Red Bull triumphed over adversity as Mark Webber took the win in Hungary and, more importantly, did it on a day when Lewis Hamilton retired.

Despite a rather processional start to the grand prix with Sebastian Vettel easily outpacing Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, things got exciting when the Safety Car was brought out for debris on the track.

This led to a mad dash into the pits with Webber not getting in in time. However, it did hand him the lead as all those behind him stopped.

And although it appeared as if this decision meant Webber was out of the running, the Aussie triumphed over the adversity, putting in fastest lap after fastest lap to build a suitable lead over those behind him. And his 23.7s lead meant he pitted from the P1 slot and emerged in the P1 slot.

Behind him the battle for second raged between Vettel and Alonso, who emerged from the pit stops second and third. However, a drive-through penalty for exceeding the 10-car length behind the Safety Car meant Vettel dropped down to third place.

And although he caught Alonso without really having to put much effort into it, he was not able to pass the Spaniard, sitting on his rear wing all the way through to the chequered flag.

Race Report: Sebastian Vettel finally made an ideal start to a grand prix as he kept to his word and stayed on a straight line for the beginning of the 70-lap race in Hungary.

In Germany last week the Red Bull racer, starting from his seventh pole of the season and fourth in a row, attempted to cut across the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, only to slip to third by turn one.

On this occasion at the Hungaroring there were no mistakes as the 23-year-old German was clean away, but on the dirty side of the track team-mate Mark Webber gave up second spot to Alonso.

The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button struggled as the former lost fifth spot to Renault's Vitaly Petrov, only to swiftly regain that place early on lap two.

As for reigning champion Button, he endured a miserable getaway, dropping four places to 15th from 11th.

At the end of four laps Vettel had opened up a 3.9secs cushion to Alonso, who was being closely followed by Webber, Massa, Hamilton and Petrov, with Button having made up one place as he was 14th.

The Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari was an early casualty with a blown engine.

Vettel then began pulling away at an astonishing rate of knots, taking 1.3secs out of Alonso on lap six to lead by 6.3secs.

Alonso's greater concern, however, was that Webber was right behind him, with second to fifth positions covered by just 3.6secs.

Given the nature of the 4.381km circuit, renowned for its tight, twisty nature, and with bright sunshine overhead, the prospects for overtaking were limited.

After a further six laps Vettel had hit double figures in terms of his advantage, opening up a 10.5secs lead over Alonso, who still had Webber within less than a second on his tail.

Massa was then two seconds behind, with Hamilton starting to lose touch as he had dropped to 2.7secs off the Brazilian, with Petrov five seconds adrift.

As for 14th-placed Button, the 30-year-old was lagging 40 seconds off the pace and struggling on the softer tyres.

It resulted in him becoming the first driver to stop to take on fresh rubber, following which chaos then ensued when the safety car was deployed as there was debris on the track.

Out in front Vettel only just received the call to pit when the safety car announcement was made, cutting across the kerb running alongside the entry to the pit lane.

The majority of the field, other than Webber, piled in behind to switch tyres.

Nico Rosberg, who had been running sixth in his Mercedes, was the instigator of the mayhem that followed in the pit lane - or at least part of his pit crew were as they failed to fit his right-rear tyre correctly.

As Rosberg pulled out onto the pit lane the tyre worked loose, initially rolling and then bouncing its way through the other pit crews.

Whether it was a distraction to Renault's pit team is unclear, but Robert Kubica was released too early by his lollipop man as he ran into the side of Force India's Adrian Sutil just as he was about to enter the pit entry box.

The damage was too great for Sutil to continue, although Renault were able to send Kubica on his way again, only for him to unsurprisingly receive a 10-second stop-go penalty for an unsafe release from the pits.

As for Rosberg, he trundled down to the end of the pit lane on three wheels, and with his crew unable to retrieve him, that is where he retired.

The safety car played into the hands of the McLarens as Hamilton leapfrogged Massa in all the mayhem whilst Button was elevated up to 10th.

But on lap 24 championship leader Hamilton suffered his second retirement of the year, pulling off track by turn three.

The stewards then announced an investigation into Vettel for exceeding 10 car lengths behind the safety car, for which he soon received a drive-through penalty.

Quite simply, with the safety car about to return, Vettel had allowed Webber ahead of him to get a run whilst he backed up the field behind.

After 27 laps Webber had built up a 6.8secs cushion over Vettel, with Alonso a further 5.6secs back, with the same distance to Massa.

At the end of lap 31 Vettel served his penalty, clearly expressing his frustration as he did so as he drove through the pit lane with his fists clenched.

From second, Vettel returned to the track in third behind Alonso and ahead of Massa.

The stewards then announced they would investigate the incident involving Kubica after the race, in addition to also looking at what unfolded with Rosberg.

At the head of the field Webber was opening up a considerable cushion, needing 20 seconds to make his pit stop for new tyres and stay out ahead of Alonso who was being reeled in by Vettel.

By the end of lap 38, after setting the fastest lap at that stage, Webber had stretched his lead to 20.6secs, and now it was just a question of when his team would call him in.

They eventually did after 43 laps when he had just over 23 seconds' advantage to Alonso, returning to the track with a comfortable cushion.

With 26 laps remaining Webber was 6.1secs clear of Alonso, who had Vettel all over his gearbox and looking for an opportunity to pass.

Vettel continued to push, but his frustrations kept getting the better of him and he was never able to get close enough to Alonso to make it count even when they were lapping the backmarkers.

Barrichello, meanwhile, finally pitted from P5 on lap 56 and he came out behind Michael Schumacher who was the last driver in the points. The Brazilian though made up five seconds and had a few goes at Schumi before finally making it stick on lap 67. The German though closed the door right at the last second and nearly put Barrichello in the wall. They didn't make contact and the Williams driver stayed in front to pick up the final point.

At the front Webber continued to ease away and eventually finished a massive 17 seconds ahead of Alonso while his team-mate Vettel was just on the Spaniard's tail.

Meanwhile, at the back of the grid all three rookie teams had both their cars crossing the finish line for the first time this season.

Results
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h41:05.571
2. Alonso Ferrari + 17.821
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 19.252
4. Massa Ferrari + 27.474
5. Petrov Renault + 1:13.100
6. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1:16.700
7. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
10. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 3 laps
15. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 3 laps
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
17. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
18. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 4 laps
19. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps

Did not finish

Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 25 lap
Kubica Renault 25
Rosberg Mercedes 17
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 17
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2

Ferrari won Sunday's German GP but could face a backlash after a veiled team order for Felipe Massa to gift the win to Fernando Alonso.

