Mark Webber completed a dominant weekend for Red Bull at the Spanish GP by making victory in this afternoon's race look easy.
The Australian driver led the field away from pole position and was never headed; he frequently posted fastest laps, giving the indication that he had more pace in reserve, if it were needed.
See pictures from the Spanish GP
Briton Lewis Hamilton looked set for a strong second place - having passed Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel during the pit-stops - but a puncture forced the McLaren driver into the tyre wall with only a lap remaining.
By that point Vettel had already eased off due to concerns about his brakes, so Hamilton's demise allowed local hero Fernando Alonso to claim second spot for Ferrari. Vettel's early pace was enough to allow him to cruise into third, ahead of Michael Schumacher, who had spent much of the race fending off reigning world champion Jenson Button.
The result close up the top of the driver's and constructor's championship tables. Button still leads the driver's series, but he is now just three points clear of Alonso, with Vettel a further seven points adrift.
The teams situation is closer still; McLaren tops the standings, three points ahead of Ferrari, with Red Bull - widely acknowledged as the fastest team in the field - a further three points behind.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: Webber dominates Spanish GP
Bo11ocks. Moss' drive in the Mille Miglia, AVERAGING over 100mph over difficult roads in a 300SL, widely acknowledged to be a widow-maker in terms of its handling, is one of the all-time great pieces of driving. Now, sure, Schumi is a great driver, but you have to put his record 7 world titles into perspective: most of the competition really wasn't great at all. I'm pretty certain that, if we value quality over quantity, then Fangio or Senna Sr. would be better than Schumi. In fact, if Senna hadn't been killed when he was, Schumi would almost certainly never have become statistically the greatest F1 driver in history. Also - and here's the rub - like Senna Sr, Schumi did all sorts of irresponsible things on-track to get competitors out of the way: banging wheels, trying to push them off the track... Fangio would have hanged himself in shame at the mere thought of such ungentlemanly behaviour. If you can't win through your own skill alone, in my mind, you're not one of the all-time greats.
Re: Webber dominates Spanish GP
MS's car is acknowledged to be slower than the Mclaren, yet he was in front of Button.
When fighting for position, it is the person behind who has to make the move, and make it stick. Button failed to do this. As I have stated earlier, if the positions had been reversed then BUtton would have carried out the same moves as MS.
Re: Webber dominates Spanish GP
Good ol' Uncle Mellow! You know something that none of the rest of us do then! His "F1 world championship" win must have been deleted from all recorded history! I suggest you notify Alan Henry! I always thought he was the greatest loser in F1 history. Plus, he proved he has no class, in that he can't acknowledge Schumacher as the greatest F1 racer of all time, which he clearly is. Moss is and always will be class, yes, lower class. Tell Alan Henry that.