April 19, 2009

Sebastian Vettel won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Australian teammate Mark Webber, handing Red Bull Racing their first Formula One victory.

Webber achieved his best ever result in Formula One by finishing second in a rain-soaked race in Shanghai.

Championship leading Briton Jenson Button finished third for the Brawn GP team ahead of his teammate, veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

After qualifying third-fastest, Webber - who had to recover from a broken leg in the off-season - finished almost 11 seconds behind his teammate to achieve only his third podium placing in seven years in Formula One.

He finished third at the Nurburgring in the German Grand Prix in 2007 and achieved the same result in Monaco in 2005 when racing for Williams.

"They were tough conditions so it's extremely rewarding," Webber said, celebrating the result with his father, who flew in from Australia to join him.

"It's the best result of my career and I'm hoping to go one step better in the future.

"But it's an incredible result for Red Bull ... it means a huge amount to us all.

"I like to share my results with the team. Our team has been through a lot, a lot of results slipped through our fingers."

The second placing moved him to fifth on the 2009 drivers standings, 11.5 points behind leader Button, who commended Red Bull after the race.

"We couldn't challenge these two guys today, who were immensely quick,'' Button conceded.

After finishing 13th in the season opener in Melbourne and sixth in Malaysia, Webber is now in a strong position to enjoy his best season in the sport after many frustrating campaigns.

His German teammate Vettel, the 21-year-old who claimed his maiden win for the Toro Rosso team in similar weather at last year's Italian Grand Prix, dominated from pole position in Shanghai.

It endorsed his status as the sport's new young rising star - his pole and victory at Monza last year made him the youngest driver in F1 history to achieve such feats.

"I am extremely happy," Vettel said after the race. "The team did a really, really good job in preparing the car.

"We found the problem. That speaks for the quality of the team."

There were encouraging signs that McLaren are starting to find their feet with Finn Heikki Kovalainen and defending world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth and sixth.

Germany's Timo Glock was seventh for Toyota and Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi, just 20, came home eighth to claim the final point for Toro Rosso.

But Ferrari again failed to score for the third time this season -- now their worst start to a racing year since 1981.

Brazilian Felipe Massa retired with mechanical problems and Finn Kimi Raikkonen came in a midfield position without threatening to pick up any points.

And there was disappointment for Force India which looked on course for its first ever Formula One point with Adrian Sutil in sixth with five laps to go, but the German lost control of his car and crashed out.

The race was started under a safety car and there were two further spells of safety car intervention due to the dreadful weather and a spate of accidents and collisions.

The championship continues in Bahrain next weekend.

F1GP - Chinese Grand Prix
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired

1 15 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:57:43.4850
2 14 Mark Webber Red Bull 01:57:54.4550
3 20 Jenson Button Brawn 01:58:28.4600
4 21 Rubens Barrichello Brawn 01:58:47.1890
5 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 01:58:48.5870
6 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 01:58:55.3510
7 10 Timo Glock Toyota 01:58:57.9610
8 12 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 01:58:59.9240
9 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 01:59:07.7940
10 4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 01:59:15.2350
11 11 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso 01:59:17.6410
12 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:59:19.3190
13 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 01:59:30.3380
14 19 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India +1 Lap
15 16 Nico Rosberg Williams +1 Lap
16 8 Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault +1 Lap
17 18 Adrian Sutil Force India DNF
18 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota DNF
19 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams DNF
20 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari DNF


F1 Drivers Ladder
Driver Team Pts

1 Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn 21
2 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Brawn 15
3 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 10
4 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 10
5 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 9.5
6 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 8.5
7 Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber 4
8 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 4
9 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 4
10 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 4
11 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams 3.5
12 Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso 3
13 Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso 1
14 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 0
14 Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 0
14 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India 0
14 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 0
14 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 0
14 Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault 0
14 Kazuki Nakajima (JAP) Williams 0


Team Pts

1 Brawn 36
2 Renault 19.5
2 Red Bull 19.5
2 Toyota 18.5
4 McLaren 8
5 BMW Sauber 4
5 Toro Rosso 4
8 Williams 3.5
9 Ferrari 0
9 Force India 0