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

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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.

Red Bull Racing resumed their qualifying form with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber taking the front row at the Valencia street circuit.

Championship contender Lewis Hamilton will start the European Grand Prix in third, alongside home crowd favourite Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Initially it was Webber who held provisional pole going into the closing moments of Q3, but a superb lap from his team-mate push the German to top honours, the first time since Shanghai. His pole lap in the F-duct RB6 was one minute, 37.587 seconds. A difference of 0.075 seconds.

An error on his final qualifying run saw Hamilton unable to defend his provisional front row slot and he will start the race in third, just ahead of the Scuderias of Alonso and Felipe Massa respectively.

Both Renault and Williams got both cars into the top-ten shootout, with Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello setting identical times! Although Hulkenberg takes eighth over last year’s Valencia winner by virtue by setting his lap first. Robert Kubica takes sixth with team-mate Vitaly Petrov four places back.

As for Jenson Button, the defending world champion could only manage seventh for McLaren. For Mercedes, the silver cars enduring their worst qualifying session even after the troubles at Montreal. Nico Rosberg could only manage P12 after a dramatic brake-locking last lap. While team-mate Michael Schumacher was struggling and will start the race down in P15, his worst ever Formula One starts.

The Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi will share row seven. And it was an encouraging session for Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi, who grabbed P11 and came within 0.034s of sneaking into Q3.

Schumacher’s last-gasp Q1 escape meant it was Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi who ended up down with the new teams for the second event in a row. His team-mate Pedro de la Rosa was just two places ahead, with Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso splitting them.

Lotus remained on top among the tail end group, but this time the gap to the rest of the field was back up to 1.3 seconds. Jarno Trulli overturned team-mate Heikki Kovalainen’s recent superiority and led the battle of the new teams – and there was a change of form at Virgin Racing too, where Lucas di Grassi outqualified Timo Glock for the first time.

Qualifying times from Valencia:
1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault      1:37.587
2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1:37.662
3.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes      1:37.969
4.  Alonso         Ferrari               1:38.075
5.  Massa          Ferrari               1:38.127
6.  Kubica         Renault               1:38.137
7.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:38.210
8.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1:38.428
9.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:38.428
10. Petrov         Renault              1:38.523
11. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:38.586
12. Rosberg        Mercedes             1:38.627
13. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1:38.851
14. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes 1:38.884
15. Schumacher     Mercedes             1:39.234
16. de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari       1:39.264
17. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:39.458
18. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1:39.343
19. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth        1:40.658
20. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth        1:40.882
21. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth       1:42.086
22. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1:42.140
23. Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth          1:42.600
24. Senna          HRT-Cosworth          1:42.851

McLaren-Mercedes took its second successive one-two finish as Lewis Hamilton led home Jenson Button in an exciting Canadian Grand Prix, in which tyre wear played a major role on the race strategy.

Fernando Alonso put in a brave fight for the lead but traffic affected his progress and in the end, had to settle for third in the Ferrari. The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished fourth and fifth respectively, with the former nursing a car problem and the latter struggling with grip on graining Bridgestone.

This was a race of tyre strategy and it was fascinating to see the difference in grip and durability in running the super-soft compared to the medium. In the case of Lewis Hamilton, he started the race on the super-soft and after switching to the medium, had the speed advantage and desire to take the chequered flag in style.

As for the Red Bulls, both Webber and Vettel opted the medium compound in the first stint in a bid that this Bridgestone tyre will be more durable, but in the race that all-familiar problem of graining occurred and in Webber’s case, he was losing grip and time (not help by traffic as well) that cost him track position.

Nico Rosberg recovered from being pushed back into the mid-field during a chaotic first lap to take sixth for Mercedes GP, ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica, who had a wheel-banging battle with Michael Schumacher in the early stages that saw both take to the grass.

Schumacher’s tyre troubles affected him the most compared to the others, with the Mercedes stopping three times in the pits and was still lapping four seconds off the pace in the final stint… Sebastien Buemi passed him for seventh, and he was then caught by Felipe Massa.

The Brazilian and Tonio Liuzzi managed to tangle twice during the first two corners of the race, damaging both cars. After pitting for repairs, they charged back towards the points, only for Massa to lose his front wing when Schumacher defended his position aggressively with six laps to the flag.

