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Sebastian Vettel took a commanding win for Red Bull racing at what might be the final British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit. His team mate Mark Webber was second and made it a memorable home race for the Red Bull Racing team. Rubens Barrichello started 2nd in the Brawn but could only finish 3rd, some 25s behind the Australian driver.

Vettel's 2nd win of the season - and his first ever in a dry race - ended Jenson Button's stranglehold over the top step of the podium and injected some fresh blood int o a championship that the Brawn driver looked to have all but turned into a formality.

Vettel's crushing drive saw him streak ahead at the start, and the young German never lost the lead. Barrichello hung on to 2nd at the start, with Webber following closely behind him. That effectively ended any chance that Webber had of winning the race, as Vettel pulled away from Barrichello at the rate of a second a lap, with Webber stuck behind Barrichello and unable to overtake the Brawn car in front.

Kazuki Nakajima in the lead Williams was up to 4th at the start; Raikkonen also made a great start and was up to 5th. Jenson Button was the big early loser dropping from 6th to 9th before over-taking the much-heavier Massa on lap 3.

Lewis Hamilton, at the back of the field, too made a great start and was soon chasing Alonso for 15th place. But, he had an off-track moment when Alonso had a squiggle exiting the Becketts complex at the start of a lap. Then Alonso and Heidfeld had a battle Royale for 12th position while Hamilton chased Kubica behind them.

The circuit, notorious to overtake on, made sure that the race settled down by lap 5, with faster cars unable to overtake on what are essentially the perimeter roads of an old WWII airport.

Kazuki Nakajima who had bounded up to 4th at the start was the first of the front runners to come into the pits on lap 15. At the front, Rubens was in the pits on lap 18 and the race was effectively settled then. Webber came in the next lap and emerged ahead of the Brazilian and that was that - Webber was soon gone and the top 3 effectively settled.

Felipe Massa in the Ferrari had used his slightly-longer first stint and gone from 10th to 5th in the first round of pit-stops. Soon he was in the chase for the final spot on the podium mixing it with Barichello and Nico Rosberg, who by now was up in 4th place. He would emerge in front of the Williams after the second round of stops, finishing a very respectable 4th, having started the race from 11th on the grid. Team mate Raikkonen could only finish 8th and took the final points.

Jenson Button, having dropped to 8th at the start had a good second stint and managed to drag the Brawn up to 6th, and didn't loose as many points as he could have today to Vettel.

Giancarlo Fisichella finished a competitive 10th after the first round of pitstops, and for a while it looked like the Force India might come away with a few points, especially if there were some retirements among the leaders. He finished ahead of Kazuki Nakajima who was initially up to 4th, but his lighter fuel load made him stop early and he eventually only managed 11th. Last year's winner Lewis Hamilton could only finish 16th, having had battles all-day on day on track with Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso.

Sebastien Bourdais in the Torro Rosso and and Heikki Kovalainen in the other McLaren were the only retirements in the race. Kovalinen emerged from his first stop right ahead of Hamilton and allowed the Briton through at Stowe. Bourdais, right behind Hamilton, tried to follow through as well, and crashed into the rear of the Finn breaking his front wing in the process and leaving Kovalinen with a puncture. Both went in for pit stops, but were out of the race soon after.

 

Race Result:

1. Vettel,Red Bull-Renault 1h22:49.328
2. Webber,Red Bull-Renault +15.188
3. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes +41.175
4. Massa, Ferrari + 45.043
5. Rosberg, Williams-Toyota + 45.915
6. Button, Brawn GP-Mercedes + 46.285
7. Trulli, Toyota + 1:08.307
8. Raikkonen, Ferrari + 1:09.622
9. Glock, Toyota + 1:09.823
10. Fisichella, Force India-Mercedes + 1:11.522
11. Nakajima, Williams-Toyota + 1:14.023
12. Piquet, Renault + 1 lap
13. Kubica, BMW Sauber + 1 lap
14. Alonso, Renault + 1 lap
15. Heidfeld, BMW Sauber + 1 lap
16. Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap
17. Sutil, Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
18. Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap

File Photograph Copyright:  Hugh Ujhazy 2009 - All Rights Reserved

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