Category: Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel has once again exerted his dominance on the 2011 Formula One season by winning his fourth race of the year at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing dynamo, now holding a 41 point lead in the title race, held off the fast charging McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, while Jenson Button used pit strategy to claim the final podium position.

Mark Webber, full of hope after qualifying on pole, quickly found himself in third place after the first corner with both Red Bulls swamped by the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, who led the race in the opening stages.

Vettel, unable to pass Alonso on track, made a successful undercut move by pitting early and managing to stay ahead of Alonso after his first stop. Webber was not able to match his Red Bull teammate in that regard and spent a fair portion of the first half of the race staring at the back of Alonso’s Ferrari.

Webber stayed out longer on his third set of tyres and managed to stay ahead of Alonso after his final stop to finish fourth. Alonso then fell right off the pace and was ultimately lapped by Vettel and Hamilton.

Meanwhile the McLarens just went about their duty and pocketed valuable constructors’ points. Button made the most of a poor start which saw him as low as tenth on the first lap. Electing to stop just three times for tyres, as opposed to four like the other front runners, Button was able to overtake Webber and Alonso before going on to claim a comfortable third place.

You can read what the first three placegetters had to say after the race in the press conference transcript after the break.

[Pics: Red Bull Racing/Getty Images, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]

Below you can read the transcript from the post-quali press conference at the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix. Mark Webber will have gained a lot of confidence in beating his teammate to P1 for tonight’s race. As usual, though, he’s not getting too carried away.

“It was nice to get a clean lap and get a reasonable lap time down. You never know if it was quite enough but today it was. Obviously Seb did not have the smoothest of days so that can happen. I have had plenty of those. That’s the way it goes sometimes,” explained Webber.

“We are both on the front row so great for the team. We didn’t bring any developments here but we just brought the new spark plugs but it seems like everything is working in the right direction. The guys have done a great job at the factory. Again it is a credit to all the team. We can get very, very blasé with these type of performances but it is down to a lot of hard work from everyone at Milton Keynes and also Renault, endless effort from them as well at Viry.”

Including Mark’s win from pole in 2010, the last 10 drivers to start the race from P1 at Barcelona have gone on to win. Best of luck to Mark tonight in turning it up to 11.

[Pics: Red Bull Racing/Getty Images]

Lewis Hamilton has finally broken the early season dominance of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing to post a first race win for McLaren at today’s Chinese Grand Prix. It was a race for the ages thanks to a mix of tyre strategies that kept everyone guessing right to the chequered flag.

Vettel ran a two-stop strategy and despite a poor start where he lost track position to both McLarens he looked set for a third race win to start the 2011 Formula One season. The young German held his lead following the final round of stops for drivers opting for a three-stop strategy. However, the much talked about tyre degradation finally had an impact and allowed Hamilton to use his fresher tyres to dramatically cut Vettel’s lead. Ultimately, Vettel could not match Hamilton’s late race pace and had to settle for second.

Meanwhile, Mark Webber also ended the race in spectacular fashion taking his RB7 from a lowly 18th on the starting grid to claim what must be one of his most satisfactory podiums in his long F1 career. Webber began his race on the harder tyres and had made few inroads when he came in for the first of his three planned pit stops. With completely fresh soft tyres at his disposal for the rest of the race his prospects began to improve and it was the Australian’s final stint that stole the show.

Webber carved through the field lapping up to two seconds per lap faster than those ahead. Fourth place looked to be his most likely result. However, after despatching Nico Rosberg the third placed McLaren of Jenson Button was looking vulnerable. And so it proved with Webber passing Button on the second last lap.

The race was also notable for there being only one retirement; Jaime Alguersuari had a wheel fall off shortly after his first tyre change. In fact, the field of 23 race finishers set a new F1 record. Also making waves in the first round of stops was race-leader Jenson Button who stopped one pit garage early at the Red Bull team, only to be waved on to his rightful spot one spot further down pit lane.

A complete list of race results can be seen HERE. The full transcript from the post-race press conference featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pic: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]