Liuzzi then took up the challenge of trying to overtake Schumacher, who slid over the final chicane and banged wheels with the Italian more than once as he fought to maintain his position in ninth. On the last lap, Schumacher tumbled down to P11 as the Force Indias forced by to take the remaining championship points.

Other drivers hitting trouble on the opening lap were both Saubers and Vitaly Petrov. The Renault took to the grass on the run towards the first corner and ended up spinning into Pedro de la Rosa, damaging both cars, with Petrov also receiving a jump-start penalty. The second Sauber was soon heading for the pits too – Kamui Kobayashi sliding into the wall at the final chicane as he jousted with Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams.

In the battle of the second division of Formula One, Heikki Kovalainen took the honours for Lotus with P16 but alas his team-mate Jarno Trulli had to retire with mechanical problems. Karun Chandhok and Lucas di Grassi were the remaining drivers to be classified while their respective team-mates Bruno Senna and Timo Glock were forced to pull out from the race.

By winning the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton now leads the drivers’ standings with 109 points, three ahead of Jenson Button and six over Mark Webber. In the constructors’ the McLaren team now heads the field with 215 over Red Bull’s 193 and the Scuderia on 161 points.

Race results from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 70 laps:
1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h33:53.456
2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +2.254
3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +9.214
4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +37.817
5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +39.291
6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +56.084
7.  Kubica        Renault                    +57.300
8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
9.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
10. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
11. Schumacher    Mercedes                   +1 lap
12. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
13. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
14. Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
15. Massa         Ferrari                    +1 lap
16. Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +2 laps
17. Petrov        Renault                    +2 laps
18. Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth               +4 laps
19. Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +5 laps

Fastest lap: Kubica, 1:16.972

Not classified/retirements:
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              50 laps
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               43 laps
De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari               31 laps
Senna         HRT-Cosworth                 14 laps
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               2 laps

World Championship standings, round 8:

Drivers:
1.  Hamilton     109
2.  Button       106
3.  Webber       103
4.  Alonso        94
5.  Vettel        90
6.  Rosberg       74
7.  Kubica        73
8.  Massa         67
9.  Schumacher    34
10. Sutil         23
11. Liuzzi        12
12. Barrichello    7
13. Petrov         6
14. Buemi          5
15. Alguersuari    3
16. Hulkenberg     1
17. Kobayashi      1

Constructors:
1. McLaren-Mercedes          215
2. Red Bull-Renault          193
3. Ferrari                   161
4. Mercedes                  108
5. Renault                    79
6. Force India-Mercedes       35
7. Williams-Cosworth           8
8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari          8
9. Sauber-Ferrari              1

Next race: European Grand Prix, Valencia. June 25-27.

Lewis Hamilton scored his first pole position of the season with a thrilling qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In doing so the 2008 world champion maintains his excellent qualifying form at this circuit and this result means he has ended Red Bull Racing’s dominance in qualifying with a superb lap in the McLaren.

The battle for pole was a tight conflict between Hamilton, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. Each of the drivers traded the top spot running different tyre compounds but it was Lewis who took the honours in the end with a time of one minute, 15.105 seconds. Moments later Lewis had to stop his McLaren as it was nearly out of fuel!

Championship leader Mark Webber will start the Canadian Grand Prix in second while team-mate Sebastian Vettel managed to record a decent lap time to take third after initially struggling in Q3. The young German had to abandon a lap when he went straight over the final chicane but held it together in the final run.

Fernando Alonso starts fourth for the Scuderia, ahead of Jenson Button while Tonio Liuzzi took a fantastic sixth for Force India. A great achievement for the Italian and the team.

Sharing row four is Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica, with Adrian Sutil and Nico Rosbeg completing the top ten.

The shock of the qualifying session was Michael Schumacher’s failure to get through into Q3. The Mercedes driver was only four-tenths adrift of team-mate Rosberg, but that translated to six positions in Q2, as Schumacher was edged outside the top ten in the final seconds and then made a mistake at the final chicane when trying to respond.

As the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg, the pair improved to take row six, forcing Schumacher down to P13. The seven-time world champion will not be pleased with this low grid position.

The same can be said to the Sauber team. Both Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi was unable to find decent pace and were knocked out as early as Q1. The Japanese even had to fend off the flying Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen, who was only two-tenths slower in the end as he beat team-mate Jarno Trulli by four-tenths in the new team pack battle.

