Vettel cruises to third win of season
German world champion looking unstoppable as nearest championship rival Hamilton disappoints at Turkish Grand Prix.
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| Vettel followed in a grand tradition of front-row-to-flag victories in Istanbul despite failing from pole in the previous two races there [AFP] |
Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Turkish Grand Prix as Red Bull revelled in a one-two finish.
Vettel’s third win in four races this season stretched his overall lead to 34 points over McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, a distant fourth on Sunday.
The 23-year-old German led from pole position, his fifth in a row dating back to last year, and never looked in any trouble on a sunny afternoon at Istanbul Park where spectators witnessed a resurgent Ferrari and a disappointing McLaren.
Australian Mark Webber, whose hopes of victory last year evaporated after the two Red Bull teammates collided while fighting for the lead late in the race, finished second after a thrilling battle with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
| Turkish GP result |
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1 S Vettel (GER) RedBull |
The Spaniard might have hoped for second place but had to settle for third, his team’s first podium finish since last November in Brazil.
Vettel’s 13th career Formula One win, and sixth from his last eight starts, was third time lucky for champions Red Bull who celebrated their first Turkish success despite starting the previous two Istanbul races on pole.
Turkish delight
“You beauty, Seb,” shouted team boss Christian Horner as his driver took the chequered flag and whooped in delight from the cockpit.
Vettel has 93 points to Hamilton’s 59 and Webber’s 55.
The German also kept up a Turkish tradition, with the winner in Istanbul coming from the front row in all seven of the races held there to date.
Germany’s Nico Rosberg was fifth for Mercedes with Britain’s Jenson Button sixth. He was the only driver in the top six to do three stops rather than four.
The Renaults of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov were seventh and eighth while Sebastien Buemi was ninth for Toro Rosso.
Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi, starting from the back of the grid after failing to set a time in qualifying, snatched the final point for Sauber.
Overtaking
This was the England-based Red Bull’s first one-two of the season and came at the conclusion of an action-packed contest full of overtaking moves and incidents.
Hamilton, the 2008 champion, had a typically rollercoaster afternoon including one pit stop wrecked by a sticky wheel nut.
Seven-times champion German Michael Schumacher, 42, finished 12th for Mercedes, one place behind Ferrari’s Brazilian Felipe Massa, his former teammate.
The race featured a total of 73 pit stops – the most since the 1993 British Grand Prix at Donington, run in torrential rain and won by the legendary late Brazilian Ayrton Senna for McLaren.
Vettel’s winning time was one hour 30 minutes and 17.558 seconds.
“Yes,” he screamed over his radio at the end. “Yes! That’s what I am talking about. What a race. We controlled it from the beginning to the end. Thank you.”