Sunday, July 12, 2009

2009 Formula 1 : Webber celebrates maiden win at Nürburgring

2009 German Grand Prix Winner : Mark Webber - Red Bull Racing-Renault - Getty image via Redbull Racing

NÜRBURGRING, Germany : July 12, 2009 - Pole man Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) finally scored a win in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring on Sunday after 130 Formula One starts.


The Australian took the lead halfway though the race despite having served a drive-through penalty for aggressive driving that resulted in a collision. It was a one-two for the Red Bull team as Webber's young team mate and winner of the last race, Sebastian Vettel finished second, less than ten seconds behind. It was the first F1 win for an Australian in 27 years.

The 1-2 finish moved both Red Bull drivers closer to championship leader Jenson Button. The Briton's 68-point lead puts him 21 points ahead of Vettel with Webber now third on 45.5 points. Rubens Barrichello drops to fourth but is still close on 44 points.

At the start of the race, Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes) got alongside Webber as they came off the grid, and the Australian swerved aggressively to the right, banging into the side of the Brawn. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) made the best start, accelerating from fifth on the grid into the lead before the first corner, but he was too hot into the braking zone and ran wide off the track. He touched the front wing of Webber, resulting in a right rear puncture.

Timo Glock (Toyota) started from the pit lane after being demoted to the back of the grid for impeding Fernando Alonso (Renault) during qualifying and the Spaniard gave his pit crew a scare when he spun on the warm-up lap on his way to the grid.

At the end of the first lap, Barrichello was leading from Webber, Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault).

On the second lap, Button got past Massa into fourth as Hamilton went into the pits to take on four hard-compound tyres and fuel to change his strategy to a one-stopper. Button now moved closer to Kovalainen and started to challenge for third place while Barrichello set a fastest lap of 1'35.348.

On the fourth lap, Webber set a new fastest lap time of 1'34.602 as he moved to within 0.8 sec of race leader Barrichello.

The stewards found Webber guilty of having caused a collision with Barrichello, and gave him a drive-through penalty.

Button was battling with his super-soft tyres and made a radio request for an early return to the pits for a tyre change, but his crew told him to stay out.

Sébastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) had been the slowest qualifier on Saturday and then retired from the race on the eighth lap. It was expected to be his last outing in Formula One.

Barrichello was the first of the front-runners to make a scheduled pit stop on lap 13.

On lap 15, the top order was Webber, Massa +10.4, Barrichello +10.9, Vettel +12.6, Räikkönen +13.1, Sutil +14.8, Rosberg +18.5, Kubica +19.4.

Button was down in 12th place after his pits top, and got past both Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) on the 18th lap to get back into the top ten.

Race leader Webber made his first scheduled pit stop on lap 14 but critically emerged ahead of Button and in ninth place.

Massa then inherited the lead and was being chased hard by Barrichello who had already pitted. Vettel was third, 1.9 sec behind, but he also had still to pit, which he did on lap 21.

Adrian Sutil, who qualified in seventh place, was running as high as fourth place for Force India on lap 22 and was hopeful of scoring the team's first-ever championship points.

Both Brawns were in the thick of it at half race distance. Barrichello was 0.3 sec behind Massa and fighting for the lead, while team mate and championship leader Button was 0.3 sec behind Webber and intent on taking sixth place from the Australian.

On lap 25 Massa went into the pits, and Barrichello was released into the lead again while Massa rejoined in ninth. Sutil was now up into second place - Force India's best race position ever. Sutil pitted on lap 27, but as he rejoined the race, he and Räikkönen touched, with Sutil breaking off the end plate from his front wing. Having just pitted, he now had to return for a new wing and his second place became a 17th place.

Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) pitted from third on lap 29 as Webber continued to reel in race leader Barrichello, reducing an 8-second deficit to just 2.8 sec over half a dozen laps.

