2009 F1 : Vettel leads Red Bull 1-2 in British GP

2009 British Grand Prix Winner : Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing-Renault - Getty image via Redbull Racing

SILVERSTONE, UK : June 21, 2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) raced beyond his years at Silverstone on Sunday, winning the British Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull team mate Mark Webber.


It was a hat-trick for the young German who took pole, set the fastest lap, and cruised to an unchallenged victory. It was Red Bull Racing's second 1-2 result.

Rubens Barrichello was third for Brawn GP but championship leader Jenson Button returned his worst result of the year, finishing off the podium for the first time, but comfortably retaining his lead.

Felipe Massa was fourth for Ferrari but was chased very hard over the closing laps by Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota). The final points positions went to Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)

As the race got under way, the top four cars of Vettel, Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes), Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) and Jarno Trulli (Toyota) all maintained position, but Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) had a demon start, moving up from ninth on the grid to fifth by the first corner.

Championship leader Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) went backwards, dropping from sixth on the grid to ninth.

Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) had a big accident in qualifying in which he wrote off his car. A new one had been prepared for him, but he was still in the garage as the rest of the field formed up on the grid and he began the race from the pit lane.

At the end of the first lap, the running order was Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota), Räikkönen, Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota), Trulli, Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Button and Timo Glock (Toyota).

On the second lap, Button got past Massa to eighth while reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) had moved up from 19th on the grid to 15th.

Over the first two laps, Vettel opened up a 2.5 sec lead over Barrichello.

On lap 3, Fernando Alonso (Renault) was being caught by Hamilton and under pressure, he ran wide off the left of the track. Hamilton was forced to swerve right and off the track as Alonso dived back onto the tarmac. Hamilton had to lift off, allowing Kubica ,

On lap 3, Alonso ran wide and forced Hamilton to run wide on the right allowing Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), who he had already overtaken, to catch up and pass. Vettel set a lap time of 1'21.823 as he increased his lead.

Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) was called by his pit to return for a new front wing, but he elected to stay out until his first scheduled pit stop before changing it.

Nakajima was the first to come into the pits for a refuel and new tyres on lap 15. Vettel set a new fastest lap time of 1'20.735 as Räikkönen also made a pit stop, staying on the soft tyres.

Rosberg, Trulli and Button all pitted together and found their cars a handful running with cold tyres and full tanks.

Webber pitted on lap 20 and the pit crew timed the stop to perfection, the Red Bull rejoining a fraction of a second ahead of the Brawn of Barrichello and ahead in second place. Vettel pitted on the next lap, retaining the soft option tyres, and rejoined with his 22-sec lead over Webber intact and Red Bull in a 1-2 race position.

Massa was the last of the top ten runners to make his pit stop and the long stint worked well for him, elevating him from 11th on the grid to fifth. Nakajima on the other hand had started fifth and dropped to ninth.

Leading Positions on Lap 25

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Vettel, Sebastian Red Bull-Renault
2 Webber, Mark Red Bull-Renault +21.5
3 Barrichello, Rubens Brawn-Mercedes +25.2
4 Rosberg, Nico Williams-Toyota +26.4
5 Massa, Felipe Ferrari +30.1
6 Trulli, Jarno Toyota +35.4
7 Räikkönen, Kimi Ferrari +36.7
8 Button, Jenson Brawn-Mercedes +37.9
9 Nakajima, Kazuki Williams-Toyota +39.5
10 Fisichella, Giancarlo Force India-Mercedes +43.9

With a 21-second lead over team mate Webber, who in turn had 6.7 sec over Barrichello, Vettel dropped his pace by a second a lap

Ironically, two world champions - Alonso and Hamilton - were a lap down and battling over 16th place. Hamilton got a tow down the main straight and pulled out to get past the Spaniard before Copse. He then had Alonso's team mate Nelson Piquet 0.4 sec ahead of him in the second Renault. One lap later he had it all to do again as Alonso got ahead once more. Alonso then got past Piquet and managed to start to open up a gap as Piquet went defensive to Hamilton's moves.

Heikki Kovalainen was one of the last to make his first pit stop. He rejoined right in front of team mate Hamilton who was able to get past the Finn on the long back straight. Sébastien Bourdais tried to follow Hamilton through but Kovalainen blocked him and Bourdais ran into the back of the McLaren, taking the front wing off his Toro Rosso-Ferrari and damaging Kovalainen's car terminally. Both retired.

Leading Positions on Lap 40:

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Vettel, Sebastian Red Bull-Renault
2 Webber, Mark Red Bull-Renault +17.8
3 Barrichello, Rubens Brawn-Mercedes +36.6
4 Rosberg, Nico Williams-Toyota +37.5
5 Massa, Felipe Ferrari +38.1
6 Trulli, Jarno Toyota +50.0
7 Räikkönen, Kimi Ferrari +50.5
8 Button, Jenson Brawn-Mercedes +53.2
9 Fisichella, Giancarlo Force India-Mercedes +58.5
10 Glock, Timo Toyota +59.7

Vettel made his final pit stop on lap 44, taking on hard tyres and sufficient fuel to see him through to the end. Massa copied the move a lap later followed by Webber who had inherited the lead.

Button's pit stop worked very well for him, lifting him up to sixth place ahead of Trulli and Räikkönen.

With six laps to go, fourth-placed Massa had Rosberg 1.2 sec behind him and Button closing fast from a further 4.1 sec back as he set his personal best lap of the race - 1'21.189.

But although Button closed up on Rosberg, who in turn got closer to Massa, the turbulent air off the back of the cars prevented any changes of position.

Race Result : Formula 1 - 2009 British Grand Prix

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Pts
1	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	1:22:49.328	10
2	14	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	+15.1 secs	8
3	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	+41.1 secs	6
4	3	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+45.0 secs	5
5	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	+45.9 secs	4
6	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	+46.2 secs	3
7	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	+68.3 secs	2
8	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	+69.6 secs	1
9	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	+69.8 secs	-
10	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	+71.5 secs	-
11	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	+74.0 secs	-
12	8	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	+1 Lap	-
13	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	+1 Lap	-
14	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	+1 Lap	-
15	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+1 Lap	-
16	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	+1 Lap	-
17	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	+1 Lap	-
18	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	+1 Lap	-
Ret	11	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	Accident damage	-
Ret	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	Retired	-

Driver Championship Standings :

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Jenson Button	British	Brawn-Mercedes	64
2	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Brawn-Mercedes	41
3	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	39
4	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	35.5
5	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Toyota	21.5
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	16
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Williams-Toyota	15.5
8	Timo Glock	German	Toyota	13
9	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Renault	11
10	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	10
11	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	9
12	Nick Heidfeld	German	BMW Sauber	6
13	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	McLaren-Mercedes	4
14	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	3
15	Robert Kubica	Polish	BMW Sauber	2
16	Sebastien Bourdais	French	STR-Ferrari	2
17	Giancarlo Fisichella	Italian	Force India-Mercedes	0
18	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	0
19	Nelsinho Piquet	Brazilian	Renault	0
20	Kazuki Nakajima	Japanese	Williams-Toyota	0

Constructor Championship Standings :

Pos	Team	Points
1	Brawn-Mercedes	105
2	RBR-Renault	74.5
3	Toyota	34.5
4	Ferrari	26
5	Williams-Toyota	15.5
6	McLaren-Mercedes	13
7	Renault	11
8	BMW Sauber	8
9	STR-Ferrari	5
10	Force India-Mercedes	0

[Source : Super Wheels , BRAWN GP, F1 Official]