Well it only took 130 races over 8 years stuck in the midfield but finally Mark Webber is a Grand Prix winner. He didnt just win, he destroyed the opposition to win despite suffering a drive-through penalty for dangerous driving at the start. Rubens Barrichello was the big loser as Brawn's 3-stop gamble failed to pay off despite a blistering start from the veteran Brazilian. All this means is that Webber becomes only the 3rd Australian driver to win a Grand Prix, and also the first to do so since Alan Jones won for Williams at Las Vegas in 1981.An even better starter was Lewis Hamilton who benefitted from a much improved McLaren aerodynamic package to jump up from 5th on the grid to lead into the 1st corner, only for to suffer a puncture which in the end caused him to finish a lap down in 18th and last place, but this weekend at least did signal a return to competitiveness for McLaren. Ferrari also showed their improvement too after a bold fuel strategy from Felipe Massa enabled him to grab 3rd place.
Nico Rosberg though was one of the unsung heroes of the race, starting from way down in 15th place, he nailed his start and thanks to his long first stint on the fuel strategy, he found himself up in 4th place, a position he held until the finish. The young German son of former world champion Keke has now surpassed his best eer season total with 8 races still to run thus showing Williams's continued improvement.
But if anyone needed a good pick me up, it was Adrian Sutil, starting from a career best 7th place, he ran competitively in his Force India and had managed to get himelf up into a net 2nd place before yet another heartbreaking collision with Kimi Raikkonen, the same man that destroyed his points finish dream in Monaco last year.
But the day belonged to Mark Webber who produced a drive of sheer brilliance to score victory despite being penalised for dangerous driving early on, early pacesetter Barrichello though was left to look upon an opportunity missed and went public in his disappointment at his team's strategy afterwards claiming "my team showed the right way to lose a race."
Despite this though, Jenson Button still hols a 21 point lead in the championship.
RACE RATING - 7/10: A breath of fresh air to see an eventful race this season, and also to see one of the most popular winners in living memory.
RACE RESULT - TOP 10
1. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ 1h 36m 43.310
2. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ + 9.252
3. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ + 15.906
4. Nico Rosberg - Williams ................ + 21.099
5. Jenson Button - Brawn ................ + 23.609
6. Rubens Barrichello - Brawn ................ + 24.468
7. Fernando Alonso - Renault ................ + 24.888
8. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren ............... + 58.692
9. Timo Glock - Toyota ................ + 1m 01.457
10. Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber ................ + 1m 01.925
CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS AFTER ROUND 9
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP - TOP 10
1st Jenson Button 68pts, 2nd Sebastian Vettel 47pts, 3rd Mark Webber 45.5pts, 4th Rubens Barrichello 44pts, 5th Felipe Massa 22pts, 6th Jarno Trulli 21.5pts, 7th Nico Rosberg 20.5pts, =8th Timo Glock 13pts, =8th Fernando Alonso 13pts, 10th Kimi Raikkonen 10pts
CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP
1st Brawn Mercedes 112pts, 2nd Red Bull Renault 92.5pts, 3rd Toyota 34.5pts, 4th Ferrari 32pts, 5th Williams Toyota 20.5pts, 6th McLaren Mercedes 14pts, 7th Renault 13pts, 8th BMW Sauber 8pts, 9th Toro Rosso Ferrari 5pts, 10th Force India Mercedes 0pts
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