Red Bull Helmet Incident Sours Mark Webber Victory

Published : May 10, 2010 :: 17:05:09 [ 3,319 views ]

Red Bulls Australian driver Mark Webber successfully converted his pole position into a race win at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. The win was only his third in a long and at time controversial career.

Barcelona, the 10^th of May 2010 [PDN]: Webber, who celebrated his victory by throwing his Bt500, 000 helmets into the crowd, stated: “It was a special win and a special day for me. We had a faultless grand prix weekend. Unfortunately I can’t get too drunk tonight because we’re at the track again on Wednesday for the Monaco Grand Prix. But I’m very happy and very satisfied because I started on pole, controlled the race – and they’re the ones that are very special to have. They don’t always happen like that.”

Sebastian Vettel took third but Red Bull was just as interested in the helmet. They will hunt down the fan and order the return of the lid. The celebration didn’t go down too well with team bosses, though, who were left, enraged despite their one-three success.

It was the first time this season a driver had won from pole and the 10th successive race at this circuit that the man at the front of the grid had taken the chequered flag. But then it was never going to be a classic, not at a track where three of the previous five grands prix had delivered just two overtaking manoeuvres.

There was none of Formula One’s magic ingredient – rain – to whet the appetites as had been the case in the last three races in Australia, Malaysia and China. Instead, there were only two major incidents, both involving Lewis Hamilton, from one of which he emerged a winner, the other a definite loser.

Hamilton initially grabbed second place from Vettel at the pit stop, hair-raisingly so after they diced their way around Virgin Racing’s Lucas di Grassi at turn one when the 25-year-old Englishman returned to the track.

But then on the penultimate lap, with Hamilton set to comfortably finish as runner-up to Webber, his McLaren suffered a failure to the tyre rim and subsequent puncture that robbed him of 18 points.

In front of his home crowd, Fernando Alonso was the one who reaped the rewards as the Ferrari star moved up to second, stepping on to the podium for the first time since his win in Bahrain at the start of the season.

A few laps earlier Vettel was hit by a brake problem that forced him into a second pit stop and promoted Alonso to third. Appreciating his good fortune, he said: “When you gain two places in the last part of the race, unexpected places as well, it feels great and you have a fantastic feeling.”

That was in stark contrast to Vettel, who still managed a place on the podium but who said: “Third is not a bad position.”But we had a horrible, bad race, with a lot of things happening we didn’t want to.”

Michael Schumacher was fourth for Mercedes, his highest placing of the year, ahead of Jenson Button, who now has a three-point lead on Alonso and 10 over Vettel, with Hamilton 21 adrift.