Williams
Webber on pole for Spanish Grand Prix
Mark Webber will start tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix from pole position after winning an intense duel with team-mate Sebastian Vettel in qualifying this afternoon. As expected, both Red Bulls were significantly quicker than the rest of the field leaving Webber and Vettel to fight it out for pole, with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton claiming a distant third place.
During the first two parts of the hour-long knockout qualifying session, Webber had beaten Vettel to the front, and ominously held a comfortable margin over their competitors, but their true advantage only became apparent when the fuel was drained out and Q3 got underway.
Button leads McLaren 1-2 in wet Chinese Grand Prix
Jenson Button secured his second victory of the 2010 season after taking full advantage of changeable weather conditions in China this afternoon. Two safety car periods and continual rain from one-third distance provided for a chaotic race, with Lewis Hamilton taking second place subject to a post-race stewards’ inquiry.
With rain in the air, the race got underway as planned in dry conditions and Fernando Alonso jumped straight into the lead from third place, albeit thanks to a jump start for which he soon received a drive-through penalty. However, a first-lap collision involving Tonio Liuzzi, Sébastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi brought out the safety car for three laps, prompting many drivers to pit for intermediate tyres as the rain started falling more heavily.
Vettel leads Red Bull front row in China
Red Bull sent an emphatic message to their F1 rivals when they locked out the front row of the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel (1:34.558) hooking up a fine final lap to pip team mate Mark Webber (1:24.806) to top spot.
With the F1 paddock speculating since the start of the season that the team had a ride height control system on its car to explain its 100% pole position record, the FIA have recently issued a rule clarification banning such devices. As Vettel crossed the line Red Bull team principal Christian Horner shouted on the team radio, “Who needs ride height control!”
Mclaren top times on Friday in Shanghai
Lewis Hamilton overtook team-mate Jenson Button at the top of the practice timesheets during the second session in China this afternoon, posting a time of 1m35.217s to end the day as the fastest man on-track. The Briton took to the top of the standings with just over half way gone in the session, going half a second quicker than Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, and although he failed to improve for the rest of the session, he remained fastest.
Rosberg later improved his own time to come within a quarter of a second of the McLaren, setting a 1m35.465s seven minutes after Hamilton took over at the top. Jenson Button had to be happy with third place on a time of 1m35.593s, and was fortunate to finish ahead of Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher who was less than a hundredth of a second adrift in fourth on a 1m35.602s.
Vettel leads dominant Red Bull one-two in Malaysia
Sebastian Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix, at Sepang, leading a Red Bull 1-2 finish – his team mate Mark Webber finishing secon, 4.8 seconds back. Nico Rosberg gave the Mercedes team its first podium finish with his third place – 13.5 seconds behind the leader.
After starting from third place, Vettel jumped Rosberg at the start and took the inside line on his team mate into the first corner and never looked back – only giving up the lead when pitting for tyres. The two Red Bulls pulled away from the field and were separated by around a second until Vettel pitted for tyres on lap 23, followed by Webber the next lap – having a slower stop due to an airgun problem on his right front wheel. Vettel then got clear of his team mate and cruised to his first win of the year, and the sixth victory of his career – it the first win in which he did not start on the front row.
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