Starting second and third on the grid with Alonso ahead of Massa, pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel did everything he could to squeeze Alonso away from the line, leaving a perfect gap for Massa to take the lead. Vettel then lost out to Alonso in the run down to Turn 2.

Ultimately Massa was obliged to let his slightly faster team-mate through while Vettel kept a watching brief for most of the race. The two McLarens came home in 4th and 5th with Hamilton heading Button and a distant Mark Webber in 6th place managing his dwindling oil reserves.

GP REPORT

CONDITIONS: Bright and cloudy. 21C ambient, 32C track.

GRID: 1.Vettel, 2. Alonso, 3. Massa, 4.Webber, 5.Button, 6.Hamilton, 7.Kubica 8.Barrichello, 9.Rosberg, 10.Hulkenberg, 11.Schumacher, 12.Kobayashi. All the top 12 drivers started on the Bridgestone Option tyre.

START: As the red lights went out Sebastian Vettel got another dreadful start and tried to pin Fernando Alonso to the pitwall. Alonso, starting on the dirty side of the grid managed to get alongside him in a déjà vu situation to Silverstone with Mark Webber. Alonso ultimately got in front of him, but the greatest beneficiary was Felipe Massa who found an open track, accelerated to the first turn and simply took the lead, turning in in front of Vettel and his team-mate.

Further back Jenson Button got a great start from P5 and was easily past Mark Webber into Turn 1 but came up against the hard-braking Vettel. Jenson braked and ran wide and was overtaken by Mark Webber on the run-off, just as he realised he'd have to dive out there as well. So no arguments about being overtaken off the circuit.

Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica kept far more of their momentum and swept through on the inside going down to Turn 2. With the McLarens having a 7kph advantage on the straight, Button was able to pass Kubica with a fantastic move around the outside of Turn 6 and Hamilton got passed Mark Webber, who'd managed to rejoin the track in front of both Hamilton and Kubica.

However the major casualty of the opening lap was Sebastian Buemi who was punted from behind by team-mate Alguersuari and lost his rear wing so badly that he couldn't continue. Both Force Indias were also involved in first lap incidents and returned to the pits together.

LAP ONE ORDER: 1.Massa, 2.Alonso, 3.Vettel, 4.Hamilton, 5.Webber, 6.Button, 7.Kubica, 8.Schumacher, 9.Rosberg 10.Kobayashi, 11.Barrichello, 12.Petrov

RACE DEVELOPMENTS: In their sudden rush back to the pits, the Force India mechanics were caught by surprise and fitted Liuzzi's tyres on Sutil's car and Sutil's on Liuzzi. They were then obliged to return to the pits to have them exchanged for their own sets.

At the front, the Ferraris exchanged fastest laps as they gradually pulled away from third place Vettel. Button was the slowest of the top six, but they all began to open up a large gap to Robert Kubica in 7th place. By the end of Lap 12 the Red Bull team realised there was a big enough gap in front of Kubica for Vettel to pit and swap his Option tyres for the harder Prime tyres.

With Vettel stopped, Ferrari moved to cover any advantage that he might get, but a lap later it was Alonso not the leader Massa who came in for tyres. Mark Webber pitted at the same time. But while Vettel had rejoined with a clear track, Webber came out behind Rosberg and in front of Kobayashi.

A lap later, at the end of Lap 14, Massa pitted - crucially still in front of Alonso. Hamilton pitted at the same time and came out between Kubica and Rosberg - but still in front of Webber.

This left Jenson Button in the lead. The Brit is famously kinder on his tyres and on lap 16 he was still going quicker than Massa, Alonso and Vettel on their new Primes. In fact he continued to build the gap from 3.9 seconds till on Lap 21 he was leading by 5.1 seconds. On Lap 22 he came in for his one and only pit-stop and managed to exit in front of Mark Webber, moving himself up from a net P6 to P5.

And that's where he would stay for the rest of the race, between 1 and 2.2 seconds behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Both McLaren drivers had a lot less pace than the front three of Massa, Alonso and Vettel and spent the race dropping steadily back. They will no doubt have gained a lot of valuable data on their new blown diffuser system.

With Button pitting the lead was restored to Felipe Massa on Lap 23, but it might have been Alonso. On Lap 21 Massa was slowed by backmarkers allowing Alonso to close up and try a move at the Turn 6 hairpin. Massa managed to keep him behind, and Alonso chose the wrong line to challenge into the following Mercedes turn which left the Spaniard fuming into his radio yet again.

Mark Webber gradually hauled 5th place Jenson Button in reducing the gap to just 0.6 seconds on Lap 35, but the difference was illusory. For most of the lap Button was a long way clear of the Red Bull, then each lap Webber would close up in the stadium complex where the McLaren's lack of downforce allowed the Aussie to close right in... before the start/finish straight, where it started to go out again.

On Lap 39, though, the gap went out to 3.5 seconds and team radio confirmed that Webber had to drive in a certain style - not lifting on the straight - to manage what was a dwindling oil reserve.

At the front the battle between Alonso and Massa was fascinating, each driver putting in fastest laps as the gap yo-yo'd between 1.8 seconds on Lap 24 and 3.3 seconds on Lap 28. A lot of this was due to passing backmarkers in the narrow turns of the Stadium complex

LAP 41 ORDER: 1.Massa, 2.Alonso, 3.Vettel, 4.Hamilton, 5.Button, 6.Webber, 7. de la Rosa (not stopped) 8.Kubica, 9.Rosberg, 10.Schumacher, 11.Petrov, 12.Barrichello

Sebastian Vettel hadn't given up and put in three fastest laps on Laps 42, 43 and 44. He was still five seconds in arrears, though. Then over Ferrari radio came the message that Felipe Massa didn't want to hear. With a heavy heart Rob Smedley spelled out the message: "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand that message..."

It was code for the team order, 'move over and gift the win to Fernando'. Coming on the anniversary of his Hungarian accident it was a bitter pill to swallow. Massa made it look as obvious as possible by slowing after Turn 6 and allowing Alonso to drive round him on the straight. Smedley then came on the radio and said: "Okay, good lad, just stick with him, sorry."

