This shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Sebastian Vettel has yet again emerged victorious, this time at the Turkish Grand Prix. The reigning World Champion was the first to cross the finish line after starting the 58-lap race from pole position. Teammate Mark Webber finished in second making it a 1-2 for Red Bull. Third place went to a well-deserved Fernando Alonso, giving Ferrari its first podium of the season.
Lewis Hamilton, winner of the previous race managed fourth ahead of Nico Rosberg who started from third place. It was a rather difficult race for the Mercedes GP driver, as he failed to bring forward his qualifying performance into the race. Teammate Michael Schumacher only managed a miserable 12th, after suffering from a broken wing earlier in the race. Jenson Button crossed the line in sixth, followed by Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov, Sebastien Buemi and finally Kamui Kobayashi who makes up the top ten.
Malaysia’s Team Lotus only managed 18th and 19th, ahead of Virgin’s Jerome d’Ambrosio and the Hispania drivers. Only two drivers failed to finish today’s race: Paul di Resta from Force India and Timo Glock who did not even make the start.
It was generally a clean start for the pack as Rosberg managed to jump Webber into second while Vettel stormed away in first place. Schumacher was the first to suffer a major setback during the race as he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop for a new wing after coming into contact with Petrov. Meanwhile, up front Webber managed to reclaim second place as Rosberg started to slip back.
Just two laps later Rosberg became victim to Alonso, handing over third place to the Spaniard. By Lap 7 it was Webber who was second behind Vettel, with Alonso in third and Rosberg in fourth. This was followed by Hamilton, Button, Massa, Petrov, Heidfeld and finally Barrichello.
On Lap 10, both Massa and Hamilton pitted at the same time and after their respective stops, both cars were almost side by side heading towards to the pit exit, but Massa had to slip behind Hamilton as the Brit was almost half a car’s length ahead. Another highlight worth commenting on is Massa’s battle with Rosberg for 4th place at about Lap 21. The next lap Massa made a successful move and Button who was closely behind also made use of the opportunity and managed to pass Rosberg, pushing the German down to sixth.
Alonso who started the race from fifth place managed to overtake second place Webber on Lap 29. At the time Hamilton was fourth, followed by Petrov, Massa, Button, Rosberg, Heidfeld and Buemi in tenth place. With seven laps remaining, Webber who was still running third managed to reclaim second place from Alonso. By the time the checkered flag was drawn, Vettel was the first to cross the line with Webber behind in second, making it a 1-2 finish for Red Bull with Alonso filling the final podium position.
In the Driver’s Championship, Vettel is way ahead with 93 points as Hamilton lies second with 59 points. Webber is third with 55 points, followed by Button and Alonso with 46 and 41 points respectively. Constructor’s wise, today’s 1-2 finish puts Red Bull in a very strong position with a massive 148 points. McLaren is second with 105 points and Ferrari is third with 65 points. The Formula 1 fraternity will gather for the Spanish Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.
To view the full results, please go here.
© 2011 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.
This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 08 May 11 14:35:31 +0000.
Related posts:
- Sebastian Vettel turns pole into race victory in Melbourne!
- All Red Bull front row at Suzuka, Sebastian Vettel on pole
- Mark Webber storms into his first victory of the season from pole!
- Vettel scores pole in Abu Dhabi with Alonso in third!
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