Red Bull's Mark Webber secured a comfortable wire-to-wire victory
at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, while Ferrari's Fernando
Alonso and Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel filled out the podium
after Lewis Hamilton crashed with one lap remaining.
Webber made it 10 straight winners from pole position at the
Circuit de Catalunya after the Australian drove a flawless race for
a 24-second victory over Alonso and his third career victory.
Hamilton was second for most of the race before his tire blew
out to send the McLaren driver into the wall shortly before the
finish. Vettel took advantage to finish third for Red Bull despite
a late driving error.
Michael Schumacher of Mercedes was fourth after holding off
McLaren's Jenson Button for the seven-time champion's best finish
since his comeback to the sport this season.
Defending champion Button has 70 points to lead Alonso by
three points in the standings, while Vettel improved to 60 points
and Webber 53.
Although Webber eased to victory, a combination of driver
error and mechanical faults made for a dramatic race for the two
spots behind him.
Hamilton's front left tire blew out at turn 10 as he appeared
to be cruising toward a second-place finish after overtaking Vettel
during the first round of pit stops. Hamilton, who was set to move
to within one point of Button, instead stayed stuck at 49 points.
Vettel nearly missed out on the podium after losing his
brakes to go into the gravel with 10 laps to race and being
overtaken by Alonso after having to come in to change his tires.
Webber jumped into the championship mix after Red Bull
finally managed to convert a pole position to a victory. The team
started first for the fifth straight race, but struggled with
reliability problems in Bahrain and Australia, while Vettel
overtook pole sitter Webber to win in Malaysia.
Webber made a perfect start this time while his three
pursuers wove behind him looking for space to pass. The Australian
driver held firm as Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and the rest of the
chasing pack got around the first corner without incident.
There were problems at the back of the grid, however, as
Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus had to retire before the start with a
gear box problem, and HRT driver Bruno Senna slid into a tire wall
for an early exit.
Schumacher's teammate Nico Rosberg was relegated to 17th
after a botched pit stop that would ruin his day and see him finish
13th. The German driver has 50 points.
Webber and Hamilton pitted simultaneously, and the McLaren
driver was then able to get in front of Vettel - who had a slow
tire change earlier - as he returned to the track, holding his
ground at the first corner to split up the Red Bull cars.
Schumacher started behind Button but made a nice pass as the
two engaged in a battle for fifth, with Felipe Massa eventually
sliding into the mix. The Ferrari driver would settle for sixth.
Schumacher showed little interest in battling for a podium
spot, however, driving defensively the rest of the way to keep
Button behind him. It was the first time Schumacher finished ahead
of Rosberg this season.
Adrian Sutil was seventh for Force India ahead of Robert
Kubica of Renault, and Rubens Barrichello of Williams and Toro
Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari rounded out the top 10.
A moment of silence was observed for Juan Antonio Samaranch
before the start of the 66-lap race. The former International
Olympic Committee president died at age 89 last month.