With the result engineered to the Ferrari team's satisfaction Alonso opened up a small gap to Massa but by the end of the race it was still only four seconds. The Spaniard put in some fastest laps in the last 20 to the flag but it was Sebastian Vettel who was charging. Vettel reduced the gap to Massa to just 0.9 of a second on Lap 63 with a series of fastest laps, but then Felipe put his foot down and it went out to 2.3 seconds on Lap 66.

Alonso cruised across the line to record the Scuderia's first 1-2 since France in 2008, but it was one of the most joyless podiums since Austria 2002 when Ferrari had openly manipulated the race win to favour Michael Schumacher. What was perhaps most surprising was that the stewards decided not to investigate the race manipulation incident during the course of the race.

Vettel claimed third place and the Fastest Lap on the final lap with a 1:15.824, Hamilton and Button came home 4th and 5th, Webber a distant but still oiled 6th, followed by Kubica, Rosberg and Schumacher.

FH

Results
01. Alonso Ferrari 1h28:38.866
02. Massa Ferrari + 4.196
03. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 5.121
04. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 26.896
05. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 29.482
06. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 43.606
07. Kubica Renault + 1 lap
08. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
09. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
10. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
14. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps
17. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
19. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps

Did Not Finish

Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 58
Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 51
Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 20
Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 4
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2

Mark Webber finally has a reason to smile after emerging as Red Bull's leading driver with a victory in Sunday's British GP.

Webber took the lead in the grand prix after a bit of startline argy-bargy - pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel attempted to push Webber into the wall at the start but instead the Aussie pushed him wide and he picked up a puncture, dropping him down the order.

Without his team-mate to challenge him, Webber stormed into the lead with Lewis Hamilton initially doing a good job of harrying him before the Red Bull's race-pace clinging onto his exhaust for much of the race. Third place went to Nico Rosberg, who held off a solid challenge from Jenson Button. However, the Brit won't be too upset having started the grand prix P14 on the grid.

GP REPORT

CONDITIONS: Bright sunshine. 21C ambient, 32C track.

GRID: 1.Vettel 2.Webber, 3.Alonso, 4.Hamilton, 5.Rosberg, 6.Kubica 7.Massa, 8.Barrichello, 9.de la Rosa, 10.Schumacher, 11.Sutil, 12.Kobayashi

START: As the red lights went out, Mark Webber was quickly away, much quicker than poleman Sebastian Vettel who got too much wheelspin. Despite this Vettel thought it was a good idea to come over and try and crowd Mark Webber against the pitwall, even though he now had the inside line.

This allowed Lewis Hamilton to pull alongside the Red Bull on the inside and when Vettel swung across he found the Mclaren front wing close to the apex that gave him a puncture and helped send him wide over the kerbs. He was also ushered out wide by his team-mate pushing out to the edge of the kerbs at Copse.

Hamilton's brush with Vettel almost lost him a lot of places as he got off the throttle and was almost swamped by Kubica but managed to hang on to P3. The Red Bulls charged off towards Maggots and Beckets where Vettel's puncture kicked in and he ran over the tarmac run-off and fell to the back.

Fernando Alonso had a dreadful start from P3 on the grid and lost places straight away to Kubica and Rosberg, and coming through Becketts, Felipe Massa came alongside him and Alonso banged straight into him giving Massa a puncture and ending his chances of good points.

Jenson Button starting from 14th on the grid had managed to pick his way through to 8th place at the end of Lap 1, passing the two punctured cars plus nipping through when he saw a gap open up.

LAP ONE ORDER: 1.Webber, 2. Hamilton, 3.Kubica, 4.Rosberg, 5.Alonso, 6.Barrichello, 7.Schumacher 8.Button, 9.Kobayashi, 10.Sutil, 11.de la Rosa, 12.Petrov

RACE DEVELOPMENTS: Vettel returned slowly to the pits, even slower than Felipe Massa who limped in before him.

Mark Webber, out in front, set about putting in a series of fastest laps with Lewis Hamilton not too far back. They dropped third place Robert Kubica at a rate of knots, the Renault driver soon accumulated Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso. In fact as the race unfolded, the train stretched from Kubica in P3 down to Kobayashi (just behind Button) in P9.

Vettel, equipped with the harder tyre and not needing to stop again, was 87 seconds back on Lap 10 and in the sights of Mark Webber coming down the Hangar Straight.

By Lap 11 Hamilton had opened up a 13-second gap to Kubica and Webber was 2.7 seconds in front of the McLaren driver, who was hanging on as opposed to biding his time.

This all began to change at the end of Lap 11 when Michael Schumacher was the first of the front runners to come in for the harder Prime tyre. A lap later Alonso, Barrichello and Kobayashi pitted and on Lap 13 Robert Kubica pitted.

Kubica exited further in front of Alonso than he was before the stop, thus proving that to stop early wasn't the right decision. This left Webber leading from Hamilton; Rosberg and Button now up to P3 and P4.

On Lap 14 these front-runners all put in mid-1:35 laps showing that the softer Option tyre that they'd started on was nowhere near finished and going faster than the runners who'd switched to the harder Primes. In fact Nico Rosberg put in the fastest lap of the race before his stop at the end of Lap 15.

Fernando Alonso, who clearly had a much faster car than Robert Kubica, showed signs of wanting to get past him on Lap 16 just as Lewis Hamilton was pitting. Into Lap 17 and he got alongside Kubica into Abbey and as the Renault pushed him out wide he cut the corner over the grass and run-off for the following turn. Effectively he had overtaken Kubica not using the circuit. The Ferrari team, presumably aware of how Lewis Hamilton had been given a time penalty at Spa when short-cutting the Bus Stop chicane and not even passing Raikkonen, would have been wise to tell Alonso to give back the place, but instead he pressed on. This would have dire consequences for his race later on.

Nico Rosberg - aware that Jenson Button in P3 could leapfrog him in the pit-stops, pushed hard to get past Jaime Alguersuari into Brooklands. The Toro Rosso driver, who had started on the harder tyres wasn't going to stop any time soon and so Rosberg needed to get past. He damaged his bargeboard in the process, but it was enough to give him the clear air that meant Button - further down the road - couldn't escape. Alguersuari - having fought Rosberg - simply let Alonso go straight past.

