Courtesy of Autosport
By Matt Beer Sunday, June 21st 2009, 13:28 GMT
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, British GPSebastian Vettel claimed his first dry weather Formula 1 victory as Red Bull ended Jenson Button's run of success with a crushing one-two in the British Grand Prix.
As Button was only able to finish sixth, Vettel's victory ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber and Button's Brawn stablemate Rubens Barrichello hinted that this year's world championship might not be entirely settled yet.
Red Bull had looked unstoppable from the start of Friday practice, and that dominance did not relent in the race. Vettel put recent shaky performances firmly behind him by controlling the grand prix from the outset - striding away from his heavier rivals at a staggering rate in the first stint. Consistently one second per lap quicker, he was 20 seconds clear of the closely-matched Barrichello and Webber by the first stops.
While Vettel cruised to his third career win, Webber completed Red Bull's perfect day by squeezing ahead of Barrichello as he emerged from his first pitstop, which he made a lap later than the Brazilian.
Barrichello then dropped away from the Red Bulls, and came under pressure from the lighter Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari), although this threat faded when Barrichello ran longer before his last stop and duly secured the final podium spot.
Massa drove a fine race to come through from 11th on the grid to fourth, joining the podium fight thanks to a very long first stint and then jumping ahead of Rosberg in the second pit sequence.
Button was never a factor in his home race. Boxed in behind the slow-starting Jarno Trulli off the line, he completed the first lap in eighth and stayed there for most of the afternoon. Only by running longer at his last stop was he able to jump ahead of the Toyota and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari.
Finally at the end of the race Button found the pace he had been lacking and started closing on Rosberg, but to no avail. The result means that Button now leads Barrichello by 23 points and Vettel by 25.
Raikkonen just held off Timo Glock's Toyota for the last point, with Giancarlo Fisichella on their tails after Force India's most competitive performance to date.
The Italian veteran made a good start, slipped past Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica when they ran wide at Stowe while battling with each other, then latched on to the top ten pack for the rest of the race.
Kazuki Nakajima ran a strong fourth in the opening laps, but relatively early pitstops cost him dear. He lost several places in each pit sequence and eventually finished a lowly 11th.
Fernando Alonso had a miserable race to 13th, losing ground on the first lap then spending the first stint trapped behind Nick Heidfeld's extremely slow BMW, which was dropping up to 3s a lap to those ahead due to front wing damage.
Last year's winner Lewis Hamilton could only finish 16th, having had spirited battles with Alonso and a quick spin under braking for Club along the way.
Sebastien Bourdais and Heikki Kovalainen were the only retirements. The Finn emerged from his sole stop right ahead of team-mate Hamilton and allowed the Briton through at Stowe. Bourdais tried to follow into Club, and contact was made as Kovalainen defended, breaking the Toro Rosso's wing and giving the McLaren a puncture. Both dropped out for good soon afterwards.
