Vettel victorious with Red Bulls on the rampage

Published on Sunday 21 June 2009 22:32

SEBASTIAN Vettel proved to Jenson Button this season's Formula 1 world title fight will not be a walk in the park after a storming victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

After totally dominating the year with six wins from the opening seven races, including the last four in a row, Button finished a distant sixth to Red Bull Racing star Vettel.

Button's championship lead is now 23 points ahead of Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello who managed third behind Mark Webber as Red Bull scored their second one-two of the year, with Vettel now 25 points down.

It was perfect monotony from Vettel, who was in a class of his own. Once the five red lights disappeared to signal the start of the 60-lap race, so did Vettel into the distance.

Unlike in Turkey a fortnight ago when Vettel again started on pole, only to make an error on the first lap that allowed Button through and on to victory, this time the young German was faultless.

Once Vettel hit the first turn into Stowe still at the head of the field, nothing ever seemed likely to deny him his third career victory. After dominating practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday, so it followed in the race as he pulled out a stunning second-a-lap lead over Barrichello and Webber.

By the time of Vettel's first pit stop on lap 21, after setting fastest lap after fastest lap, the 21-year-old held a 23-second advantage over Webber, enough to take on fuel and tyres – and emerge ahead of the Australian to retain his lead.

It was frighteningly impressive stuff, while Button endured his worst weekend of the season, frustratingly in front of a sell-out home crowd to boot, denying them the victory they craved.

Starting from a season-low sixth on the grid, Button's start was compromised as he found himself boxed in on the short run down to Stowe. In the space of a few hundred yards, Button had lost three places, notably two of them to the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and team-mate Felipe Massa who had started ninth and 11th.

The use of KERS propelled the scarlet machines up the field, leaving Button out of the points at that early stage. The 29-year-old's problem, one his team failed to conquer over the course of the weekend, was a failure to get consistently enough heat into the tyres.

The Brawn GP cars enjoy warm weather, but even on a mild summer's day with temperatures hovering around 18 degrees, it was nowhere near hot enough for Button's car.

Come the finish, Button had at least picked up three points, but 46.2 seconds down on Vettel whose Red Bull undoubtedly gave him wings as he flew around the circuit, and would have ended up lapping the entire field if he had wanted to. He was ordered by his engineer to slow down after his first stop, and duly obeyed the command so that by the time of his second trip into the pits on lap 44 he had allowed Webber to close to within 14 seconds.

As Vettel made his second stop ahead of Webber, it denied him the chance of leading from start to finish as his team-mate had three laps out in front before pitting again. From there, it was a straightforward run to the finish for the Red Bull duo, with Vettel finishing 15 seconds ahead of Webber, who was a further 26 seconds up the road from Barrichello.

Massa claimed fourth ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg, and behind Button came Trulli and Raikkonen.

As for Lewis Hamilton, who won this race a year ago by an astonishing 68 seconds in the wet, the 24-year-old finished 16th and a lap down. He did give his fans a rare moment of excitement when he pulled out a brilliant move on old rival Fernando Alonso midway through the race for 16th place, only for the Renault driver to reclaim such a lowly position a lap later.

The one significant incident involved Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen who was caught from behind at Vale on lap 36 by Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais, sending debris across the track and both into retirement.

On the podium, chief designer Adrian Newey collected the winning constructors' trophy, and rightly so given it is his design that has offered his team hope of catching Button and Brawn GP.

With a new nose, undertray and diffuser on the car for this race at Silverstone, Vettel was able to claim Formula 1's equivalent of the hat-trick, known as the 'grand chelem' of pole position, race win and fastest lap.

The delighted German, after his second win of the year, said: "It's never easy. It's a long, long race, and at this fantastic circuit with fast corners, to win here is a dream. The start was important, and then in the first stint I knew I had to get away, which would be able to benefit me for the rest of the race.

"I had a fantastic car, but the second stint wasn't easy as I had traffic, with those cars fighting between themselves. So it was anything but easy. I had to stay patient, and after the last pit stop I had clear air, and then I was counting down the last ten laps.

"I'm very, very pleased with the result. It shows we are on the right way with the car and back at the factory. I want to thank Silverstone and all the fans in the grandstand. It's only my second time here, but all the fans were cheering. This is what I was dreaming of when I watched Formula 1 in the era of Nigel Mansell and so on."

Whether this is a serious Red Bull challenge to Button remains to be seen, with Vettel adding: "I'd like it if we could finish the season like that, but this circuit suits our car. On the other hand we have made quite a step forward."

Webber, 28.5 points behind Button, knew his race was run following qualifying on Saturday.

He said: "We needed to get on the front row, and then the race was virtually lost in the first stint. The gap at the end of it was way too big. But this is credit to the guys who have buried themselves back at the factory, doing night shifts, whatever it takes, and with the factory down the road, a one-two is a credit to them."

Like Vettel, Webber also praised the fans at a circuit all the drivers adore. "Silverstone: what a track; a brilliant place for a Formula 1 car, and the British fans were again fantastic," added Webber.

Barrichello was content with third as he remarked: "I've a lot of pride. We were thinking third would be the best we could manage, that it would be difficult to beat the Red Bulls. They were the class of the field."

The Brazilian also revealed he had been in pain throughout the weekend with his back, adding: "I have to thank the doctors for helping me. I was in terrible pain. It has been hurting the whole weekend, and they allowed me to finish the race."