Sebastian Vettel wins dramatic European Grand Prix!

Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull has picked up his first win since the Malaysian GP in Valencia, Spain. The German crossed the finish line ahead of Lewis Hamilton who was closing the gap in the final stages of the race. The final podium position went to Hamilton’s team mate Jenson Button.

The home of this year’s European GP gave viewers a rather dramatic race especially with a horrifying accident that involved Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen. The accident spawned a Safety Car situation which itself was showered with controversy and it substantially affected the outcome of the race, especially from fourth place and below.

Williams’ Rubens Barrichello finished in fourth ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica and Force India’s Adrian Sutil. Seventh place went to Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi who drove a sensational race. The sole Japanese driver of the season even overtook Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi at the last corner on the final lap. Buemi settled in eight while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso only managed to go home in ninth, although he had a good chance of finishing in the podium, before the Safety Car situation that is. The final top ten position went to other Sauber driver, Pedro de la Rosa which means both the Saubers finished in the points today.

Lotus Racing didn’t have anything much to celebrate about on its 500th race, if you take into account Lotus’ previous campaigns. Jarno Trulli finished the race but did so in last place, 21st. The Italian had some problems with his car and had to make several pitstops. Only three drivers retired today including Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg who stopped with about eight laps remaining. The other two were Hekki Kovalainen and Mark Webber. As mentioned above they were involved in a massive accident.

Webber, fresh from a pitstop was attempting to overtake Kovalainen but as he flicked his car out of a slip stream, his Red Bull hit the back of the Lotus and before you knew it his car went airborne and landed head down. The Red Bull then fell on its tires and went straight into a barrier. Kovalainen on the other hand had missing front and rear wings. More spectacular than the accident itself was the fact that Webber was able to walk away from the massive crash. This happened early in race and the Safety Car was deployed.

As the Safety Car was coming out of the pits, Lewis Hamilton overtook it leaving the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso behind. The Ferrari’s were running high-up in the field before the SLS AMG was deployed. Hamilton’s move came to the Steward’s attention and he was slapped with a drive through penalty later in the race. But the penalty didn’t really do much damage as the Brit maintained his second place and Alonso was definitely frustrated about this.

Also when the Safety Car was deployed some teams managed to make pit stops right away which brought them forward in the field. Unfortunately both Ferrari and Mercedes failed to capitalize on this and only managed to pit while spending time behind the Safety Car. This pushed them further down the field and racing around a circuit that is naturally hard to overtake made it worse for them.

Kamui Kobayashi made full use of the situation and settled in third place, but he did not make a pit stop. He maintained the position and managed to fend off Jenson Button but the Sauber driver had to pit eventually and dropped to seventh, still a good position nevertheless. Eventual winner Vettel raced without a hitch except when he was suffering some brake issues towards the end of the race, which is why Hamilton was able to close the gap.

The Safety Car situation also led to the decision by the Stewards to investigate Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Buemi, de la Rosa, Petrov, Liuzzi and Hulkenberg after the race. They may be penalized for driving too quickly under the Safety Car condition. While we wait the Stewards to make their decisions, you can go here view the preliminary results. Formula 1 now heads to Silverstone for the 2010 British Grand Prix.

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Harvinder Sidhu

Harvinder Singh Sidhu thinks there's nothing better than Formula 1, not even sliced bread. Having written about cars since 2006, he plunged head first into the industry out of a passion for all things four-wheeled and everything in between. The F1 enthusiast has been following the sport since 1999 and has been keeping up with it since. In between races he keeps himself busy as the host of the Driven motoring show and as our version of the Joker.

 

Comments

  • 4G63T DSM on Jun 27, 2010 at 9:59 pm

    Brilliant drive from Kobayashi and Team Sauber!

    Probably one of the most exciting racing this season so far…..

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  • jlooi on Jun 27, 2010 at 10:03 pm

    imagine the high tech cockpit for driver ensure their safety during crash. Good engineering and technology.

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  • scanzew on Jun 27, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    still both mclaren in podium..what a day

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  • my name on Jun 27, 2010 at 10:48 pm

    Mark Webber’s accident is the same as Josef Kral in GP2 at the same part of the track, what a coincidence? Anyway can’t wait to see the revised results since so many drivers will be investigated.

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    • scanzew on Jun 28, 2010 at 12:17 am

      i think that b’cause challenges in valencia circuit is shortest braking range..so skill of late brakers such as Lewis Hamilton is essential..see how close webber with heikki..webber is not one of the late-brakers..seems is very dangerous move..see want to earn to much slipstream behind heikki car..so dangerous

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      • ford_ton on Jun 28, 2010 at 12:21 pm

        What is this webber complaining about. You kiss you pay la bang.
        What type of brake pads are lotus using…Mintye??

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        • scanzew on Jun 28, 2010 at 5:17 pm

          u see urself la…redbull and lotus very different braking range…the backmarkers 10m more braking range because less-dynamic on their cosworth engine..all driver use their gear too slowing the car..

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          • ford_ton on Jun 28, 2010 at 11:18 pm

            This should be another challenge for Malaysian manufacturer. Develop an excellent performing brake pads for F1 cars. If RG suspension can supply rally car absorbers why not brake pads for F!. Even the Soon Seng Cushion from Kuantan is carving their name as an affordable sports seats worldwide (SSCUS as their brand name). Who knows Mintye can be as good as Ferodo or Project MU. What they need is a chance.

