Sebastian Vettel eased to victory at the European Grand Prix. He was never troubled by Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, who battled over second.
The race started with great starts for most of the drivers. However, Felipe Massa got a stunning start, jumping both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. But, while he was trying to take Mark Webber on the inside of turn two, Fernando Alonso jumped him. Behind them, Rosberg had jumped Button, and Vitaly Petrov had fallen through the field. Button soon regained his position however, going into turn two.
With the DRS zone activated, the driver's main aim was to keep a one second between them, and the driver behind. Vettel was perfecting this, however a mistake from Webber meant that Alonso was getting close. Both drivers battled it out, but no winner prevailed as the first stage of pit-stops began. Lewis Hamilton was the first of the leading drivers to pit, followed by Rosberg, then Webber, Button and the Ferrari's. Lewis was the only gainer, jumping Felipe Massa.
In the midfield, things were getting tight. On the exit of the pit lane, Michael Schumacher ran wide into turn 2, and broke his front wing on the back of Vitaly Petrov's Renault. There was also almost half a dozen cars all with a hope for that valuable 10th place. As they all swapped positions, the main fighting at the front was for second. Alonso was closing in on Webber. Alonso was gaining and gaining, and with DRS on his side, it was long until the Spaniard had passed the Australian for second place.
It was soon time for the second round of pit-stops. Hamilton was first again, followed by Webber, Alonso, Vettel, Button & Massa. Hamilton made a small mistake, nearly jumping the gun, but Massa had problems with his rear-right wheel nut, losing him fourth place. Just behind the top 6, Jaime Alguersuari was doing very well on home turf. On a one-stopper, he had gained a lot of ground, and was sitting in seventh, closely followed by Rosberg. However, Jaime's tyres were fading, and soon the inevitable happened, and Rosberg passed Alguersuari, down the DRS zone.
It was again time for the final round of pit-stops. Webber was one of the first in, coming out on the harder tyres. The decision was a poor one. His lap times started to fall, and it was with ease that Fernando Alonso jumped him through the pit-stops. The news got worse for Webber. He soon had a gearbox problem, meaning he could not push the car, giving Alonso some breathing room. The last remaking action was to be found outside of the points. Perez, Barrichello, Buemi, Di Resta and Kobayashi all tried to force their way up the field, but none prevailed.
In the end, Sebastian Vettel had a very ease and quiet race. His win is his sixth of the season, and he has finished 1st or 2nd in the first eight races, a record.
Race Results
Pos - Driver - Team -Rank
1 - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - 1
2 - Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 4
3 - Mark Webber - Red Bull - 2
4 - Lewis Hamilton - McLaren - 3
5 - Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 6
6 - Jenson Button - McLaren - 5
7 - Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - 7
8 - Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso - 19
9 - Adrian Sutil - Force India - 10
10 - Nick Heidfeld - Renault -11
11 - Sergio Perez - Sauber - 36
12 - Rubens Barrichello - Williams - 8
13 - Sebastian Buemi - Toro Rosso - 14
14 - Paul DiResta - Force India - 26
15 - Vitaly Petrov - Renault - 16
16 - Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber - 18
17 - Michael Schumacher - Mercedes - 12
18 - Pastor Maldonado - Williams - 34
19 - Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus - 13
20 - Jarno Trulli - Lotus - 17
21 - Timo Glock - Virgin - 20
22 - Jerome D'Ambrosio - Virgin - 31
23 - Vitantonio Liuzzi - HRT - 22
24 - Narain Karthikeyan - HRT - 37
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