Robert Kubica pitted again on Lap 19 with a reported broken differential at which point the positions were:

LAP 19 ORDER: 1.Webber, 2. Hamilton, 3.Button (not stopped), 4.Hulkenberg (not stopped), 5.Rosberg, 6.Alonso, 7.Alguersuari, 8.Barrichello, 9.Kobayashi, 10.Schumacher

Button finally came in for his pit-stop at the end of Lap 21 and exited in 6th (net 5th when Hulkenberg pitted) place. At this stage of the race Sebastian Vettel was so far back that he was only just passing the Virgin car of Timo Glock on Lap 25. Alonso was following close on the tail of the wounded Rosberg anxious to take net 3rd off him.

At this time the stewards finally got round to announcing that they were investigating the Kubica vs Alonso incident from Lap 17. A lap later they announced that Alonso would have to serve a drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage.

Whilst all this was happening the replay camera showed Adrian Sutil and Pedro de la Rosa coming together in a very dangerous-looking incident on the run down to Copse corner. Pedro de la Rosa had chopped across the front of Adrian Sutil and lost part of his rear wing in the process, more of it flew off on the Hangar Straight. There was so much carbon fibre out there - particularly in the run down to the 190mph turn-in for Copse that the Safety Car was deployed.

The Safety Car destroyed Alonso's afternoon and resurrected Vettel's as he was able to get a launch pad on the cars in front with a Red Bull that looked a second a lap quicker than anyone else. Alonso, unable to take his drive-through until the Safety Car came in, had to take his penalty on lap 30 when it disappeared and the race re-started, and he sank from 4th position to 16th.

Hulkenberg and Alguersuari had taken their pit-stops under the safety Car and were now in their rightful positions.

LAP 31 ORDER: 1.Webber, 2. Hamilton, 3.Rosberg 4.Button 4.Hulkenberg 5.Barrichello, 6.Kobayashi, 7.Schumacher, 8.Sutil, 9.Hulkenberg, 10.Petrov

The race restarted on Lap 31 and straight away Adrian Sutil was diving up the inside of Michael Schumacher into Brooklands corner to grab 7th place, whilst Alonso was duelling unsuccessfully (at first) with Buemi for P15. However it was Sebastian Vettel who had been given a new lease of life. Having restarted in P14 he was up to P11 by Lap 34 and P9 by Lap 38.

Felipe Massa also had the chance to resurrect his afternoon from P12 at the restart but was faring a lot worse, and when he dropped the car and flat-spotted his tyres, a sudden unannounced appearance in the pitlane surprised even his mechanics.

Vettel's charge up the field stopped at Adrian Sutil who was extremely adept at keeping the Red Bull behind him despite Vettel's obvious speed advantage. He was helped by yellow flags into the Brooklands turn, brought about by the beached Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari, who slid wide at Luffield on Lap 46.

At the front Mark Webber was under no threat from Lewis Hamilton, but although Jenson Button was just a second back from the injured Nico Rosberg, the Mclaren driver was so marginal on fuel that he couldn't challenge for the final podium place. Behind him Rubens Barrichello held station with Kamui Kobayashi looking in his rear mirrors to see when Vettel would be making his way through.

Vettel finally passed Sutil after banging wheels with him on the penultimate lap, an inelegant but effective way to get past. Sutil had been driving defensively and in the closing stages Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg joined the Sutil train before Sebastian finally broke free.

As Webber crossed the line the Aussie pointedly remarked that the result was "not bad for a No.2 driver". It had been a thoroughly deserved and unchallenged victory. Lewis Hamilton was not far off at the flag but Webber had managed the gap all the way.

The new Silverstone circuit had provided an eventful high-speed race, but which gave no reward to the Ferrari team, but significant points for Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, Williams and Sauber. It will also probably mark the last time that anyone tries to take a front wing off Mark Webber's car and give it to his team-mate.

FH

Results
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h24:38.200
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1.360
3. Rosberg Mercedes + 21.307
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 21.986
5. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 31.456
6. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 32.171
7. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 36.734
8. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 40.932
9. Schumacher Mercedes + 41.599
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 42.012
11. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 42.459
12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 47.627
13. Petrov Renault + 59.374
14. Alonso Ferrari + 1:02.385
15. Massa Ferrari + 1:07.489
16. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 45 lap
De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 30 lap
Kubica Renault 20 lap
Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 10 lap

Sebastian Vettel claimed only his second victory of the season in Europe, a race that was marred by his team-mate's horrific shunt and a nine-car stewards investigation.

Vettel held off an early attack from Lewis Hamilton damaging the front wing of the McLaren as they touched in Turn 2 of the opening lap. Webber fell to P9 in a disastrous opening lap. But the Aussie's afternoon got considerbaly worse when he misjudged an overtaking move on Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus and sent his car airborne.

Luckily he was uninjured but the race was marred with controversy over the release of the Safety Car, which failed to pick up leader Vettel and came out virtually alongside the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton who sped onwards but accepted a belated drive-through penalty. Too late in Fernando Alonso's outspoken opinion.

GP REPORT

CONDITIONS: Bright sunshine. 26C ambient, 46C track.

GRID: 1.Vettel 2.Webber, 3.Hamilton, 4.Alonso, 5.Massa, 6.Kubica 7.Button, 8.Hulkenberg, 9.Barrichello, 10.Petrov, 11.Buemi, 12.Rosberg

START: As the red lights went out, Lewis Hamilton jinked easily inside Mark Webber and was into P2 well before the big stop for Turn 2. In fact Lewis looked to try and make a move on Sebastian Vettel into Turn 2 but was only three quarters alongside when Vettel shut the door and the two cars touched momentarily. Bits flew off Hamilton's front wing but they both got away with it.

Behind them, Fernando Alonso saw the opportunity to get past Mark Webber when Webber ran wide defending against Hamilton. Massa got past him too and then Robert Kubica, Webber and Jenson Button all piled into Turn 8 together sending Mark back into P9.

Further back Nico Rosberg went off temporarily at Turn 4 and Rubens Barrichello managed to get the jump on team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

LAP ONE ORDER: 1.Vettel, 2. Hamilton, 3.Alonso, 4.Massa, 5.Kubica, 6.Button, 7.Barrichello, 8.Hulkenberg, 9.Webber, 10.Buemi, 11.Schumacher

RACE DEVELOPMENTS: With Hamilton's front wing wounded, Vettel began to draw away and was 2.9 seconds ahead by Lap 4. Four laps later Mark Webber decided there was nothing to lose by pitting for tyres early. He came in and rejoined way back in P19.

His early stop put him behind Heikki Kovalainen and coming into the braking area for Turn 16 Webber tried to get a tow from the Lotus slipstream. He misjudged Kovalainen's braking point and slammed into the back of him, launching the car high up into the air, and flipping it over.

