Sunday 27th May 2010. Conditions Dry and Sunny 25 degrees.
Sebastian Vettel wins for Red Bull in Valencia 2010
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 25 points
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 18 points
3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 15 points
4. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 12 points
5. Robert Kubica Renault 10 points
6. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 8 points
7. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6 points
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 4 points
9. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2 points
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1 point
Webber clips Hamiltons nose in tight 2nd corner move on 1st lap.
Truli pits twice in early stages of race due to car sticking in gear (probably caused by being hit in the rear).
Webber looses positions and tries to change strategy by changing tyres on lap 9. This leads to him exiting the pits nearer the back of the field behind the slower cars.
Frustration of trying to pass Kovalinen sees Webber car launched into the air, somersaulting, bouncing off it’s tyres in the upside down position which flips car rightway up before an abrupt stop in the tyre wall.
Webber throws out his steering wheel and climbs out of his car unhurt.
The Yellow flag safety car situation gives teams the opportunity to take early first pit stop to get compulsory tyre change out of the way.
However we find out later that that the safety car has caused caos, and Lewis Hamilton being given a drive through penalty for overtaking the safety car
On another lap during the same safety car period, more drivers being under investigation for speeding when trying to get into a better position in the pits for their tyre change.
Schumacher first pit stop did not work out well and he pits again on lap 14 but gets timing wrong which forces him to wait at red light at end of pit lane, until all divers have passed before he rejoins race in last position.
On lap 28 Lewis Hamilton takes his drive through penaly and although he rejoins in second position, he is now too far behind to mount a realistic challenge to the “on form” Vettel.
After the race stewards impose a 5 second penaly to drivers for speeding under safety car conditions.
Luckily, Button had set some record breaking laps and the 5 second penalty does not stop him from retaining the final podium position.
Other drivers receiving a penalty are not so fortunate and Buemi drops one position to 9th, De La Rosa drops 2 positions, forcing him out of the points. Liuzzi drops 3 positions, Petrov drops 3 places. Glock Drops 1 position.
Alonso gains a position ending up 8th. Rosberg climbs 2 positions to take the final point in 10th place.
The biggest winners at Valencia were the Williams team with Barrichello’s 4th place (Kobayashi 7th) and Renault’s Robert Kubica (5th position).
Ferrari were strugling and Alonso could only manage 8th position with Massa 3 places behind in 11th.
Of course the press attention was focussed on Michael Schumacher who finished in a lowly 15th place after so much hype by the Mercedes team about how much the performance would be improved by changes made to the car before the race.
Valencia Grand Prix 2010 Full Race Results
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:40:29.571 25 points
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +00:05.042 18 points
3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +00:12.658 15 points
4. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +00:25.627 12 points
5. Robert Kubica Renault +00:27.122 10 points
6. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +00:30.168 8 points
7. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari +00:30.965 6 points
8. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +00:32.809 4 points
9. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00:36.299 2 points
10. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP +00:44.382 1 point
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari +00:46.621
12. Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari +00:47.414
13. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00:48.239
14. Vitaly Petrov Renault +00:48.287
15. Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP +00:48.826
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes +00:50.890
17. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth lapped
18. Karun Chandhok Hispania-Cosworth lapped
19. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth lapped
20. Bruno Senna Hispania-Cosworth lapped
21. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth lapped
22. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth retired, 49 laps
23. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth crash, 8 laps
24. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault crash, 8 laps