Once again the Circuit de Catalunya served up a rather processional race, which Mark Webber effectively lead from start to finish in his Red Bull. For some reason F1 cars find it almost impossible to overtake at the track, with the main opportunity being the entry into turn one after the long start/finish straight. However, sometimes even that doesn’t work, as Jenson Button demonstrated in his numerous failed attempts to pass the Mercedes of an on-form Michael Schumacher.
The main on-track interest came in the closing laps, when Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren suffered a puncture on its left front tyre, and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull experienced brake issues. Hamilton had to retire from second place when his car ended up in the barrier, while Vettel managed to limp the Red Bull home to third. The beneficiary was Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari, who ended up in second spot.
With four different winners from five races, at least it means that the championship is still wide open. Button is holding onto a slim lead for now, but with 25 points available for a win, things could change very quickly:
Pos. Driver / Team / Points
1 Jenson Button / McLaren-Mercedes / 70
2 Fernando Alonso / Ferrari / 67
3 Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull-Renault / 60
4 Mark Webber / Red Bull-Renault / 53
5 Nico Rosberg / Mercedes GP / 50
6 Lewis Hamilton / McLaren-Mercedes / 49
7 Felipe Massa / Ferrari / 49
8 Robert Kubica / Renault / 44
9 Michael Schumacher / Mercedes GP / 22
10 Adrian Sutil / Force India-Mercedes / 16
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi / Force India-Mercedes / 8
12 Rubens Barrichello / Williams-Cosworth / 7
13 Vitaly Petrov / Renault / 6
14 Jaime Alguersuari / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / 3
15 Nico Hulkenberg / Williams-Cosworth / 1
16 Sebastien Buemi / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / 0
17 Pedro de la Rosa / BMW Sauber-Ferrari / 0
18 Kamui Kobayashi / BMW Sauber-Ferrari / 0
19 Heikki Kovalainen / Lotus-Cosworth / 0
20 Karun Chandhok / Hispania-Cosworth / 0
21 Lucas di Grassi / Virgin-Cosworth / 0
22 Bruno Senna / Hispania-Cosworth / 0
23 Jarno Trulli / Lotus-Cosworth / 0
24 Timo Glock / Virgin-Cosworth / 0