Thankfully the car landed back on four wheels then slammed hard into the tyre barriers at speed. It was a heart-stopping moment and to everyone's great relief Webber threw out the steering wheel, showing that he was only shaken from the incident.

The result of the accident was a Safety Car and this is where the race was thrown into confusion. The Safety Car notice came up just as Kubica and Button were passing the pitlane entrance and everyone from 5th place Kubica down was able to pit straight away, while Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Massa continued on.

However the Safety Car, when it came out, didn't pick up Vettel, but emerged from the pitlane at speed, veering over the white blend line just as Hamilton came alongside on the race track. And while Hamilton continued, the Ferraris dutifully fell in line behind it, before making their stop for tyres - Massa stacked behind Alonso losing the Brazilian even more time than the Spaniard.

Replays that were shown 10 laps later revealed that the Safety Car had reached the first Safety Car line just metres ahead of the McLaren going past, so technically Lewis had overtaken it. This infringement would take 12 laps to sort out.

So when the Safety Car got its full train of vehicles the order was: 1.Vettel, 2.Hamilton, 3.Kobayashi (not stopped), 4.Button, 5.Barrichello, 6.Kubica, 7.Buemi, 8.Sutil, 9.Hulkenberg, 10.Alonso, with Felipe Massa now back in P17. Ferrari had been the big loser.

The race restarted on Lap 14 and Sebastian Vettel ran very very slowly before unleashing the field. He was very lucky to hang on to P1 because he got his braking wrong on cold tyres, slewing his car wide going into the final turn, but Lewis Hamilton was unable to take advantage.

Vettel and Hamilton tore away leaving Kobayashi setting a fair pace in P3, but holding up Jenson Button in P4 - the rest of the field holding position. At which point the television coverage switched to a ranting Fernando Alonso who was asking his team to get Hamilton penalised for overtaking the Safety Car.

On Lap 20 we got the message through that Car 2 was under investigation, and three laps later Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty for his actions. Lewis stayed out on track for as long as he could under the rules, then cruised down the pitlane on Lap 27, but still managed to come out in front of Kobayashi to retain his second place. Ferrari were not happy.

The drive-through had robbed the spectators of an epic battle at the front, because now Vettel had seen a 1.7 second gap to Hamilton go out to 14.5. Back with the Ferrari team an enraged Fernando Alonso asked what position Lewis was before and what position Lewis was now. And then spat the dummy.

LAP 33 ORDER: 1.Vettel, 2. Hamilton, 3.Kobayashi (not stopped), 4.Button, 5.Barrichello, 6.Kubica, 7.Buemi, 8.Sutil, 9.Alonso, 10.Hulkenberg

Robert Kubica spent almost the entire race in close attendance to Rubens Barrichello's gearbox and on Lap 33 his team advised him to start getting some clear air to cool the car.

At the front, Lewis Hamilton managed to whittle his 14.5 second defecit down to 11.2 before he came across the Senna and Glock battle at the tail of the field. Both ignored blue flags for more than three corners and held Hamilton up so that when he was past he was back to 12.6 seconds behind Vettel again.

Glock then tried a move on Senna just as Kobayashi and Button were coming up to lap them and slammed his Virgin into the HRT car, almost taking out Kobayashi in the process. It was certainly something that the stewards should be investigating but around that time they were still reviewing the Delta times of cars 1,9,10,11,12,14,15,16,22 - the suspicion being that all these cars got back to the pits too quickly once the SC had been deployed after the Webber accident.

A few laps later they announced that they would investigate all this after the race. Fernando Alonso's engineer radioed the good news of his potential elevation back to his driver with the cautionary note: "So I want you to be very wise and cool now."

On Lap 38 Sutil had finally managed to find a way past Sebastian Buemi for P7, but Alonso was still stuck behind him in P9. Further up the road Jenson Button was playing a waiting game, waiting for Kobayashi to come in for his one compulsory pit-stop. Though Jenson could have run quicker, Kobayashi was putting in the drive of his life on ageing Prime tyres, and on Lap 46 put in the fastest middle sector of anyone! He was just 0.3 off the fastest lap - an astonishing performance by the Japanese driver.

Nico Hulkenberg who had emitted ominous blue smoke a few laps earlier, retired his Williams on Lap 50 with flailing rubber from a rear tyre and frayed bodywork. Although Lewis Hamilton had closed to 6.9 seconds on Lap 51, Vettel re-set the Fastest Lap at 1:39.141 to open the gap to 8.0 seconds and demonstrate that he had the pace of he was pushed. So that was that.

Finally on Lap 53 Kobayashi came in for his softer Option tyres which dropped him back to 9th place. However he had fresh tyres and was right behind Fernando Alonso. As Alonso pressed Buemi for 7th, Kobayashi used his opportunity and pulled off the most exquisite passing move on the Ferrari into Turn 16.

More was to come; on the closing lap he went one better by overtaking Sebastien Buemi into the final corner and claiming seventh place - a brilliant result for Sauber and with some of the cars in front of him still under investigation, he could finish higher still.

Jenson Button without Kobyashi in the way accelerated to put in three fast laps "for fun" and claim a fastest lap with a 1:38.766. So Vettel took the victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Button, Barrichello in 4th, Kubica in 5th, Adrian Sutil in 6th and Kobayashi 7th. A crestfallen Buemi came home 8th with a bitter Alonso in 9th and Pedro de la Rosa 10th.

However these results are all provisional while stewards investigate the various infractions and mete out penalties. Whatever the case, the Valencia GP had produced a fascinating race, with more overtaking than usual and a scary accident which was a relief to watch Mark Webber walk away from. The Aussie's biggest regret was that he had lost his Monaco-winning chassis, but he had kept something far more precious.

FH

Results
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h40:29.571
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 5.042
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 7.658
4. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 20.627
5. Kubica Renault + 22.122
6. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 25.168
7. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 30.965
8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 31.299
9. Alonso Ferrari + 32.809
10. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 42.414
11. Petrov Renault + 43.287
12. Rosberg Mercedes + 44.382
13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 45.890
14. Massa Ferrari + 46.621
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 48.239
16. Schumacher Mercedes + 48.826
17. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 4 laps
Did Not Finish
Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 50
Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 9
Webber Red Bull-Renault 9

Lewis Hamilton won arguably the race of the season, surviving the heated action, tyre changes and argy-bargy to claim his second Canadian GP win.

