Mark Webber picked up his first win since last year as the F1 season ended in Brazil on Sunday. The Australian, who finishes third in the standings, led home team-mate and Champion Sebastian Vettel as Jenson Button passed Fernando Alonso for the final podium spot. Lewis Hamilton retired with gearbox problems.
Prior to the weekend, weather forecasters had practically guaranteed that thunderstorms would affect the season-ending race, although no drops affected proceedings after the five red lights went out at two o’clock. Before the race, the drivers gathered for the annual end-of-season photograph.
The start was remarkably clean for the entire field, with Webber suffering an initially poor getaway but just managing to fend off the McLaren duo and rapid Alonso. Vettel headed the pack by two and a half seconds on Lap 5, although a sluggish start by local favourite Rubens Barrichello – who could have been competing in his final F1 race – saw him slip down the order.
Michael Schumacher was out of any contention by as early as Lap 10, as he and Bruno Senna touched at the first corner; the German had moved across under braking, although the Brazilian was handed a drive-through penalty for sliding into the Mercedes. With a rear puncture, Schumacher coasted back to the pits and finished the day in a lowly 15th place.
The lead changed at the start of Lap 30, with Vettel yielding to Webber as the Australian swept around the outside of the first corner. At the time, Red Bull feared that the title winner would not make half distance, although – comparing himself to Ayrton Senna in 1991, with the Brazilian having also had a gearbox issues – Vettel crossed the finish line 17 seconds behind.
Behind, Button and Alonso’s entertaining battle began on Lap 11, with the latter pulling off a brilliant move around the outside of Ferradura. Using a differing pit-stop strategy, running the harder compound tyres for longer, both DRS and three quarters of his KERS allowed the Englishman to zoom back ahead on Lap 62; the Turn 4 overtake followed a previous move from the McLaren driver on the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa, at the same corner. Massa was the highest-placed Brazilian in fifth and the last car to finish on the lead lap, with Lewis Hamilton about to challenge when his gearbox failed on the 48th tour.
Adrian Sutil’s sixth position means Force India enjoys its best ever season, with sixth overall and just missing out on LRGP’s top five place by four points. The top ten was completed by Nico Rosberg, statistically best 2011 rookie Paul di Resta, Kamui Kobayashi and Vitaly Petrov. Team Lotus, soon to become Caterham, finishes tenth in the Constructors’ Championship for the second consecutive campaign and therefore receives winnings in the region of 30 million dollars. Also coming out of South America on top is Sauber, which beats Toro Rosso to seventh overall.
Excluding Hamilton, three drivers retired from the race; Timo Glock’s left-rear wheel came off following a Virgin-HRT pit lane duel, Pastor Maldonado crashed at Laranjinha and Vitantonio Liuzzi suffered a technical problem.
Mark Webber’s seventh F1 victory is his first since Hungary last year, although the result marks his second triumph in São Paulo after 2009.
Thank you for sharing Sebastian Vettel’s dominant season with GPUpdate.net. Formula 1 action will resume with pre-season testing in February 2012.
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Mark Webber
Teams
Red Bull
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:32:17.464 |
| 2. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +16.983 |
| 3. | J. Button | McLaren | +27.638 |
| 4. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +35.048 |
| 5. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +1:06.733 |
| 6. | A. Sutil | Force India | +1 Lap |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +1 Lap |
| 8. | P. di Resta | Force India | +1 Lap |
| 9. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +1 Lap |
| 10. | V. Petrov | Lotus Renault | +1 Lap |
| Full results | |||
| Mark Webber | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Mark Webber photos | |||
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