Lewis Hamilton finally managed to take his first victory of the 2010 season ahead of his team mate to give McLaren their second 1-2 this year.
Mark Webber finished third after a coming together with his team mate on lap 42, resulting in Vettel retiring from second.
Michael Schumacher gets his best result of the season in fourth ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica for Renault.
Race Report:
Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher both gained places at the start of the race as both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button lost ground on the dirty side of the track.
Hamilton managed to regain second into turn three, whilst Button took back fourth on the back straight – his F-duct giving him superior pace.
Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica made some contact on the opening lap, both sustained little damage.
A Toro Rosso also made contact, although the incident was unnoticed by the TV cameras. The result was a rear puncture.
The first round of pit-stops saw Vettel the first front-runner to stop. That led to McLaren pitting Hamilton with Red Bull following suit by bringing Webber in too.
Webber managed to get out ahead of Lewis, whilst Vettel jumped the McLaren driver gaining second.
Both Lotus cars retired with hydraulic failures around lap 35. A disappointing result for best newcomers who looked set for a positive finish.
Rain was expected to arrive throughout the race, with report from the teams being continually delayed. The rain finally arrived on lap 40, although very light
The biggest upset of the race was Vettel’s move on Webber into the penultimate corner. Vettel moved to the inside but closed off Webber too early taking both drivers out. Webber managed to recover to third, whilst Vettel retired with damage.
It seems the McLaren drivers weren’t put of racing each other seeing the Red Bull incident as just a handful of laps later, Button passes Hamilton, before Hamilton re-passes Button into turn one.
Vitaly Petrov and Fernando Alonso spent much of the afternoon duelling with the young Russian coming out on top until lap 54 of 58 where Alonso and Petrov made contact – Petrov getting a puncture as a result.
Lewis Hamilton crossed the line ahead of his team mate in a second McLaren 1-2, with Webber third.
Race Results (provisional):
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Pit |
---|---|---|---|---|
03 | M. Webber | Red Bull | +24.285 | 2 |
01 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:28.47.620 | 1 |
22 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +19 laps | 1 |
02 | J. Button | McLaren | +2.645 | 1 |
08 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +46.544 | 1 |
05 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +32.266 | 1 |
04 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +31.110 | 1 |
06 | R. Kubica | Renault | +32.824 | 1 |
07 | F. Massa | Ferrari | +36.635 | 1 |
10 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +1:05.650 | 1 |
12 | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | +1:07.800 | 2 |
13 | V. Liuzzi | Force India | +1 lap | 1 |
16 | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | +1 lap | 2 |
09 | A. Sutil | Force India | +49.029 | 1 |
15 | V. Petrov | Renault | +1 lap | 2 |
14 | R. Barrichello | Williams | +1 lap | 1 |
11 | P. de la Rosa | Sauber | +1:05.944 | 1 |
17 | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | +1 lap | 2 |
18 | T. Glock | Virgin | +3 laps | 1 |
23 | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | +25 laps | 1 |
19 | L. di Grassi | Virgin | +3 laps | 1 |
24 | J. Trulli | Lotus | +26 laps | 0 |
21 | B. Senna | HRT | +12 laps | 2 |
20 | K. Chandhok | HRT | +6 laps | 2 |
All timing unofficial