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  • blaze on Jun 28, 2010 at 12:58 am

    vettel beats hamilton and button in F1, germany beats england in FIFA world cup… hahaha… what a day…

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  • slip stream on Jun 28, 2010 at 7:22 am

    Whata fantastic race!! And look at all the new teams making inroads. We are now seeing the Team BMW Ferrari the most improved team , so are the other Cosworth teams. And where is the Lotus team headed ?? All the boasting and bragging by TF, now he has to eat humble pie and look at reality. TF has zero knowledge and yet he speaks like he knows everything. Lotus is getting from bad to worst!! Don’t tell us that you’re preparing for 2011 cos it will be the same story. :( 250mil euro’s down the drain and additional cost coming with wind tunnel etc.!!?

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    • How come you know that 2011 Lotus car will be the same? Have you had all the F1 knowledge to foresee next year Lotus performance? There is a malay phase saying “paku dulang paku serpih, mengata orang dia yang lebih! Just a typical pathetic Malaysian bashing. :P

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    • Trulli’s car got hit in the back and had gearbox damage. We all know what happened to Heikke. Stuff like this happens. In Bahrain, Trulli qualified 5s behind Schumacher, now he’s just 1s behind him. Anyone who knows anything about F1 will tell you that Lotus are by far the best of the new teams.

      Yup, there is someone here who has zero knowledge but speaks like he knows everything… but its not Tony.

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  • Automotive_Crtics on Jun 28, 2010 at 7:28 am

    The RBR still the team to beat. Hamilton did remark that shamed himself.

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    • scanzew on Jun 28, 2010 at 4:59 pm

      hail the clever trick by Hamilton..he intuitively just slow his car when sight medical car on his right and speeding again on the end of pit line…clever move..denied ferrari to cross end line before Alonso can achieve end line before medical car..ferrari is a big threat because they’ve a new blown diffuser ..

      Hamilton’s Clever Tricks vs. Shoemarker Dirty Tricks

      hail the clever tricks in F1

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      • scanzew on Jun 28, 2010 at 5:22 pm

        Hamilton could be penalize on 10sec stop&go in pittlane..but Hamilton very marginally ahead on the medical car..so drive-through penalty maybe just middle way between 10sec stop&go or No penalty at all

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        • scanzew on Jun 28, 2010 at 5:25 pm

          in the video footage..Hamilton ahead medical car merely around only 1meter.. astonishing!!

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  • dinding_batu on Jun 28, 2010 at 9:35 am

    Spectacular crash between Webber and Kovalainen, fortunately he escaped unharmed and credits to the technological advancement in safety of the modern F1 car and of course trackside safety. Faultless drive by Vettel and particularly KAMUI KOBAYASHI..!! Good job by the McLaren team for securing both drivers on the podium and ensuring that the lead in both championships are still theirs. A very loud ‘BOO..!!!’ to the FIA for having too many grey areas in so many of their rules and taking too long to render judgment in cases where the rules ARE clear (with regards to the testing ban, safety car rules and taking forever to decide whether to penalize Lewis or not, and not to mention the STUPID 5 second penalty for most of the top-10 finishing drivers). As an avid McLaren fan, i’m happy where the team finished, but i think somehow the race was manipulated (at least a bit lah). But how about that part when Fernando was bitching about it on the radio..? Bloody whiner. Much better lah F1 coverage nowadays.

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  • squawk on Jun 28, 2010 at 10:07 am

    Too bad Lotus were involved in racing incidents.

    Great drive from Kamui. Almost the whole race on 1 set of hard compound tires and still matching the other cars’ pace. Shows that Sauber cars need to be a little tougher on the tires.

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  • the F1 is sooo forgotten now..lol

    who’s top of the standing now?..lol

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    • scanzew on Jun 28, 2010 at 3:56 pm

      only u forgot it..do not drag others with ur forgetfulness..

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  • mata katak on Jun 28, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    Lotus driver have been smelling and inhaling too much exhaust fumes from other cars ahead of them….

    Due to that, their drivers cannot drive well, thus getting poor results….heheheheh

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  • Trulli’s car got hit in the back and had gearbox damage. We all know what happened to Heikke. Stuff like this happens. In Bahrain, Trulli qualified 5s behind Schumacher, now he’s just 1s behind him. Anyone who knows anything about F1 will tell you that Lotus are by far the best of the new teams.

    Yup, there is someone here who has zero knowledge but speaks like he knows everything… but its not Tony.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • oink-oink on Jun 28, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    oik sounds like a broken record.
    trying hard to protect tony and lotus.

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  • rempit on Jun 29, 2010 at 2:47 am

    Lotus got hit from the back cos its just a
    back marker trying hard to prevent Webber from overtaking.
    If it was plain reckless driving , Webber would have got
    a fine from FIA.
    While all teams are improving race after race , Lotus has been struggling.
    Reliability seems to be the biggest issue – hopefully they will come up
    with a better package next year and make sure its either a ferari or renault powerplant
    instead of the miserable Cosworth. Good luck 1malaysia !

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