The Hindu : Sport : Webber clinches his maiden race win

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Webber clinches his maiden race win

Leads Red Bull to a 1-2 finish, with Sebastian Vettel finishing second

NURBURGRING: Mark Webber secured his maiden Formula One victory — and Australia’s first since 1981 — when he led team-mate Sebastian Vettel home in a triumphant one-two for the Red Bull team in Sunday’s German Grand Prix.

Webber, in his 130th F1 race after eight years in the sport, started from his first pole position and overcame a drive-through penalty for a first lap collision on his way to a spectacular win at the circuit in the Eifel mountains.

The 32-year-old driver from New South Wales came home 9.3 seconds clear of Vettel as he raced to a victory that has thrown the fight for the world championship wide open.

Webber is third in the title race with 45.5 points behind leader Briton Jenson Button on 68 points and Vettel on 47. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello has 44 points and is fourth.

Podium for Massa

The two Red Bulls finished first and second ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa of Brazil, who grabbed his first podium finish of the year, with German Nico Rosberg fourth for Williams.

Button battled through to finish fifth ahead of team-mate Barrichello, the Brawn pair resisting a late charge from two-times world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault.

Finn Heikki Kovalainen came home eighth for McLaren Mercedes.

Defending world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton finished 18th and last after a hot-headed attack on the opening lap saw him involved in a collision with Webber’s Red Bull that cost him a puncture.

Webber bashed into Barrichello’s car on the run from the start to the first corner, a collision for which he was punished with his drive-through penalty, but he overcame that with a dazzling drive to victory.

Watched by his father Alan, a motor cycle dealer in Australia, Webber romped to a triumph that ended Australia’s long wait for another winner since Alan Jones won at Las Vegas in the 1981 United States Grand Prix.

As he completed his final lap, Webber screamed with joy: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” he screeched aloud. “Oh yes. You beauty! Yes.” And his team-boss Christian Horner said: “Mark Webber — you are a Grand Prix winner. Well done. You did it!”

Last November, he broke his leg and a shoulder in a collision with a car while riding a bicycle in Tasmania.

High drama

On a much warmer day, under a cloudy sky, the race started with high drama when Webber, from his first pole position, was marginally slower off the line than Barrichello and steered to his right to bump cars and push the Brazilian towards the barriers.

It was a solid knock, but not enough to slow the Brawn car which pulled away to lead into the first corner ahead of the Australian while another spectacular incident saw Hamilton flying off the track.

The defending champion, from fifth, applied his KERS to pass almost everyone into the Castrol S curve, but out-braked himself in a vain attack to stay on the circuit. In the process, he collided with part of the left-front wing of Webber’s Red Bull and picked up a right rear puncture.

This impetuosity, in effect, ended Hamilton’s race as he was forced back to the pits, from 20th and last, for new rubber — swapping his super-softs for a harder compound.

Tough break for Sutil

Raikkonen dashed Adrian Sutil’s race as Force India came agonisingly close to scoring its first points before falling to the jinx yet again.

Raikkonen bruised Sutil’s VJM02 just when the German, running second, was coming out of the pit and knocked off the front wing, forcing a pit-stop that dashed Sutil’s point hopes.

The heartbroken German finished 15th while teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, starting 18th on the grid finished 11th.

Last year too, Raikkonen had rammed his Ferrari onto Sutil’s car in Monaco where the German was running fourth and was just four laps away from the team’s maiden F1 points before his race came to a sorry end.

Starting seventh on the grid, the team’s best position ever, Sutil ran a steady race and was running second when he pitted after 27 laps.

As he was coming out of the pit to rejoin the race, Sutil could only watch as Raikkonen’s car brushed his and took the front wing with it. Incidentally, Raikkonen too sustained damage and eventually had to retire.

The stewards decided to probe the incident but that was hardly a consolation for Sutil.

The results: 1. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1hr 36min 43.310sec, 2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) +9.252sec, 3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +15.906, 4. Nico Rosberg (Williams) +21.099, 5. Jenson Button (Brawn) +23.609, 6. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn) +24.468, 7. Fernando Alonso (Renault) +24.888, 8. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) +58.692, 9. Timo Glock (Toyota) +1:01.457, 10. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) +1:01.925, 11. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India) +1:02.327, 12. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) +1:02.876, 13. Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) +1:08.328, 14. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +1:09.555, 15. Adrian Sutil (Force India) +1:11.941, 16. Sibastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) +1:30.225, 17. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +1:30.970, 18. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) +1 lap. Retired: Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).

Overall standings: Drivers: 1. Jenson Button 68 pts, 2. Sebastian Vettel 47, 3. Mark Webber 45.5, 4. Rubens Barrichello 44, 5. Felipe Massa 22, 6. Jarno Trulli 21.5, 7. Nico Rosberg 20.5, 8. Timo Glock 13, 9. Fernando Alonso 13, 10. Kimi Raikkonen 10, 11. Lewis Hamilton 9, 12. Nick Heidfeld 6, 13. Heikki Kovalainen 5, 14. Sebastien Buemi 3, 15. Robert Kubica 2, 16. Sebastien Bourdais 2.

Constructors: 1. Brawn 112 pts, 2. Red Bull 92.5, 3. Toyota 34.5, 4. Ferrari 32, 5. Williams 20.5, 6. McLaren 14, 7. Renault 13, 8. BMW Sauber 8, 9. Toro Rosso 5. — Agencies

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