Qualifying times from Montreal:

1. Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:15.105
2. Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:15.373
3. Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:15.420
4. Alonso         Ferrari                1:15.435
5. Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:15.520
6. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:15.648
7. Massa          Ferrari                1:15.688
8. Kubica         Renault                1:15.715
9. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:15.881
10. Rosberg        Mercedes              1:16.071
11. Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:16.434
12. Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1:16.438
13. Schumacher     Mercedes              1:16.492
14. Petrov         Renault               1:16.844
15. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:16.928
16. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:17.029
17. de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari        1:17.384
18. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1:18.019
19. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth        1:18.237
20. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth        1:18.698
21. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1:18.941
22. Senna          HRT-Cosworth          1:19.484
23. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth       1:19.675
24. Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth          1:27.757

Lewis Hamilton scored his first victory of the season after a thrilling race at the Istanbul Park circuit. His McLaren team-mate Jenson Button finished in second scoring a perfect result for the team following a crash between the Red Bull drivers.

Mark Webber was driving faultlessly from the front, resisting huge pressure from the faster McLaren of Hamilton initially. But then a crash involving his own Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel meant the team threw away victory in the Turkish Grand Prix.

The pair had been leading comfortably following the first round of pit stops, but on lap 40 Vettel tried a move past the leading car of Webber on the run down to Turn 12.

Vettel drafted alongside out of the Turn 11 kink and drew level down the inside approaching the final complex. The pair suddenly made high-speed contact, the German appeared to move across slightly on the Australian – with the Vettel’s right-rear tyre tagging with Webber’s left-front.

The accident forced Vettel out on the spot with heavy damage to his right-rear tyre, while Webber was able to continue before coming into the pits on lap 42 for a new nosecone on the RB6.

The clash of team-mates, which left team principal Christian Horner and technical director Adrian Newey holding their heads in the hands on the pit wall, handed the lead to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, with the former taking his first victory since Singapore 2009.

There was another tense moment between team-mates as the McLarens began some close racing of their own. As light drizzle started, Button got a run on Hamilton towards Turn 12 with nine laps left to the flag. With Hamilton defending the inside, Button went right around the outside – giving him the racing line and the lead at Turn 13.

But Button’s lead lasted only the length of the pit straight, with Hamilton diving back to the inside into Turn 1 and through a narrowing gap to take the lead. With McLaren frantically urging its drivers to conserve fuel thereafter as it kept an eye on some consumption issues, that was the end of the battle.

Michael Schumacher held onto fourth place with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, Renault’s Robert Kubica plus the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso chasing the seven-time champion home to the chequered flag.

A slightly early tyre stop and quick laps thereafter allowed Alonso to at least gain some ground following his disastrous qualifying. He then spent most of the race trying to get around Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, finally succeeding around the outside at Turn 3 in the closing laps – with a brush between giving Petrov a right-front puncture. He rejoined to grab fastest lap at the end.

A late pass by Adrian Sutil in the Force India on the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi resolved a race-long battle for what eventually became ninth, and left the Japanese to fend off his team-mate Pedro de la Rosa to take the final championship point.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg were both delayed by first lap damage, while a poor start dropped Rubens Barrichello down among the new teams in the second Williams.

As for the battle between the new teams, Lotus F1 Racing was comfortably clear over Virgin and Hispania until both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen suffered hydraulic failures within moments of each other, allowing Timo Glock to take unofficial class honours.

So a great result for Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren team. For the 2008 world champion, this race victory was well deserved following Hamilton’s sheer determination to race and beat his Red Bull rivals.

In scoring a one-two finish, the Woking-based outfit jumps into the lead in the constructors’ standing by a single point over their rivals. Mark Webber retains his lead in the drivers’ championship with 93 points although Jenson Button is only five points behind with Turkish Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton only nine adrift.

Race results from Istanbul Park:

1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h28:47.620
2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +2.645
3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +24.285
4.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +31.110
5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +32.266
6.  Kubica        Renault                    +32.824
7.  Massa         Ferrari                    +36.635
8.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +46.544
9.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +49.029
10. Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:05.650
11. De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari             +1:05.944
12. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:07.800
13. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +1 lap
14. Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
15. Petrov        Renault                    +1 lap
16. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
17. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +1 lap
18. Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +2 laps
19. Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +3 laps

Fastest lap: Petrov, 1:29.165

Not classified/retirements:
Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth                 53 laps
Senna         HRT-Cosworth                 47 laps
Vettel        Red Bull-Renault             40 laps
Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth               34 laps
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               33 laps

World Championship standings, round 7:

