domingo, 26 de junio de 2011

Vettel dominant in European GP win - MiamiHerald.com

Defending Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel collected his sixth win in the first eight races this season with a dominating performance in Sunday's European Grand Prix.

Vettel started on the pole and led all but one of the 57 laps around the challenging 3.367-mile (5.419-kilometer), 25-turn Valencia street circuit. He only relinquished the top position during his first of three pit stops. The 23-year-old German finished 10.8 seconds ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

"I don't know how much was happening in the grand prix, but maybe from the outside, at least for myself, it looked like a boring race," Vettel said. "I enjoyed it so much."

With the win, Vettel padded his already insurmountable points lead in the championship standings. He now holds a 77-point advantage over his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber and Jenson Button from McLaren.

In 2010, Vettel started on the pole and led every lap to win the European GP for the first time.

"For some reason, I enjoy this track," he said. "Last year, I had a very smooth weekend [at Valencia] and again this year from beginning to end."

Alonso matched his season-best finish in front of his home crowd. The Ferrari driver also placed second in last month's Monaco Grand Prix. Alonso and Webber battled for the second position for most of the race before Webber encountered a slight mishap during his final pit stop, which put him in third position for good.

"I think it was an interesting race," Alonso said. "We fought with Webber all the way through the race."

Webber started alongside Vettel on the front row.

"I think it was probably my best race of the year up until the last pit stop," Webber said.

Lewis Hamilton from McLaren rebounded from his disappointing finish two weeks ago in Montreal with a fourth-place run. Hamilton made contact with Button in the opening laps and finished last in the Canadian Grand Prix.

"This was a better result compared to the last race," Hamilton said.

Alonso's teammate, Felipe Massa, finished fifth, while Button, who won at Montreal, took the sixth spot. Button endured problems with KERS for most of the race.

Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg and Jamie Alguersuari from Toro Rosso placed seventh and eighth, respectively. Adrian Sutil from Force India and Renault's Nick Heidfeld completed the top-10.

All 24 drivers finished the European GP, marking just third time in F1 history a grand prix featured no retirements.

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario