Vettel romps to Silverstone win

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Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel scored a crushing victory in the British Grand Prix as championship leader Jenson Button's Brawn struggled to sixth.

Vettel took advantage of his team-mate Mark Webber being caught behind Brawn's Rubens Barrichello to build a decisive lead in the first stint of the race.

Webber passed Barrichello at the first pit stops to complete a Red Bull one-two ahead of the Brawn driver in third.

Last year's winner Lewis Hamilton was 16th in a car he said had "no grip".

Felipe Massa's Ferrari was fourth after winning a battle with the Williams of Nico Rosberg. Behind Button, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took the final points positions in seventh and eighth.The result leaves Button with a reduced but still substantial championship lead of 23 points over Barrichello, with Vettel two further points adrift and 3.5 ahead of Webber.

Button's advantage is still more than two clear victories but, with more than half the season still to go, he will be concerned by the startling pace shown by Red Bull, who introduced a major upgrade to their car and were in a league of their own throughout the weekend at Silverstone.

"It was a completely seamless race by both drivers and they completely dominated it," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

"We can really mount a championship challenge from here."

Brawn's potential was reduced by the low temperatures in Northamptonshire - both Button and Barrichello struggled to get their tyres up to the temperature at which they give their optimum grip.

That put the season's dominant team back into the battle with Williams, Toyota and Ferrari behind the leaders - a position from which they did well to finish third and sixth.Red Bull, by contrast, had looked strong favourites as soon as their updated RB5 car showed its pace in practice in Friday.

Vettel was on pole by more than half a second and he made the most of the fact that Webber, after a frustrating qualifying session, was stuck behind Barrichello on the grid and could not pass him in the opening laps.

The German rising star, 21, pulled away by about a second a lap over the first stint, and was nearly 20 seconds in front of Barrichello by the time the Brazilian became the first of the top three to stop on lap 19.

"It's never easy it's a long race - you have to stay focused and keep your eyes open all the time," said Vettel.

"The start was very important and in the first stint I tried to push as hard as I could and make a gap.

"That worked perfectly and I had a fantastic car. The tyres were fantastic as well. This was a step in the right direction."

Webber, who spent the first stint less than a second behind the Brawn, came in on the next lap, and made up enough time to exit the pits just ahead of Barrichello.
From that moment, a Red Bull one-two was locked on barring any unforeseen misfortune.

Barrichello found himself holding off the Williams of Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa's Ferrari - a battle he won by staying out for a couple of extra laps before his final stop and rejoining with a comfortable advantage.

Massa jumped Rosberg at their final stops and in the closing laps they found themselves coming under increasing pressure from Button.

Brawn had decided to save a set of the quicker softer tyres until the final stint, when both Massa and Rosberg were on the harder and slower of the two tyre compounds teams are obliged to use in the race.

That meant Button was much faster than the Ferrari and Williams in the final few laps. The home crowd cheered him on, but although the Englishman closed in on them he was unable to pass.

Italian Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel took his and the Toro Rosso team's maiden win in a thrilling Italian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton came from 15th to finish seventh.

The German led from pole throughout a demanding race of changing conditions to finish ahead of Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.

Vettel, 21, takes over from Fernando Alonso as F1's youngest-ever winner.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa reduced Hamilton's championship lead to one point by finishing sixth.

Robert Kubica of BMW climbed from 11th to third by making the most of a one-stop strategy in a race that started on a soaking track in persistent rain and then began to dry up from about half distance.

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The drying track and mixed-up grid led to a fascinating and unpredictable race of varying strategies.

Hamilton impressed hugely in his charge through the field, but Vettel was equally deserving of plaudits for a cool and controlled drive.

Spain's double world champion Alonso, who finished fourth after a strong race in his Renault, was the first to congratulate him after the race.

The German's victory was also the best result by far for the former Minardi team, which was taken over by Red Bull and made its junior outfit in 2006.

They have emerged as a major force in the second half of this season, using cars provided by Red Bull but fitted with a Ferrari engine rather than the Renault used by their parent team.


Who might have thought about this at the beginning of the season? We had a poor start and we got better and better - I am speechless

Sebastian Vettel
Vettel left Kovalainen behind in the early stages of the race, establishing a lead of more than 10 seconds before he made his first stop on lap 18.

He controlled the race from there, changing to intermediate tyres at his second stop on lap 36 as the track dried out and continuing to drive with pace and aplomb to the finish.

"Unbelievable," he said. "The whole race we had no problems. The car was working fine. It was a fantastic race, a very good strategy but all that was gone when I crossed the finish line.

"The lap back to the pits and the whole podium ceremony was just unbelievable. For sure it is the best day of my life. These pictures, the emotions, I will never forget.

"Who might have thought about this at the beginning of the season? We had a poor start and we got better and better, I am speechless."

Kovalainen drove a steady race behind him, while Kubica was able to use a very long first stint to fit intermediate tyres at his sole stop on lap 34 and move into third place.

"It was not possible to win because Sebastian and Toro Rosso were so strong," said Kovalainen. "I just struggled to find time, go faster - we kept pushing and towards the end we improved, but there was nothing I could do, it was impossible to win."

Kubica, meanwhile, was happy with his finish, admitting: "It was quite good after what happened in qualifying.

"I stayed as long as possible until my pit stop, and we were a bit lucky with the conditions that they allowed me to switch to the intermediate tyres.
z
"Third place was a well deserved reward for the whole team and I am very happy."

Alonso used the same strategy as the Pole in his Renault, stopping four laps earlier when he was the third significant driver to switch to the different tyres - two laps after Red Bull's David Coulthard and a lap after BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

The German went on to finish fifth, ahead of Massa, Hamilton and Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Hamilton looked on course for an unlikely podium as he carved his way up from 15th on the grid to lie second behind Vettel by the time of what was planned to be his sole pit stop on lap 27.

The track was beginning to dry up at that stage - it was only three laps before Alonso made his call for intermediates. But Hamilton decided not to gamble on them and although he was fuelled to the end, he had to come back in on lap 36 to fit change tyres.

It was probably the right call. Alonso told BBC Sport later that it might have been possible to change to intermediates "one or two laps earlier - maybe".

And Hamilton, after closing quickly on Massa in the laps immediately after his stop, then began to drop back after experiencing "graining", when the surface of the tyre rips up, reducing grip.

The problem meant that in the closing laps Hamilton had to worry more about fending off a challenge from Webber than about trying to wrest sixth place from Massa.

Webber finished in the final points place in eighth place, ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn started one place ahead of Hamilton on the grid but was far less convincing in battling up through the field.

He is now 21 points behind Hamilton and effectively out of the title chase with four races remaining.

Result after 53 laps:

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 hr 26:47.494 sec
2. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 12.512 behind
3. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 20.471
4. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 23.903
5. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 27.748
6. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 28.816
7. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 29.912
8. Mark Webber (Aus) RedBull-Renault 32.048
9. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 39.468
10. Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 54.445
11. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 58.888
12. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:02.015
13. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:05.954
14. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:08.635
15. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:13.370
16. David Coulthard (GB) RedBull-Renault 1 lap
17. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1 lap
18. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 lap
19. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 2 laps
Retired:
Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 42 laps

Belgian Grand Prix

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McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was stripped of a dramatic victory in the Belgian Grand Prix after stewards handed him a 25-second post-race penalty.

The Englishman was demoted to third place behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

He was accused of gaining an advantage by cutting the Spa circuit's Bus Stop chicane in a late-race battle with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

McLaren announced that they intend to appeal against the stewards' decision.

The demotion meant Hamilton's lead over Massa in the title chase cut to two points.

Massa's team-mate Raikkonen, who crashed out of second place shortly after losing the lead, is 19 points behind Hamilton.

Raikkonen is a point behind BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica.

Before the penalty, Hamilton had extended his lead over the Brazilian to eight points, with Raikkonen effectively out of the running on 23.

On the track, Hamilton had survived a frantic last two laps in a late shower of rain to apparently score a superb win.

Hamilton lost the lead to Raikkonen with an early spin but fought back in the closing laps to re-take the lead with two laps to go.

In a dramatic climax on a soaking track, Hamilton passed Raikkonen, lost the lead again with a spin, re-took it and then saw Raikkonen crash.

I was praying for rain - I wanted it to come because I knew how to deal with it

Lewis Hamilton

In a chaotic final couple of laps, Heidfeld jumped from eighth to third place on the track with what he called a "hero or zero decision" to come in for wet-weather tyres with two laps to go.

