Webber cruises to Hungarian GP victory

Mark Webber won Sunday’s Hungarian GP and moved into the championship’s lead as Lewis Hamilton retired.

Fernando Alonso took second for Ferrari while Sebastian Vettel took third and the fastest lap of the race. This double podium for Red Bull, combined with McLaren’s sole four points, mean the Milton Keynes-based team now leads the constructors’ standings by eight points.

Vettel took a clean start from pole position but still faced a huge challenge from Alonso as the Ferrari driver tried to slipstream him on the run to the first corner. The poleman held the inside line and came out of Turn One in front.

He then set on a string of fastest laps to streak away from Alonso. On lap 5, the Spaniard was already five seconds down on the Red Bull driver. Having lost a place to Alonso at the start, Mark Webber had to be patient as there was no way for him to get through the Ferrari. Behind the leading trio, Felipe Massa was running in fourth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

As Vettel was enjoying an 11 seconds lead, the safety car had to be deployed because of debris scattered on the track. The German dived into the pit lane at the very last moment. Most of the field followed him in and there was some chaos in the pits.

Renault released Kubica in the path of Sutil and the two of them collided. The Force India had to retire while Kubica managed to rejoin the race, a lap down on the leaders. Seconds later, Nico Rosberg lost his right rear wheel on his way out and had to park his Mercedes at the end of the pit lane.

The safety car came in on lap 18. Webber – who had not stopped – was leading from teammate Vettel, Ferrari’s Alonso and McLaren’s Hamilton. Enjoying some clean air, the Australian set a blistering pace at the front to build himself a lead good enough for him to pit and rejoin ahead of Alonso.

Meanwhile, Kubica was handed a stop and go penalty for causing that collision with Sutil in the pit lane and fourth-placed Lewis Hamilton pulled off on lap 24. The Renault driver served his penalty but retired in the pits one lap later.

Vettel was handed a drive through penalty on lap 29 for dropping more than 10-car lengths behind Webber under the safety car. He frustratingly served it at the end of lap 31 and rejoined in fourth place in front of Massa. Webber kept pushing hard at the front and was 17.6 seconds clear of Alonso at the halfway point. He pitted at the end of lap 43 as Vettel was all over the rear of Alonso’s Ferrari.

His healthy margin enabled Webber to rejoin in the lead and he just had to cruise to the end to take a new victory for Red Bull.

In the meantime Alonso was under immense pressure from Vettel who did everything he could to regain 2nd place. He went slightly wide at Turn 4 on lap 54 and lost some tenths on his rival but quickly made up for the ground lost.

Rubens Barrichello pitted from 5th place on lap 56 and rejoined in 11th place, thus moving Schumacher into the points. Enjoying an advantage on fresher rubber, the Brazilian quickly closed the gap down to the Mercedes but, despite being significantly faster than the German, he needed a few laps to get through.

In the battle for 2nd, Vettel eventually surrendered with five laps to go. Third place was not the most satisfying result for the German who looked set for a win before the safety car came out. He still scored very valuable points for the championship, so as his winning teammate.

Massa finished in fourth place. Fifth place for Vitaly Petrov means he takes the best result of his career. Hulkenberg was sixth ahead of de la Rosa and reigning World Champion Jenson Button. The remaining points went to Kobayashi – who started from 23rd on the grid – and Barrichello.