Mark Webber’s Brazilian Grand Prix victory in pictures

Following the tradition set with Webber’s maiden Grand Prix victory in Germany, here is an image gallery celebrating the Australian’s latest Formula One win at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Sadly, the Red Bull Racing media portal doesn’t have as many action shots or images of Webber arriving back in pitlane as last time. With any luck some new images will be added at a later date.

Indeed, I was amazed listening to local Canberra radio reports this morning that mentioned Webber’s win with little to no fanfare, as if this was something that happens every day. It certainly didn’t garner the enthusiasm deserved for a guy winning such a race on the world stage who hails from the region the station was broadcasting from.

With just the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix remaining, Webber, currently on 61.5 points, will finish the season in fourth position in the driver’s standings. Jenson Button (89 points), Brawn GP, will be the world champion, of course, but second and third placings are still up for grabs. Webber’s Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel (74 points) is just ahead of Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello (72 points).

Hopefully this win will scupper rumours of 32-year-old Webber being dumped for Ferrari reject Kimi Raikkonen. Webber signed a contract extension back in July which, theoretically, secures his drive for 2010.

UPDATE 20 October: Nine new images added at the end of this article.

FIRST TODAY, SECOND THIS YEAR

Car 14 MARK WEBBER, Finish Position: WINNER, Start Position: 2nd
“I’m happy with that! You never know in the first stint of a race what’s going to happen, although I knew Rubens (Barrichello) and Robert (Kubica) were a bit shorter than me. I was matching Robert’s pace to start with and when they made their pit stops, I knew I had a clear run to make a gap to start my second stint. I just cleared Jenson (Button) on my outlap, which was good too. I was just making sure the tyres were comfortable for the whole stint. I was a little bit panicky in the second stint as Robert started closing, although my pace was not too bad and I knew he was quite short in the middle stint. I was then able to control the gap to Robert and he backed off towards the end, which gave me a nice run home. It’s fantastic feeling to win again. As a team we’ve had quite a few victories this year off the back of some tough seasons, but today has confirmed second place for us in the Constructors’ Championship. We’re very proud of what we have achieved this year as a team – I want to thank Renault as well, the engines have been very good and they’re not easy environments for them to work in. Congratulations to Jenson and also to Brawn on clinching the Championships today after a good fight. It was a good weekend for the Australians, as Jason Crump won the World Speedway Championship last night. He’s a close friend of mine and he won it under difficult conditions, so a good weekend.”

Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Finish Position: 4th, Start Position: 15th
“I think there is a guy at Brawn who is happier than me today. All in all it was a good race – starting from the back and finishing fourth. We were helped by some people crashing, but I think fourth was the maximum we could do today. Without the problems in yesterday’s qualifying, we could have won the race, but we didn’t so there’s not much more to say. The pressure wasn’t too much during the race, I was just focusing on each lap. I knew that Jenson was just ahead or behind me and would score points for the Championship – but you don’t really think about it until the last couple of laps. Before that you never know what can still happen. At one point I was praying for rain, there was the smell of rain, but it didn’t come. Congratulations to Jenson and Brawn, I think they did the best job this year.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal:
“A brilliant drive from Mark today; he was faultless from start to finish. We knew he had a good overlap of fuel and he used it to brilliant effect, so a dominant win and a very strong weekend for him. For Sebastian, it was an excellent recovery from a lowly grid position. After the difficulties of yesterday, he drove a stunning race and fourth is a great result considering where he started. It was a very good team performance today, with great pit work. Congratulations to Jenson on becoming World Champion, he’s been a great competitor this year and also to the Brawn team on winning the Constructors’ Championship. We can reflect on an outstanding season and we’ll go to Abu Dhabi determined to finish with the momentum that we’ve had at the last few races.”

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support:
“On one side we lost both Championships today, so I have a sad feeling for that. The fight was hard and very fair with Brawn, so congratulations to them. I won’t let anyone say that the engine is the only aspect that cost us the title, we won as a team and we lost as a team. Renault is part of this team and we are proud to be so. Putting the negatives aside, we are second in the Constructors’ Championship, which is a great achievement and I am very, very happy for Mark today. The second win is perhaps the one that confirms the talent of the driver and Mark has gained his second win with Renault, so congratulations to him and well done.”

New pics added 20 October…

Images from the rain soaked qualifying are available here.

Photos: Getty Images, via Red Bull Racing