Motor Sport:Mark Webber became the first driver to win from pole this season as the Spanish Grand Prix lived up to its notoriously dull reputation until late catastrophe struck Lewis Hamilton. The past 10 winners of the race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya have won from the top spot on the grid, with Webber emphatically enforcing that statistic with a lights-to-flag triumph.
It was the 33-year-old Australian’s first win this year, and third of his career, elevating him up to fourth in the championship, the 25 points for the victory almost as much as his haul from the first four races.
Hamilton should have grabbed the runner-up spot for the second successive race, only to suffer a suspension failure on the penultimate lap that plunged him into a tyre wall, with the Briton fortunately emerging unharmed.
That, though, was to the delight of the Spanish fans as Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished second, benefiting also from Sebastian Vettel suffering an issue with the front right of his Red Bull that dropped him to third.
It was never going to be a classic, not at a track where three of the last five races had resulted in just two overtaking manoeuvres, and so it proved.
There was none of Formula One’s magic ingredient — water — to spice up the show on this occasion, as had been the case in the last three races in Australia, Malaysia and China.
On a dry track, once the first six cars on the grid had emerged out of the first corner in the same order in which they started, you knew strategy or a retirement would be the only two factors that would result in a positional change.
Again, so it proved, with Jenson Button and Hamilton emerging a loser and an initial winner at the only round of stops that began in earnest around lap 15.
Button and Michael Schumacher, who had started from fifth and sixth, traded those places as the Mercedes crew managed to pull off a marginally better job than their counterparts at McLaren.
What followed was a case of follow-my-leader, despite Button’s best efforts to pass the slower 41-year-old in the following laps. The current world champion made several attempts on the seven-time champion at the first corner, but it was never enough to make it count.
The flip-side for McLaren saw Hamilton pass Vettel, and in the most dramatic of circumstances to provide one of the two highlights of the race, both of them involving the 2008 world champion.
Emerging onto the pit straight, Hamilton soon had Vettel alongside him at over 200mph, but with a slow Lucas di Grassi in his Virgin directly in front of them as they turned into the first corner.
In order to avoid being tagged by Hamilton who had the line going into the left-hander, Di Grassi was forced to veer onto the inside kerb.
Vettel was then forced to run wide and cut across turn two, running over one of the rubber rumble strips in the process designed to slow a car down should they be forced to make an evasive manoeuvre.
It was effectively Formula One’s version of ‘chicken’ and Hamilton emerged the winner. After amassing 32 overtaking manoeuvres in the previous four races, Hamilton did not manage one on-track move in this event.
Sadly for the 25-year-old cruel luck then hit him hard on lap 65 of 66, and with the chequered flag just four miles away at the time. If Hamilton had avoided such misery he would have ended the day a point ahead of team-mate Button at the top of the standings.
As it is, he is now 21 points adrift of Button, who has a three-point cushion to Alonso, who is a further seven points ahead of Vettel.
Schumacher’s fourth place was his best result this year in a car now much to his liking, albeit one that still finished over a minute behind Webber.
In stark contrast, team-mate Nico Rosberg, who had finished third in the last two races, now finds himself in reverse as he was a woeful 13th.
Behind Button, the top 10 was completed by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Adrian Sutil for Force India, Robert Kubica in his Renault, Rubens Barrichello for Williams and Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari.
Final standings
1.Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull-Renault 1:35:44.101
2.Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari +00:24.065
3.Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 00:51.338
4.Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 01:02.195
5.Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 01:03.728
6.Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 01:05.767
7.Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India-Mercedes 01:12.941
8.Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 01:13.677
9.Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams - Cosworth 1 lap
10.Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1 lap
11.Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 1 lap
12.Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber - Ferrari 1 lap
13.Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1 lap
14.Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 2 laps
15.Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India - Mercedes 2 laps
16.Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Williams - Cosworth 2 laps
17.Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus - Cosworth 3 laps
18.Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin - Cosworth 3 laps
19.Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil) Virgin - Cosworth 4 laps
retired.Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 24 laps
retired.Karun Chandhok (India) HRT - Cosworth 38 laps
retired.Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) BMW Sauber - Ferrari 48 laps
retired.Bruno Senna (Brazil) HRT - Cosworth 63 laps
retired.Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Lotus - Cosworth 66 laps
Drivers standings
1.Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 70 points
2.Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 67
3.Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 60
4.Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 53
5.Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes GP 50
6.Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 49
7.Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 49
8.Robert Kubica (Poland) Renault 44
9.Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes GP 22
10.Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 16
11.Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Force India 8
12.Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams 7
13.Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 6
14.Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso 3
15.Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Williams 1
Constructors standings
1.McLaren - Mercedes 119 points
2.Ferrari 116
3.RedBull - Renault 113
4.Mercedes GP 72
5.Renault 50
6.Force India - Mercedes 24
7.Williams - Cosworth 8
8.Toro Rosso - Ferrari 3
9.BMW Sauber - Ferrari 0
10.Lotus - Cosworth 0
11.HRT - Cosworth 0
12.Virgin - Cosworth 0