Results of the 2010 European F1 Grand Prix.
The ninth race in the season was the European Grand Prix, held at the Valencia Street Circuit in Spain. It is the opener to five additional European races, after which the F1 drivers head to Asia for races in Singapore, Japan and Korea.
It was a great weekend for German driver Sebastian Vettel, who started in pole position and won the race for Red Bull. This is his second Grand Prix win this season and fourth pole position start. Lewis Hamilton and team mate Jenson Button, continue to drive well, taking second and third , furthering boosting McLaren Mercedes' standings at the top of both the Drivers' and Constructors' 2010 standings.
Vettel was back in form in Valencia, going from strength to strength. Winning pole position and then taking it home in the race, keeping his leading position throughout. However, team mate Mark Webber suffered a horrific crash at 300 km/hr, which flipped his car in the air in lap 8. Webber touched Heikki Kovalainen's rear tyre, perhaps in a bid to overtake him.
Luckily Webber was able to walk away from the crash unscathed, but this incident put motion some controversial decisions. Webber's crash led to the deployment of the safety car, in front of Hamilton and Alonso. Hamilton overtook the safety car and other drivers did not slow down as required and this led to nine drivers receiving 5-second penalties. This affected Hamilton, as he clawed his way back to battle Vettel, but it was too late.
This incident actually helped Kamui Kobayashi, who did not receive a penalty and allowed him to secured his highest finish this season. Rubens Barrichello also had this season's best finish at fourth place. Ultimately it all benefitted McLaren, since Button had been further down the points at the time, while Alonso lost out on third, and Robert Kubica also lost out on potentially his best finish in many races.
Once again Michael Schumacher failed to feature, both in qualifying and racing, finishing a distant 15th and again far behind his less experienced teammate Nico Rosberg. Felipe Massa also had a forgettable race and is no longer a contender for this year's title.
The Drivers' Championship continues to be hotly contested. Lewis Hamilton has now jumped to first place with 127 points in the space of two races thanks to the new scoring system, followed closely by Jenson Button with 121 points. Third place is Sebastian Vettel, who's win this weekend boosted him up from fifth place, with 115 points. Fourth place is Mark Webber with 103 points, even though he had to retire this race. Fifth place is Fernando Alonso with 98 points.
Seven drivers continue to still have zero points. For the Constructor's Championship, McLaren-Mercedes continues to hold its lead, boosted by 2-3 finish by Hamilton and Button at the European Grand Prix, with 248 points. Red Bull remains a close second, helped by Vettel's first place finish, with 218 points. Trailing in third is Ferrari with 165 and Mercedes in fourth with 109 points. The remainder of the teams are pretty much out of the running, all with less than 100 points. Three teams continue to have no points: Lotus-Cosworth, HRT-Cosworth and Virgin-Cosworth.
Full Race Results
- Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:40:29.571
- Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +5.0s
- Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +12.6s
- Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth) +25.6s
- Robert Kubica (Renault) +27.1s
- Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +30.1s
- Kamui Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari) +30.9s
- Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +32.8s
- Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso- Ferrari) +36.2s
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) +44.3s
- Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +46.6s
- Pedro de la Rosa (BMW Sauber-Ferrari) +47.4s
- Jaime Alguersuari (Torro Rosso-Ferrari) +48.2s
- Vitaly Petrov (Renault) Retired +48.2s
- Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) +48.8s
- Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India-Mercedes) +50.8s
- Lucas di Grassi (Virgin-Cosworth) +1 lap
- Karun Chandhok (Hispania-Cosworth) +2 laps
- Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth) +2 laps
- Bruno Senna (Hispania-Cosworth) +2 laps
- Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Cosworth) +4 laps
- Nico Hulkenberg (Williams-Cosworth) Retired, 49 laps
- Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Cosworth) Retired, 8 laps
- Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) Retired, 8 laps
NOTE: Barrichello, Buemi, Button, HŸlkenberg, Kubica, Liuzzi, Petrov, de la Rosa and Sutil were all given a 5-second penalty for overtaking the safety car. Glock was given a 20-second penalty for ignoring the blue flags.