Vettel leads perfect Grand Prix for Red Bull

F1 Grand Prix, GP Great-Britain, Silverstone Circuit

Sebastian Vettel was on pole, has set the fastest lap and has also crossed the finish line first at the British Grand Prix. Mark Webber came in second, completing an excellent one two finish for Red Bull. Rubens Barrichello is 3rd and completes the podium.

The temperatures at the start are slightly higher than during qualifying, now 30°C on track.

As the lights went out, the leaders kept their places, although Vettel had to do his best to fend off Barrichello. Trulli on the other hand lost his 4th place to Nakajima while both Ferrari's made an excellent pitstop.

In the first laps, an intense battle deployed between Heidfeld, who has a damaged front wing endplate, and Alonso who lost considerable places at the start. Both men are fighting for 12th position. Behind them there's also an interesting fight between Kubica and Hamilton who lost a few places after going through the grass when fighting Alonso.

6 laps in the race, Vettel has pulled away from Barrichello by as much as 8 seconds. Mark Webber is on his behalf putting serious pressure on the Brawn with only 0.6 seconds seperating them.

Nakajima is still 4th, Raikkonen 5th, followed by Rosberg, Trulli, Button, Massa and Glock.

In lap 12, Heidfeld is still ahead of Alonso. The German refused to come into the pits for a new nose after his team asked him to, but he is now already 16 seconds behind Fisichella.

Nakajima is the first to enter the pitlane in lap 16. It is a faultless stop and he rejoins the track in 11th place. Button and Trulli stop at the same time in lap 18, while Barrichello and Glock follow one lap later.

Webber also makes his stop one lap later. An excellent in-lap and a quick pitstop get him out in front of Barrichello. When Vettel stops one lap later, he is able to maintain his lead, now 4.5 seconds ahead of Massa who is rounding off a long first stint.

In lap 23, after Massa's stop, Vettel is 21 seconds ahead of his teammate. Barrichello is 3rd and has Rosberg closely behind him. Massa is 5th, Trulli 6th, Raikkonen 7th and Button 8th. The latter is on a longer second stint but is suffering understeer on his car.

In lap 30, Alonso is again joined by Hamilton and both switch places twice in the same lap. Alonso was initially blocked behind Sutil and Lewis was able to profit from that for a short while. 3 laps later Alonso passed Piquet, and a further lap in the race Kovalainen joined the battle as he came out of the pits right in the middle.

In lap 34, Boudais came up close behind Kovalainen and was a little too optimistic to try to overtake the McLaren. His front wing touched Kovalainen's left rear wheel, causing a puncture for Kovalainen that would eventually lead him to abandon the race 2 laps later. Bourdais went to get a new front wing in his pits and raced on until also parking his car in lap 39.

On lap 43 Hamilton is off into the grass. He was on the grass during braking and spun off the track. He immediately entered the pits for his final stop, putting on the prime tyres.

15 laps from the end, a new series of pitstops starts with Vettel who is giving up the lead temporarily to Webber. Jenson Button ends the stops and leapfrogs both Trulli and Raikkonen to move up to 6th place.

The positions are now Vettel in the lead, followed by Webber, Barrichello, Massa, Rosberg, Button, Trulli and Raikkonen.

Interestingly, after the stops, Button is now closing is quickly on the two cars ahead of him. He is on the quicker option tyre while Massa and Rosberg are both on the hard prime compound. 5 laps from the end the championship leader reduced the gap to Rosberg to 2.5 seconds and keeps going 1 second a lap faster.

One lap from the end Button is right up with Rosberg, but considering this circuit's chracteristics, it may be dificult to get by the German.

30 seconds later, Vettel is already at the finish, followed by Mark Webber who completes the perfect race for Red Bull.