Formula 1, Sebastian victory in the British Grand Prix
2009-06-21
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel scored a crushing victory in the British Grand Prix as championship leader Jenson Button's Brawn struggled to sixth.
Vettel took advantage of his team-mate Mark Webber being caught behind Brawn's Rubens Barrichello to build a decisive lead in the first stint of the race.
Webber passed Barrichello at the first pit stops to complete a Red Bull one-two ahead of the Brawn driver in third.
Last year's winner Lewis Hamilton was 16th in a car he said had "no grip".
Felipe Massa's Ferrari was fourth after winning a battle with the Williams of Nico Rosberg. Behind Button, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took the final points positions in seventh and eighth.
The result leaves Button with a reduced but still substantial championship lead of 23 points over Barrichello, with Vettel two further points adrift and 3.5 ahead of Webber.
Button's advantage is still more than two clear victories but, with more than half the season still to go, he will be concerned by the startling pace shown by Red Bull, who introduced a major upgrade to their car and were in a league of their own throughout the weekend at Silverstone.