Historic 1-2 Sees Webber Score Personal Best Result in China

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber pulled off a historic double in today’s rain-drenched Chinese Grand Prix to give Red Bull Racing their first ever 1-2 victory. While Vettel led from start to finish to score his second GP victory, it was a special day for Webber too, the 32-year old from Queanbeyan, NSW taking second place and the best result of his F1 career to date.

More than that though, less than five months ago few people could have imagined the Australian ever getting back into a F1 this year, let alone standing on the podium, after breaking his leg badly in a cycling accident last November.

Today’s double success has catapulted RBR into second position in the Constructors Championship with 19.5 points and after two false starts, Vettel gets his championship pursuit off the ground with 10 points in the bag to move into joint third position in the Drivers Championship. Meanwhile, Webber adds 8 points to the 1.5pts he scored in Malaysia to move into fifth..

Persistent rain began falling before midday and so the tricky track conditions meant the 56-lap race had to be started behind the Safety Car. When it pulled off at the end of lap six, pole-sitter Vettel was never headed, the young German streaking ahead as he used the better visibility to carve out an advantage that was never challenged.

Meanwhile, Webber moved into second when Fernando Alonso gambled on an early pit stop just before the Safety Car pulled off, leaving Webber 2.4secs shy of his team-mate and comfortably ahead of previous race winner, Jenson Button. Webber was the first of the two Red Bull cars to pit on lap 14, Vettel doing so a lap later. Vettel had a big enough lead to get back out in third position behind Button and Rubens Barrichello who had yet to stop but Webber had slipped back to sixth behind Sebastan Buemi in the Toro Rosso and Felipe Massa in the Ferrari.

 In a scene spookily reminiscent of Fuji 2007 when Vettel ran into the back of Webber under Safety Car conditions and wiped them both out of second and third places,  Buemi drove into the back of race-leader Vettel. Vettel was unscathed from the incident and Buemi was fortunate to make it back to the pits, all this promoting Massa and Webber into fourth and fifth. The Ferrari driver however was soon in trouble, slowing before eventually parking his car at the side of the track.

The Safety Car pulled off at the end of lap 21 and Webber set off after second-placed Button, catching him within a matter of laps and putting the Briton under pressure.  Button locked up and aquaplaned off the track onto the run-off area at turn 14 allowing Webber through. Button though, redressed the balance at the last corner when Mark aqua-planed off the circuit himself. However, the RBR driver pulled off a master stroke when he went around the outside of Button at turn seven, this time ensuring the move stuck for good.

Once released from Button, Webber started posting purple sector times and for the next few laps the two Red Bull drivers traded fastest laps. Vettel made his second stop on lap 36 and so Webber took up the lead before making his final stop a lap later.

Although Mark rejoined in third behind Vettel and Button, Button still had to stop and Webber was close enough to regain second place comfortably. The order was to hold station for the remaining laps, Vettel leading home the victorious Red Bull Racing team from Webber, Button, Barrichello, Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton.

Said Webber, “Obviously they were very challenging conditions for all the drivers and it was the right call to start the race behind the Safety Car. The visibility was very difficult even following one car (Sebastian) but both of us were able to comfortably pull away from the rest of the field. Then came the pit stops and I had to stop two laps earlier than planned due to not saving enough fuel behind the Safety Car.

“The second stint was going to plan when there was another Safety Car period. Massa retired from the race in front of me and so then I just had Jenson between myself and Sebastian.  Once I got past Jenson though, the gap was too big to try and make an impression on Sebastian to go for the win. The last stint was just a formality for us both holding station until the chequered flag.

“It’s been an incredible day for the team and a special one for the people close to me after having had a pretty testing winter recovering from some injuries. I’ve been in good hands and now I’ve got one more step to go.”