Though the McLaren team had gambled on an early Safety Car period to allow them to change their fast-graining option tyres, they and Ferrari were able to out-wit the Red Bull team who started on the harder tyre. And they did it despite no Safety Car being deployed in the entire race.

Eventually Jenson Button took advantage of backmarker blocking to get past Alonso and make it a McLaren 1-2, with Vettel in 4th, Webber coming home in 5th, Rosberg in 6th and Robert Kubica in 7th place.

Michael Schumacher finished out of the points after making contact with several drivers in a performance that the BBC's Martin Brundle dubbed as "Appalling".

GP REPORT

PRE-RACE NEWS Mark Webber changed his gearbox after qualifying, dropping from 2nd to 7th on the grid.

CONDITIONS: Bright sunshine. 25C ambient, 39C track.

GRID: 1.Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3.Alonso, 4.Button, 5.Liuzzi, 6.Massa, 7.Webber, 8.Kubica, 9.Sutil, 10.Rosberg, 11.Barrichello, 12.Hulkenberg

START: As the red lights went out, Hamilton moved across to cover the racing line and could easily defend his position into Turn 1. Fernando Alonso had a small go at Vettel but nothing much. Felipe Massa got a great start from P6 and was challenging Jenson Button's fourth place going into Turn 1. Unfortunately Tonio Liuzzi wasn't prepared to let his P5 grid position go and tried to squeeze up the inside of Massa.

Massa closed in on the apex and hit Liuzzi, the contact with the Force India pushed Massa onto Button who scraped through. This contact put Massa out wide again into Tonio Liuzzi and the two cars had multiple contact before Liuzzi was turned round.

CASUALTIES: Vitaly Petrov's race had started before everyone else's (with a jumped start) and then, as he powered forward past the slow-starting Barrichello, he put two wheels on the grass. His Renault slewed sideways and into the side of the unfortunate Pedro de la Rosa. So at the end of lap one, Liuzzi, de la Rosa and Massa were all back in the pits. Petrov was able to continue in second to last place.

It didn't get any better for the Sauber team as at the end of the opening lap Kobayashi was challenging Nico Hulkenberg coming into the final turn. In defending the place Hulkenberg skipped the chicane, but Kobayashi hit the kerb hard, bouncing into the Champions' Wall.

It looked as though he might leave the car there and bring out a Safety Car, (something that the Option tyre runners were hoping for) but he stopped for a few seconds, shed his front wing and moved off down the track before retiring.

LAP ONE ORDER: 1.Hamilton, 2.Vettel, 3.Alonso, 4.Button, 5.Webber, 6.Kubica, 7.Sutil, 8.Schumacher, 9.Hulkenberg, 10.Alguersuari, 11.Buemi, 12.Kovalainen

RACE DEVELOPMENTS: With the raised temperatures on race day it was expected that the soft Option tyre would last longer than the teams expected. In reality it was worse. By Lap 3, Mark Webber was already looking to get past Jenson in P4 and by Lap 5 he'd make a move stick into Turn 8.

Webber wasn't quite alongside by the turn but Button was wise enough to let the place go. At the end of Lap 6 Button and Sutil both pitted to get rid of their badly graining tyres.

Only Vettel, Webber and Kubica had started on the harder Prime tyre and so there was a rush of pit-stops for those in the Top 10 who had qualified on the soft Option. Hamilton and Alonso came in at the end of Lap 7.

Hamilton had been a couple of seconds in front of Alonso in P3 going into the pitlane but a faster pit-stop from the Ferrari meant that he was heading for the pitlane just as Lewis was released. Had Alonso already been in the pitlane then Hamilton might have been looking at a penalty for unsafe release, but because their garages are next to each other, it couldn't be called.

As it was, the two cars cruised to the end of the pitlane side by side and because Alonso had the inside line, when they rejoined the circuit Hamilton realised he wasn't going to retrieve the place.

LAP 8 ORDER:1.Vettel, 2.Webber 3.Kubica, 4.Schumacher, 5.Buemi, 6.Alonso, 7.Kovalainen, 8.Hamilton, 9.Button, 10.Sutil, 11.DiGrassi, 12.Petrov

Alonso was the leading early pit-stopper. At this stage, strategically, Red Bull should have brought their cars in to cover the two Mclarens and Ferrari, but they didn't appreciate how quickly they'd be caught. Also, they didn't reckon on the other hard tyre users, such as Buemi and Kubica, pitting so early and getting out of the way.

Kubica was in at the end of Lap 9; Schumacher pitted from P3 on Lap 12. When Michael came back out on track he found Robert Kubica on his inside. Despite the Renault being there he kept moving onto Kubica's line until the Pole was pushed onto the grass.

Kubica responded in typical robust fashion by trying to stick his Renault (on much warmer tyres) up the inside into Turn 4. Michael went to turn in on him, found that he couldn't because there was a car there (at which point both drivers had left their braking so late that they both cut the apex and went across the grass). Schumacher picked up a puncture and had to return to the pits and Kubica took on some front wing damage.

While all this was going on the McLarens and Ferrari were going a second quicker than the Red Bulls. On Lap 13 Mark Webber pitted for hard tyres, on Lap 14 Sebastian Vettel pitted for soft tyres, leaving Buemi in the lead of the race and the two Red Bulls back in net 4th and 5th positions.

Buemi didn't remain out on track to enjoy his lead much longer and was being harried by Fernando Alonso on Lap 15. Alonso tried to overtake Buemi around the outside at the Casino Hairpin and the closely following Lewis Hamilton saw an opportunity and dived up the inside.

Buemi held the place and the Mclaren couldn't get the traction to make a pass on Alonso, but it did place Hamilton very tight on the Ferrari gearbox going into the long back straight where he could use his straight line speed to get ahead of him going into the final chicane. Buemi pitted.

LAP 15 ORDER:1.Hamilton, 2.Alonso, 3.Button, 4.Vettel, 5.Webber 6.Kubica, 7.Sutil, 8.Buemi, 9.Rosberg, 10.Kovalainen

Rosberg was now back in the Top Ten having taken advantage of the excursions of Michael Schumacher. Adrian Sutil was keen to get past the Renault of Robert Kubica who looked to have parts swinging loose on the back of his Renault.

For the first time in a breathless opening half an hour, the race settled into a pattern. On Lap 24 Lewis Hamilton led the race and there was just 6.1 seconds between him and fifth placed Mark Webber.

