Perfect Mark Webber Wins Spanish GP

Mark Webber had a mistake-free weekend in Barcelona and led the Spanish Grand Prix from beginning to end, to record his 3rd win in career. The Australian driver started from pole position on Sunday and entered the first corner in 1st place, a position which he never let go throughout the 66 laps of action.

“Brilliant! What a perfect race! You were untouchable,” were the words of his race engineer after Webber took the chequered flag.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton could have scored a wonderful 2nd place for McLaren Mercedes hadn’t it been for his blown front left tire less than 2 laps to the finish line. While more than 15 seconds behind the leading Red Bull, Hamilton’s MP4-25 suffered a tire blow that threw the car into the tire barrier and Hamilton into his first DNF of the season.

Hamilton’s unfortunate accident triggered a true fiesta in the grandstands, as it meant Fernando Alonso would finish 2nd overall, almost 25 seconds behind Webber. The Spaniard obviously scored more than Ferrari were prepared for in Barcelona, as he only got his F10 to function at a competitive level in the last 10-15 laps of the race.

He was fortunate to finish 2nd overall not only because of Ham’s crash, but also thanks to a partial failure of Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 braking system, which threw the German driver into a run-off excursion with 14 laps to go. Vettel immediately made his 2nd pit stop (while in 3rd place) and lost his position to Alonso.

Although he struggled to keep his car on the track in the final 10 laps of the race, Vettel still managed to finish ahead of Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher – at his best race finish this season. The German managed to pass Jenson Button after the first pit stop and, despite the reigning world champion’s desperate effort to pass him in the remaining 50 laps of action, he held on to his position until the end.

Behind 5th place Button was Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who was off the pace for the majority of the day and spent the entire afternoon behind Button. Behind him at the finish line were Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Renault’s Robert Kubica, followed by Williams’ Rubens Barrichello (who started all the way from 18th place) and STR’s Jaime Alguersuari.

In the overall classification, Jenson Button is still leading the title fight, but his advantage from 2nd placed Fernando Alonso is now only 3 points. Sebastian Vettel climbed to 3rd overall, while Webber’s win got him to 4th overall, 7 points behind his teammate.