Mark Webber wins Hungarian GP

Mark Webber has just won an extraordinary Hungarian Grand Prix, in doing so he has reclaimed the lead of the 2010 world drivers championship. It was a fortunate turn of events that, in the end, delivered Webber a comfortable win from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel started the race on pole, with Webber in P2 and Alonso P3. The Ferrari man jumped Webber off the line and very nearly took the lead from Vettel into Turn 1. Vettel was able to fend off Alonso’s challenge and the notoriously difficult to pass Hungaroring looked like providing another boring procession.

However, on lap 15, before teams were planning to bring in their drivers for scheduled pit stops some debris from one of the Force India cars was positioned precariously in the middle of the track. The Safety Car was deployed and the entire field took advantage to make their compulsory tyre change; with the exception of Webber, Rubens Barichello (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Virgin Racing). Chaos reigned in pit lane, too, with a crash between Robert Kubica (Renault) and Vintonio Liuzzi (Force India), a loose wheel from Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes bouncing down the lane among the teams and cars everywhere.

Initially it appeared Webber would be at a disadvantage, even though he was now leading the race. His best hope looked to be a podium finish with Vettel and, possibly, Alonso ahead of him. It soon emerged, though, that Vettel would be penalised with a drive through penalty for failing to maintain a 10-car gap between himself and Webber.

Up the road Webber set a blistering pace and built up a lead of over 23 seconds which enabled him to complete his compulsory pit stop on lap 43 without relinquishing his lead. From there, it was all Webber, then daylight. He won the race comfortably with a lead of over 17 seconds from Alonso who was able to keep Vettel at bay even though the Red Bull had superior overall pace.

Afterwards Webber acknowledged his good fortune, “A bit of a gift today, for me, but I haven’t had many of them, so I’ll take today’s. Tough luck for Seb, obviously, he lost a couple of spots.”

Despite Vettel’s misfortune it was still a good day for Red Bull Racing, as Webber explained, “An incredible day for the team. One-two was our goal. Unfortunately we didn’t get that, but we still got a bit chunk of points, so a good day.”

The win was Webber’s fourth race win for the year, adding to victories in Spain, Monaco and Britain. He now leads the driver’s standings with 161 points, thanks to a DNF from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who remains in second place (157 pts). Vettel (151pts) moves up to third place, with Button (147pts) and Alonso (141pts) close behind.

Victory and third place also gave Red Bull Racing enough points to edge ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ championship (312pts to 304pts). They hold a comfortable lead over Ferrari (238pts).

[Pics: One HD]