Third-placed Button made his next pit stop on lap 31 and swopped to the medium compound tyres that do not suit the Brawn car. His team mate Barrichello now had his mirrors full of Webber's Red Bull before he also pitted, releasing Webber into the lead, despite his earlier drive-through penalty. Barrichello's pit crew had a problem with their refuelling rig. They had to withdraw the hose and insert the one from the spare rig, but it cost precious seconds and insufficient fuel was put into the car.

On lap 33, Räikkönen's Ferrari engine began to blow blue smoke and Button surged past him as Kovalainen also closed for battle. The Finn retired on lap 36 as race leader Webber set a new fastest lap time of 1'34.425 and followed that up with another - two tenths quicker - on lap 37.

The weather had turned Saturday's qualifying into something of a lottery. Sunday's race started under sunny skies with the track temperature 15 degrees hotter, but with 22 laps remaining, the clouds began to build up again over the track in the Eifel Mountains.

Kovalainen and Alonso were having a good battle for seventh place but the Finn pitted on lap 40 when the running order was Webber leading from Vettel +20.9, Massa +22.9, Rosberg +29.2, Barrichello +31.7 and Button +33.9.

With 18 laps remaining and a 20-sec lead, Webber pitted for the last time. He rejoined behind Vettel and ahead of Massa, but Vettel pitted on the next tour and Webber took the lead again.

With 13 laps left, Rosberg made his last stop on lap 47 and the leaders were back in sequence again - Webber leading by 10 sec from Barrichello who had Button right behind him. Vettel was 15.8 sec off the pace, followed by Massa +22.6 and Rosberg +27.4.

Seventh-placed Alonso set a new fastest lap of the race - 1'33.365 - on lap 49 as he chased Rosberg 9.3 sec ahead.

Barrichello had spent the last ten laps with Button right behind him. He made his third and final stop with ten laps left. Button put in a flying lap before he also made his stop one tour later, and he rejoined a split second ahead of Barrichello.

Webber now had a 15.6 sec lead over Red Bull team mate Vettel, with Massa in third 5.8 sec behind. Rosberg was 26.7 sec off the lead followed by Button +29.0 and Barrichello +30.6.

There was a mighty battle for the last championship point on offer for eighth place, with Kovalainen being chased by Glock, Heidfeld and Nakajima all covered by one second.

Fifth-placed Button was catching Rosberg and had a 2.7 sec gap to make up in the remaining five laps, but the championship leader was suffering from reduced grip on his rear tyres due to graining. Barrichello was just 0.5 sec behind Button with Alonso closing fast on both of them - 0.7 sec behind.

With two laps of the race left, Barrichello's rear tyres also started graining, allowing Button to get away slightly.

Race Result : Formula 1 - 2009 German Grand Prix













































































































































































PosNoDriverTeamTimePts
1 14 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:36:43.310
10
2 15 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +9.2 secs
8
3 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari +15.9 secs
6
4 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota +21.0 secs
5
5 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes +23.6 secs
4
6 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes +24.4 secs
3
7 7 Fernando Alonso Renault +24.8 secs
2
8 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes +58.6 secs
1
9 10 Timo Glock Toyota +61.4 secs
-
10 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber +61.9 secs
-
11 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes +62.3 secs
-
12 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota +62.8 secs
-
13 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault +68.3 secs
-
14 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber +69.5 secs
-
15 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +71.9 secs
-
16 12 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari +90.2 secs
-
17 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota +90.9 secs
-
18 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +1 Lap
-
Ret 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +26 Laps
-
Ret 11 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari Hydraulics
-


Driver Championship Standings :






















































































































































Pos
Driver
Nationality
Team
Points
1 Jenson Button British Brawn-Mercedes 68
2 Sebastian Vettel German RBR-Renault 47
3 Mark Webber Australian RBR-Renault 45.5
4 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Brawn-Mercedes 44
5 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 22
6 Jarno Trulli Italian Toyota 21.5
7 Nico Rosberg German Williams-Toyota 20.5
8 Timo Glock German Toyota 13
9 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 13
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 5
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 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
10 Force India-Mercedes 0


[Source : Super Wheels , Redbull Racing, F1 Official]

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