Drivers:
1.  Webber        93
2.  Button        88
3.  Hamilton      84
4.  Alonso        79
5.  Vettel        78
6.  Massa         67
7.  Kubica        67
8.  Rosberg       66
9.  Schumacher    34
10. Sutil         22
11. Liuzzi        10
12. Barrichello    7
13. Petrov         6
14. Alguersuari    3
15. Hulkenberg     1
16. Buemi          1
17. Kobayashi      1

Constructors:
1. McLaren-Mercedes          172
2. Red Bull-Renault          171
3. Ferrari                   146
4. Mercedes                  100
5. Renault                    73
6. Force India-Mercedes       32
7. Williams-Cosworth           8
8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari          4
9. Sauber-Ferrari              1

Next race: Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal. June 11-13.

Red Bull Racing maintain their qualifying form this season with yet another pole position for Mark Webber at the Istanbul Park circuit.

The championship leader secured his third consecutive pole after fending off a strong challenge from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. The sector times between the RB6 and MP4-25 is very close and with a margin of 0.138 seconds to take the top slot, it showcase that the McLaren is beginning to reduce the performance gap over the faster Red Bull in qualifying.

Sebastian Vettel was again the slower Red Bull in qualifying and took third in his Randy Mandy – the new name for his chassis! Jenson Button was fourth for McLaren.

As for Ferrari, competing in their 800th grand prix, the qualifying session proved to be disastrous for the two drivers. Fernando Alonso will start the Turkish Grand Prix in a disappointing P12 after making a mistake under braking into Turn 12, loosing the back end on the slippery white line. Team-mate Felipe Massa at least reached Q3 but could only managed eighth around seven tenths of a second slower over Mark Webber.

Despite spinning off at the challenging Turn 8 and getting stuck in the gravel at the end of Q3, Michael Schumacher outqualified Nico Rosberg as the Silver Arrows shared row three.

Renault’s Robert Kubica took seventh while team-mate Vitaly Petrov made his first Q3 appearance with ninth.

And completing the top ten is Kamui Kobayashi for Sauber, although the Japanese used up his share of Bridgestone tyres in Q2 trying to get through and was left on the sidelines during the main shoot-out event.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil missed out on the top ten again as Kobayashi’s late jump into Q3 pushed him back to P11. While Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa couldn’t emulate his team-mate performance and will start in P13, ahead of the Toro Rossos and Williams – Sebastien Buemi, Rubens Barrichello, Jaime Alguersuari and Nico Hülkenberg respectively.

Meanwhile in division two, the battle of the new Formula One teams, it was Lotus who was again the fastest. Jarno Trulli lines up in P19 ahead of team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, with the Virgin of Timo Glock and the HRT of Bruno Senna next. Taking the last row of the grid is Lucas di Grassi and Karun Chandhok.

Qualifying times from Istanbul:

1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:26.295
2.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:26.433
3.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:26.760
4.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:26.781
5.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:26.857
6.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:26.952
7.  Kubica         Renault                1:27.039
8.  Massa          Ferrari                1:27.082
9.  Petrov         Renault                1:27.430
10. Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:28.122
11. Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:27.525
12. Alonso         Ferrari                1:27.612
13. de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:27.879
14. Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:28.273
15. Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:28.392
16. Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:28.540
17. Hülkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:28.841
18. Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:28.958
19. Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:30.237
20. Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:30.519
21. Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:30.744
22. Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:31.266
23. di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:31.989
24. Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:32.060

Mark Webber took his second victory of the season with a dominant drive at the Monaco Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished in a close second while Robert Kubica took a solid third for Renault.

Webber’s win on the streets of the Principality means he now leads the drivers’ championship with 78 points, sharing the top honour with Vettel although on count back the Australian edges ahead with back-to-back victories.

His race pace was impressive and despite four safety car periods caused by crashes and a loose drain cover at Massenet, Mark Webber was inch-perfect around the tight, narrow and twisty street circuit.

This was the perfect result for the Australian and Red Bull Racing. It follows on from his great weekend at Barcelona seven days ago with pole position and race win. To take the top honours in the jewel event of the Formula One World Championship was a superb achievement.

Equally impressive was Robert Kubica. Despite Sebastian Vettel taking the track position right at the start and into Sainte Devote, the determination from the Renault driver was strong. The Polish driver was pushing his R30 to the limit to keep on tabs from the charging Red Bulls, but third was the best result he could do.