It all changed on Lap 26 when Lewis Hamilton pitted for the second time. Lewis handed the lead over to Fernando Alonso who immediately saw his opportunity and put the hammer down with a 1:19.050 Fastest Lap. While all this was happening Kubica and Sutil were still battling it out for P6.

Sutil finally got the better of him passing on the outside before the final chicane. Kubica - on the inside - decided he wanted to go into the pitlane which meant he could brake much later. Instead of waiting for Sutil to turn in for the final corner, he shot down the inside and across the bows of Sutil before he could turn. It looked incredibly risky and the stewards decided they wanted to investigate the incident after the race.

Having got past Kubica, Sutil's luck suddenly deserted him as he picked up a slow puncture and limped round the track for an entire lap before he could pit.

Button and Vettel decided to pit a lap later than Hamilton and rejoined the track in the same order. Alonso came in a lap later, but because he'd been badly blocked by a backmarker - frustratingly, after just setting the fastest lap - instead of rejoining in the lead, came out behind Lewis Hamilton.

LAP 29 ORDER:1. Webber (stopped once), 2.Hamilton, 3.Alonso, 4.Button, 5.Vettel, 6.Buemi (stopped once), 7.Kubica, 8.Rosberg, 9.Schumacher, 10. Alguersuari (stopped once).

Everyone had now run the two different compounds except leader Mark Webber who still needed to change onto the soft Option tyre. But with 30 laps gone and 40 still to go, he couldn't make them last to the flag and so had to hang on at the front and make his Prime tyres last.

To start with, his gap to Lewis Hamilton was 9.7 seconds; he moved it out to 11.8 seconds by Lap 36, but then the two McLarens, the Ferrari and his team-mate began to close in. To get in and out of the pits and keep his lead he needed 16 seconds and the only person he had that margin on was his team-mate.

Slowly the gap came down. By Lap 42 it was 8.2 seconds and then the Red Bull started to catch the Massa vs Liuzzi vs Sutil vs Alguersuari battle and by Lap 47 Hamilton had caught him up.At this stage it looked like everyone else was going to try and make their tyres last to the finish. With Kubica over half a minute back in P6, Webber had an easy gap to fall back into, but Hamilton wasn't waiting for him to pit and overtook him on Lap 50 going into Turn 1. Luckily for the following Alonso, Webber pitted the following lap. Fernando had put in a series of fastest laps to keep in touch with Hamilton and was ready to take advantage of any McLaren slip up.

LAP 52 ORDER:1.Hamilton, 2.Alonso, 3.Button, 4.Vettel, 5. Webber 6.Kubica, 7.Rosberg 8.Buemi, 9.Schumacher, 10.Hulkenberg

With the order now set at the front it was a question of who was going to last to the flag and who wasn't. The hard tyres that were taken on on Lap 26, lap 27 and Lap 28 had already run a lot of distance.

Fernando Alonso looked to be holding a watching brief in P2 - a couple of seconds back from Hamilton and a second in front of Button. But then on Lap 56 Button came through in front of the Ferrari. Replays showed that Fernando Alonso had got tucked up behind a Hispania car at the exit of Turn 7 and had lost momentum onto the straight that followed. Button swept through at speed and dived inside the Ferrari into Turn 8 for what looked a relatively easy pass.

It was the third time in the afternoon that Alonso had suffered from running up against a slower car in the wrong place. He could have won, but now he was in P3.

Neither Red Bulls mounted a charge to the flag, indeed a gearbox problem lost Vettel a lot of time in the closing stages with his car finishing out on track after the chequered flag. Robert Kubica pitted one last time on Lap 60 to hand P6 to Nico Rosberg and then he set about lowering the lap record on new tyres and low fuel in vain pursuit.

Michael Schumacher had had an eventful race, running into the back of Robert Kubica in Turn 1, rallycrossing with him later on and then tangling with Felipe Massa on Lap 63. After pitting on Lap 1 Massa had climbed steadily through the field, jousting with the Force Indias along the way.

Schumachers' tyres were degrading fast in the closing stages and he was being hauled in by Massa at a rate of knots. Going into the final chicane Schumi blocked Massa on the inside, then moved back out to take the line. When he braked earlier than Massa expected it pitched Massa onto the grass, deranging his front wing against the barriers and losing him what would have been a 9th place finish. (The stewards would investigate this after the race along with Kubica's sudden pitlane entry)

Schumacher was then caught by the Force India gang of Liuzzi and Sutil. Liuzzi was clearly much faster than Schumacher but couldn't find an easy way past - Schumacher skipping the final chicane to keep in front at times. So on the final lap Liuzzi - who'd been battered by many in the race - muscled his way up the inside of Schumacher and didn't back off. The two cars both lost a lot of carbon fibre allowing the pursuing Sutil also to get past the Mercedes too.

But it was a jubilant Hamilton who took the win followed home very closely by Jenson Button and a subdued Fernando Alonso thinking of what might have been. It was an epic race, and one where tyre degradation was at its most severe. Whether we will get another aggressive surface like Montreal before the end of the season is anyone's guess... but everybody's wish.

FH

Results
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h33:53.456
02. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 2.254
03. Alonso Ferrari + 9.214
04. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 37.817
05. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 39.291
06. Rosberg Mercedes + 56.084
07. Kubica Renault + 57.300
08. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
09. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. Petrov Renault + 2 laps
18. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
19. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 5 laps
Did Not Finish
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 50
Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 43
De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 31
Senna HRT-Cosworth 14
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 2

Lewis Hamilton took advantage of Red Bull's worst nightmare to claim his first victory in ten races in Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix.

Putting pressure on the Red Bulls throughout the grand prix, Hamilton never allowed polesitter Mark Webber to pull away from him. However, a small problem with his tyres in his pit-stop meant he lost out to Sebastian Vettel, dropping to third.

But instead of falling away as some believed would happen, Hamilton kept the pressure on; forcing Vettel to make an ill-advised pass on Webber that saw him crash out of the race and demote his team-mate to third.

McLaren's 1-2 was almost lost when Button and Hamilton tried running side by side through four successive corners, but Hamilton eventually won out.

Michael Schumacher posted his best result of the season with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg coming home in 5th place.

PRE-RACE NEWS After an oil leak, Luca DiGrassi had to return to the Virgin garage for some urgent engineering. Both Vettel and Webber had their anti-roll bar bolts changed in Parc Ferme.

