1

Constructors:
1.  McLaren-Mercedes          248
2.  Red Bull-Renault          218
3.  Ferrari                   165
4.  Mercedes                  109
5.  Renault                    89
6.  Force India-Mercedes       43
7.  Williams-Cosworth          20
8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10
9.  Sauber-Ferrari              7

Next race: British Grand Prix, Silverstone. July 9-11.