German Grand Prix

13th July 2009

Red Bull was once again on a charge at last weekend’s German grand prix with Mark Webber scoring a sensational maiden Formula One victory.

The Australian ace put on a dominant performance, overcoming a drive-through penalty to finish ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel and the resurgent Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

For championship leader Jenson Button this race was an exercise in damage limitation. His Brawn GP machine struggled for grip in the cool conditions, meaning the English star had to settle for fifth at the flag after a rather uneventful race.

The same couldn’t be said for eventual winner Webber. Right from the start the pole-sitter was in the wars. Before even getting the first corner he’d been involved in collisions with the fast starting McLaren of Lewis Hamilton – resulting in a puncture for the defending champion – and the Brawn GP of Rubens Barrichello. The latter incident led to the Red Bull driver serving a drive through penalty on lap 15.

However, with race leader Barrichello taking the first of his three stops at the same time Webber was able emerge from the pit lane at the head of the field. And with his main challengers stuck behind the heavily fuelled McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen the Australian was able to put in a series of blisteringly fast laps to put him in the perfect position for victory.

For his team mate Sebastian Vettel there was less to cheer about. The young German won last time out at the British grand prix, but never looked like being in contention this time as slower cars carrying more fuel continually thwarted his efforts.

Behind him Felipe Massa fought his way up from eighth on the grid to take the final podium position. The Brazilian used the extra straight line pace of his KERS equipped Ferrari to make up places off the line, then managed to keep faster cars behind him until the flag.

The Williams of Nico Rosberg closely followed Massa home, with the final points positions taken by the Brawn GPs of Button and Barrichello, the Renault of Fernando Alonso and Kovalainen.

But a long way ahead of them all was Mark Webber. “It is an incredible day for me”, he said. “I wanted to win so badly after Silverstone. I thought I had a good chance there. But after yesterday’s pole position I knew I was in a good position. The team had been incredibly patient with me as well and I want to thank them for what they did for me over the winter as well. Everyone in Australia that has supported me on the way through, and of course there are a few people who doubted me too as well, so hello to them as well. It is just an incredible day for all the people who have helped me get to where I am.”

Next up the teams travel to the Hungarian grand prix on 26 July.

Result

1. Webber        Red Bull-Renault

2. Vettel        Red Bull-Renault

3. Massa         Ferrari

4. Rosberg       Williams-Toyota

5. Button        Brawn-Mercedes

6. Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes

7. Alonso        Renault

8. Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes

9. Glock         Toyota

10. Heidfeld      BMW Sauber

11. Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes

12. Nakajima      Williams-Toyota

13.  Piquet        Renault

14. Kubica        BMW Sauber

15. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes

16. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari

17. Trulli        Toyota

18. Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes

Driver championship

1.         Jenson Button           68

2.         Sebastian Vettel          47

3.         Mark Webber          45.5

4.         Rubens Barrichello          44

5.         Felipe Massa          22

6.         Jarno Trulli          21.5

7.         Nico Rosberg          20.5

8.Timo Glock          13

9.         Fernando Alonso          13

10.         Kimi Räikkönen          10

Constructor championship

1.         Brawn-Mercedes           112

2.         RBR-Renault          92.5

3.         Toyota          34.5

4.         Ferrari          32

5.         Williams-Toyota          20.5

6.         McLaren-Mercedes          14

7.         Renault          13

8.         BMW Sauber          8

9.         STR-Ferrari          5

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