CONDITIONS: Bright sunshine. 28C ambient, 48C track.

GRID: 1. Webber, 2.Hamilton, 3.Vettel, 4.Button, 5.Schumacher, 6.Rosberg, 7.Kubica, 8.Massa, 9.Petrov, 10.Kobayashi, 11.Sutil, 12.Alonso

START: As the red lights went out, the cars at the back of the grid were hardly formed up. Even though the run to Turn 1 is short in Turkey, the inside is very dirty and Hamilton in P2 and Button in P4 lost a place to Vettel and Schumacher respectively.

Further back down the field there were few big changes of position, but both McLarens were keen to rectify their Turn 1 losses. Hamilton muscled his way back past Vettel while Jenson Button used his F-duct to overtake Michael Schumacher on the inside into Turn 12 at the end of the lap.

CASUALTIES: Buemi and Hulkenberg had a coming together and both returned to the pits to rejoin at the back.

LAP ONE ORDER: 1.Webber, 2.Hamilton, 3.Vettel, 4.Button, 5.Schumacher 6. Rosberg, 7.Kubica, 8.Massa, 9.Petrov, 10.Kobayashi, 11.Sutil, 12.Alonso

RACE DEVELOPMENTS: The opening stint of the race was encouraging to the McLaren team because it looked like Webber was holding Hamilton up. Though the McLarens couldn't hang on to the Red Bulls through the quadruple apex of Turn 8, they were able to close back up through Turn 11 to be right on their gearbox at Turn 12.

The two Red Bulls and the two McLarens raced away from the rest of the field which were being held back by Nico Rosberg with Michael Schumacher a few seconds down the road from his team-mate. Through the first 12 laps, each of the front four drivers set at least one fastest lap.

All the front-runners had started on the softer Option tyre, and Kubica and Massa came in to change theirs first on Lap 13. Though they were running nose to tail before the stop, they exited in the same order.

On Lap 14, Vettel and Schumacher pitted, at which point Jenson Button started to put the hammer down. Button put in two successive fastest laps on Lap 16 and 17. Webber and Hamilton came in together and exited in the same order - Hamilton having to wait to be released because the cars were so close. In doing so, that let Vettel through in front of Hamilton but still behind Webber.

Button came in at the end of Lap 17, just as Sebastian Vettel's harder Prime tyres were up to temperature and he set a new fastest lap. Thus when Button emerged from the pitlane he was still back in P4.

LAP 18 ORDER: 1.Webber, 2.Vettel, 3.Hamilton 4.Button, 5.Schumacher, 6.Rosberg, 7.Kubica, 8.Massa, 9.Petrov, 10.Alonso, 11.Kobayashi, 12.Sutil

However Lewis Hamilton wasn't at all happy about being demoted a place in the pit-stops and indeed it looked a strategic victory for Red Bull to get their cars into 1-2 when both Mclarens looked capable of running quicker. Hamilton had one serious attempt at overtaking Vettel on the outside into Turn 12, but overran the corner and dropped back behind his gearbox.

Everyone continued in the same order with one eye on the weather radar. As early as Lap 16 rain was visible falling in the distance and by Lap 20 it had come through as a "rain expected" message to the teams from Race Control.

The group of four at the front continued to establish a massive gap to 5th placed Michael Schumacher. On lap 26 there was just 2.6 seconds covering the front four and then the Mercedes driver was 24 seconds in arrears. Behind him Nico Rosberg had picked up a train of Kubica, Massa, Petrov and Alonso.

The rain still held off and the pressing McLarens looked like they were waiting for it to arrive rather than try a risky overtaking move. The leading foursome swapped fastest laps between them. Jenson Button was able to drop back and close up at will, giving himself a gap and then setting four fastest laps from Lap 31 to Lap 34 to close it up again.

Then on Lap 38 as a few very minor rain drops began to spatter the camera lenses, Sebastian Vettel started to close on Mark Webber through Turn 11. On lap 40 he was very close and made a move up the inside - coming into the braking zone for Turn 12 Webber had kept so far left on the track that both cars looked to be off the racing line.

Vettel edged ahead but on the dirty side of the track his car suddenly moved right and into Webber's and both spun across the run-off and bumps on the outside of Turn 12. Vettel caused the contact but it was debatable whether either of the cars were going to make the turn properly on the line they were approaching - in which case the Mclarens just behind them would both be through.

As it was Vettel retired and Webber limped round before getting a new front wing. The good thing being that they were so far in front of 4th place - 35 seconds at this stage - that Webber had more than enough time for a leisurely pit-stop.

The Red Bull coming together gifted McLaren a 1-2, and Button was clearly faster than Hamilton, closing up to 0.7 of a second. The McLaren cars were supposedly told to save fuel, but on Lap 48 Jenson Button closed right up on Hamilton and overtook him around the outside of Turn 12 in a move that continued through three corners, down onto the start/finish straight.

Hamilton then managed to get the inside line into Turn 1 on Lap 49 and they bumped wheel-to-wheel on the exit. After that they calmed down and slowed by two seconds a lap on their cruise to the flag and a 1-2 win.

The only drama in the closing stages was Fernando Alonso's overtaking of Vitaly Petrov. Petrov had resisted a lot of pressure from Alonso whose engineer told him as early as Lap 35 that the Russian wouldn't last under the pressure. Alonso finally fashioned a way through on Lap 52 and clipped Petrov's tyre on the way past, giving the Renault driver a puncture that took him out of the points.

Mark Webber brought his car home in third followed by Schumacher, Rosberg, Kubica, Massa and Alonso. Ferrari celebrated their 800th GP with a 7th and 8th place. Adrian Sutil (9th) had overtaken Kamui Kobayashi who brought his Sauber home for only his second finish of the season and the last point in 10th place.

It had been a dramatic grand prix with a lot of inter-team-mate strife. The body language of the Mclaren drivers afterwards suggested there might be an extensive debrief session about fuel conservation- but not as long as the one at Red Bull...

FH

Results
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h28:47.620
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 2.645
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 24.285
4. Schumacher Mercedes + 31.110
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 32.266
6. Kubica Renault + 32.824
7. Massa Ferrari + 36.635
8. Alonso Ferrari + 46.544
9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 49.029
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.650
11. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1:05.944
12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:07.800
13. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
16. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
Did not finish
Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 53
Senna HRT-Cosworth 47
Vettel Red Bull-Renault 40
Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 34
Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 33