Felipe Massa took fourth for Ferrari followed by Lewis Hamilton in the sole remaining McLaren. His team-mate Jenson Button was forced to retire as early as lap three due to overheating. The team had accidentally left a blanking plate across the MP4-25’s sidepod on the way to the grid, which Button suspected had caused overheating.

Despite starting from the pitlane, the first safety car gave an opportunity for Fernando Alonso. He was able to make up the lost ground caused by Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams crashing into the wall in the tunnel on the opening lap. The Ferrari driver took advantage of a ‘free’ pitstop and came in to switch to the medium compound for the rest of the 78-lap race.

With a fresh set of Bridgestone, better downforce and speed in the F60, Alonso was able to carve past the Virgins, Lotuses and Hispanias with some superb overtaking moves.

He was set to finish in sixth until the final yards of the Monaco Grand Prix, when he got sideways out of Rascasse as the safety car came in to allow a final sprint to the line, and accidentally let Michael Schumacher slip through.

That move on the final lap into Anthony Noghes corner is a major talking point for the race stewards whether Schumacher’s pass was legit or not under the safety car rules. After a few hours the race stewards have decided to penalise Michael Schumacher with a twenty-second penalty and the Mercedes GP driver moves down to P12 with Alonso taking back his sixth position.

Schumacher got in front of his Mercedes GP team-mate Nico Rosberg at the start, although the fast-starting Rubens Barrichello was able to slip his Williams ahead of both as they battled. Despite Rosberg staying out until lap 28 on the soft Bridgestone and setting several fastest laps, he was unable to get back ahead in the stops.

Stopping later worked for Adrian Sutil as the German jumped past Force India team-mate Tonio Liuzzi. By finishing in the top ten, the pair gave the Vijay Mallya’s team its first double points finish.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi took the remaining point with tenth following the Michael Schumacher’s penalty. Renault’s Vitaly Petrov finished the race four laps down in P13.

As for Barrichello, who lost ground in the pits and was running tenth until a problem at the left rear (possibly a slow puncture) caused him to crash at Massenet on lap 31, prompting the second safety car caution. The third followed 12 laps later while a suspected loose drain cover at the same location was swiftly checked.

All the new teams’ cars retired, the last of them when Lotus’s Jarno Trulli, who had been delayed by a slow pitstop, vaulted over Hispania’s Karun Chandhok at Rascasse near the finish. The crash, which happened right in front of race leader Webber, prompted the final safety car.

So the perfect weekend for Mark Webber and Red Bull Racing. After playing down its chances going into the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, the RB6 and the drivers delivered the result with a one-two finish in Monte Carlo. Leading both championships as well. It will be deeply fascinating whether anyone can catch the charging Red Bulls as Formula One heads to Istanbul in two weeks’ time.

Race results from Monte Caro, 78 laps:

1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault          1h:50:13.355
2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault          +0.448 seconds
3.  Kubica        Renault                   +1.675 seconds
4.  Massa         Ferrari                   +2.666 seconds
5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes          +4.363 seconds
6.  Alonso        Ferrari                   +6.341 seconds
7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                  +6.651 seconds
8.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes      +6.970 seconds
9. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes      +7.305 seconds
10. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +8.199 seconds
11. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +9.135 seconds
12.  Schumacher    Mercedes                  +25.712 seconds*
13. Petrov        Renault                   +4 laps

*Twenty-second penalty for overtaking under the safety car

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:15.192

Not classified/retirements:

Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth                 71 laps
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               71 laps
Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth               59 laps
Senna         HRT-Cosworth                 59 laps
Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth            28 laps
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               27 laps
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              26 laps
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              23 laps
De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari               22 laps
Button        McLaren-Mercedes             3 laps
Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth            1 lap

World Championship standings, round 6:

Drivers:
1.  Webber        78
2.  Vettel        78
3.  Alonso        75
4.  Button        70
5.  Massa         61
6.  Hamilton      59
7.  Kubica        59
8.  Rosberg       54
9.  Schumacher    22
10. Sutil         20
11. Liuzzi         10
12. Barrichello    7
13. Petrov         6
14. Alguersuari    3
15. Hulkenberg     1

Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault          156
2. Ferrari                   136
3. McLaren-Mercedes          129
4. Mercedes                   78
5. Renault                    65
6. Force India-Mercedes       30
7. Williams-Cosworth           8
8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari          4

Next race: Turkish Grand Prix, May 28-30.