Renault's Fernando Alonso chose the same tactic a lap later and it secured the double world champion the fourth place he had held for much of the race.

"It was an experience and a half," Hamilton said before his penalty was announced. "I was praying for rain. I wanted it to come because I knew how to deal with it.

"The heavens opened and I saw Kimi begin to back off and to brake a bit earlier.

"I was going reasonably wide at Turn 12 but Rosberg spun and went off where I was coming back on. I went over the grass. It was incredibly tough.

"Kimi pushed me wide. I was a little bit ahead. I was outside on Turn One, I had no room and he basically pushed me so I went on the escape route.

"So I let him past, then got in his tow and he was ducking and diving left and right but I managed to get past him and I was pretty much gone from there."
Lewis Hamilton lost his lead in the Belgian Grand Prix with this spin on lap two
Hamilton fought back from this early spin to win in dramatic fashion

It was another superb performance in the wet from Hamilton, who has inherited Michael Schumacher's mantle as Formula One's rain master.

But for a long time it had looked as if the Englishman had tossed away his chance of victory on the daunting Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

The race started with the track wet in the immediate vicinity of the pits but dry on the majority of the lap.

Hamilton, along with every other driver in the race other than Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr, chose dry tyres.

But the conditions caught him out at the start of lap two, and he spun turning into the La Source hairpin.

The mistake put Raikkonen right behind him and the Ferrari driver simply drove past on the straight after the Eau Rouge esses.

It was a critical error from Hamilton, who was fuelled to make his first pit stop a lap earlier than Raikkonen.


That meant his main hope of holding off the Ferrari driver was to build a lead big enough before his stop on lap 10 that Raikkonen could not close it on his extra lap.

Instead, although Hamilton shadowed Raikkonen to the first stops, he could not pass him.

Hamilton's hopes were further dented when he came out from his pit stop right behind his slower team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who was battling for position with Kubica.

By the time he had cleared Kovalainen and Kubica five laps later, Raikkonen was five seconds ahead, a lead he was able to maintain comfortably to the second round of stops.

The two men both made their final stops on lap 25 and on the harder tyre Hamilton was able to close on the Ferrari.

The 23-year-old shaved about half a second a lap out of Raikkonen's lead and was within two seconds of the Ferrari by lap 31.
Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari is carried back to the pits after the Finn's crash on the penultimate lap of the Belgian Grand Prix
Raikkonen's hopes of victory - and probably the title - ended with a crash

He was unable to make much more of an impression until the predicted late shower of rain arrived with about five laps to go.

Within minutes, the back of the circuit was soaking, while it remained dry in the vicinity of the pits - not an unusual situation at a track renowned for its capricious weather.

Hamilton closed right up to Raikkonen on lap 42 but he fatefully cut the Bus Stop chicane after pulling out of a passing move at the end of the lap.

He then chased Raikkonen down the pit straight and passed the Ferrari going into the La Source hairpin at the start of lap 43.

But that was not the end of the battle.

When the two men reached the wet part of the track halfway around the lap, Hamilton slid off, handing the lead back to Raikkonen, who almost immediately lost it again by sliding off himself.

The Finn then lost control going through the fast Blanchimont corner, and speared into the wall.

But the drama had not finished, and was merely switched to the stewards' office.

Their decision is likely to be greeted with cynicism as it makes the championship battle dramatically closer at a time when Hamilton was beginning to look like he was inching towards his first title.

Result of Belgian Grand Prix:

1. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari one hour 22 minutes 59.394 seconds
2. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 9.383 seconds behind
3. Lewis Hamilton* (GB) McLaren-Mercedes at 10.539secs
4. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 14.478
5. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14.576
6. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 15.037
7. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16.735
8. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 42.776
9. Timo Glock** (Ger) Toyota 67.045, 10. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes one lap behind
11. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault one lap
12. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams one lap
13. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari one lap
14. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota one lap
15. Jenson Button (GB) Honda one lap
16. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota one lap
17. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari one lap
18R Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari two laps
R Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 19 laps completed
R Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 31 laps

Key: R = retired

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:47.930, lap 24

* Hamilton penalised 25 seconds for gaining an advantage by cutting a chicane

** Glock penalised 25 seconds for ignoring yellow warning flags