Webber wins in Hungary and takes Championship lead

Webber takes victory number four in 2010

Mark Webber took a surprising victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix after a risky strategy behind the Safety Car worked to his advantage.

Webber started the race from the front row but fell behind Fernando Alonso's Ferrari on the run towards turn one. There seemed to be little the Australian could offer from third place around the Hungaroring as the circuit is not conducive to overtaking.

In the early stages of the race Webber was simply hoping to reclaim second before the end of the Grand Prix. He ended up with a great opportunity to do just that when the Safety Car period on lap 14. Sebastian Vettel pitted from the race lead as soon as the Safety Car was deployed with Alonso also making his first stop, but Webber stayed out and gained track position over them both. This gave Mark the chance to reclaim second later in the race, assuming he could build up a big enough gap to Alonso before his inevitable pitstop.

Dreams of second place for Webber became dreams of victory when Vettel made a careless mistake behind the Safety Car. As the field prepared to take the restart, Vettel was blissfully unaware that racing was about to resume due to a radio failure. As such, Webber sprinted off into the lead, and by the time Vettel reacted, he had fallen far enough behind his teammate to earn a penalty for impeding the other drivers.

Vettel served his penalty on lap 31 and emerged in third place behind Alonso. He attacked the Ferrari consistently over the final 30 laps but was unable to get ahead.

Webber secured the victory by pulling out 20 seconds in 25 laps over Alonso in the middle stint of the race. When he emerged ahead of the Ferrari all he had to do was hold the lead until the chequered flag.

After the race Mark said “Unless Seb had a technical problem, he was on pole, he was leading the first stint and unless he made a mistake it was probably his race. Second was on the cards and I could get it but this is racing and sometimes it happens. Most of my other victories have not been gifted to me. Seb lost two positions and in the constructors we lost some points, but I am not complaining. You have to take them when you get them. I still had to do the job today. Not easy to get it right."

The Safety Car that moved Webber into the lead also caused grief for a number of other teams in the pitlane. A wheel flew off Rosberg's Mercedes during a rushed pitstop, whilst Kubica and Sutil collided just outside of their pit boxes. Renault and Mercedes received fines for their parts in the chaos.

It wasn't all bad news for Renault. Vitaly Petrov delivered his most impressive performance to date with a solid fifth place finish. The Russian was a long way behind Felipe Massa at the chequered flag but finished ahead of a group of drivers that included Nico Hulkenberg, Pedro De La Rosa, and Jenson Button.

Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher provided some drama late in the race with a thrilling battle for tenth position. Rubens had taken a late pitstop for soft tyres and was much quicker than the Mercedes with the fresher rubber. He tried a number of times to get past Michael but the German's defensive driving was sharp as ever.

Barrichello lined up Schumacher down the main straight at the start of lap 66. Michael started moving right and pushed Rubens towards the concrete wall. Barrichello did not back off and, to his surprise, neither did Schumacher. The result was that Rubens was forced into a gap just a few inches wider than his Williams, and he had to use the pitlane and grass to complete the manoeuvre. It was a very aggressive piece of driving from Schumacher and he earned a penalty when the stewards judged that he "illegitimately impeded Car 9 during an overtaking manoeuvre".

With a number of unhappy drivers after the race there will be lots to play for at Spa Francorchamps in three weeks time.

Drivers Championship Standings

Mark Webber                    161

Lewis Hamilton                157

Sebastian Vettel               151

Jenson Button                  147

Fernando Alonso             141

Constructors Championship Standings

Red Bull-Renault              312

McLaren-Mercedes          304

Ferrari                                  238

Mercedes                           132

Renault                               106

Buy official Hungarian F1 tickets from our Formula 1 Ticket shop.

Posted by Martin Porter. - Follow him on twitter @mpondaweb.

Like us on Facebook! »

More F1 Posts »

• A little update from enterF1 – and a look to the 2012 F1 season
• Why do the 2012 F1 cars feature stepped noses?
• Christmas: 2012 F1 Tickets – What's on sale and which are currently discounted?
• Merry Christmas! Get yourself some free Johnnie Walker and signed McLaren goodies
• Webber at last in Brazil
• Sebastian Vettel takes the final pole of 2011
• Lewis brilliant in Abu Dhabi
• The 2011 Abu Dhabi GP Race Log - Lewis Hamilton is the MAN
• Good Evening Mr Mansell: Vettel takes his 14 pole
• I'm off to Abu Dhabi – but will the racing get the juices flowing?

Last Comment Posted »