Vettel wins dramatic and controversial GP

Sebastian Vettel has won a dramatic and controversial European Grand Prix at the Valencia street circuit.

Vettel led home McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, while Australian driver Mark Webber made headlines of his own, flipping his Red Bull Racing car after a clash with Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus near the braking zone on the approach to turn 12. Webber emerged from the incident unscathed.

After a poor start to the race where he slipped from second to ninth, Webber had just completed his first pit stop and caught Kovalainen quickly who attempted to defend his race position. Webber’s Red Bull smashed into the back of the Lotus, launching Webber’s car vertical before landing on its roll hoop, flipping back onto its wheels and smashing into the tyre barrier (see video below).

Vettel led from the start, only ever threatened at the second turn when Lewis Hamilton made a great launch from position three to be up the inside of Vettel. The pair slightly toughed, damaging Hamilton’s wing end plate, but both continued. It is Vettel’s seventh Grand Prix victory and has vaulted him from fifth to third in the championship.

Beside’s Webber’s incident, the controversy of the race came during the Safety Car period caused by the Webber/ Kovalainen clash. Hamilton momentarily baulked as he saw the Safety Car come onto the track, holding up Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. The slight gaffe was enough for the Ferrari men to fall from third and fourth to well down the order.

Hamilton was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident, but because Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi had decided not to pit during the Saftey Car period, Hamilton was able to affect his penalty without losing a position.

More controversy surfaced when the stewards announced that nine cars will be investigated post-race for allegedly traveling too fast under the Safety Car conditions. The nine drivers include Jenson Button, Robert Kubica, Rubens Barichello and Adrian Sutil – all of whom finished in front of Kobayashi.

Kobayashi passed Alonso and Sebastien Buemi on the last two laps to finish seventh after he put on his super soft tyres during his late pit stop. And his pass on Alonso was crucial – if the four drivers in front of him are penalised, Kobayashi might get a belated podium finish …

The next round of the Formula One World Championship heads to Silverstone in two weeks time.

Click below for race highlights …

European Grand Prix results

Pos	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid
1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	57	Winner	1
2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+5.0 secs	3
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+7.6 secs	7
4	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	57	+20.6 secs	9
5	Robert Kubica	Renault	57	+22.1 secs	6
6	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	57	+25.1 secs	13
7	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	57	+30.9 secs	18
8	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	57	+31.2 secs	11
9	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	57	+32.8 secs	4
10	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	57	+42.4 secs	16
11	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	57	+43.2 secs	10
12	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	57	+44.3 secs	12
13	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	57	+45.8 secs	14
14	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	57	+46.6 secs	5
15	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	57	+48.2 secs	17
16	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	57	+48.8 secs	15
17	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	56	+1 Lap	21
18	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	55	+2 Laps	22
19	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	55	+2 Laps	23
20	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	55	+2 Laps	24
21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	53	+4 Laps	19
Ret	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	49	+8 Laps	8
Ret	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	8	Accident damage	20
Ret	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	8	Accident	2

World Championship points

1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	127
2	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	121
3	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	115
4	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	103
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	96
6	Robert Kubica	Renault	83
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	74
8	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67
9	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	34
10	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	31
11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	19
12	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	12
13	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	9
14	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	7
15	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	6
16	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	3
17	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	1
18	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	0
20	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	0
21	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	0
22	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	0
23	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	0
24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	0