Sebastian Vettel has scored his second career win – and given Red Bull their first Formula 1 victory.
Just as he did for Toro Rosso at Monza last year, Vettel gave the team their first pole position yesterday and was rarely headed in the wet race.
Team mate Mark Webber took second, handing Red Bull a maiden one-two as well.
The Milton Keynes-based team, formerly known as Stewart and Jaguar, has been in F1 since 2005.
Johnny Herbert won the 1999 European Grand Prix for Stewart the Nurburgring, but this is the first win for the team since it became Red Bull.
Long live Ferrari!
19th April 2009, 10:07
it really hurt to see Ferrari going back from china without any points.
and the Force INDIA thing too.
aah! don’t feel like doing anything now, not even f1!!
:(
ajokay
20th April 2009, 9:36
Great to see Ferrari score nil points again. Shame about Force India though. I think they’ll pack up at the end of this year if they have another pointless one.
Pradeek
19th April 2009, 10:08
That was a great race.Can’t help but feel sorry for Sutil though…
SYM
19th April 2009, 10:12
Great race well done Sebastian, amazing driver and button was supreme in the rain great drive from Heikki :)
Saddy
19th April 2009, 10:13
Bad luck for Sutil and Massa, Party is on for RB.. Vettel proves again that he is a great wet racing driver..
beneboy
19th April 2009, 10:13
A well deserved win, Vettel was brilliant again.
rob
19th April 2009, 10:13
I had to watch it in like Italian or something. Wish there was a free online feed that was in English.
Dorian
19th April 2009, 10:15
Vettel shines again!!….that kid is something special.
p.s. really hope Ferrari pull their socks up!
deric
19th April 2009, 10:15
Well done Vettel. Job well done. I hope to see you in Ferrari soon. For Sutil, I feel so sorry. I think if Sutil will be given a competetive car, we will see more of him in the podium. For Ferrari, What are you guys doing?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th April 2009, 10:15
Fantastic result for Red Bull. I’m still not drinking the stuff though.
deric
19th April 2009, 10:16
Well done Vettel. Job well done. I hope to see you in Ferrari soon. For Sutil, I feel so sorry. I think if Sutil will be given a competitive car, we will see more of him in the podium. For Ferrari, What are you guys doing?
Big Galah
19th April 2009, 10:20
Go Mark!
It seems RB have two of the best wet weather drivers around. Cant wait for next race when they get more downforce.
luky
19th April 2009, 10:21
alonso spins 2 gp’s in a row losing about 4 to 6 points.
martinb
19th April 2009, 10:23
Red Bull and Toyota got their slogans mixed up.
Now it’s Toyota gives you wings, and everything keeps going right, Red Bull.
SimonRS
19th April 2009, 13:57
Certainly doesn’t give you rear wings if you’re Jarno Trulli…
Patrickl
19th April 2009, 10:26
Pretty dull race at the front, but I guess that means that it’s nicely done for the Red Bulls and Brawns. Behind them it was a bit of a circus of errors.
Renault must by now really be pulling their hair out that they didn’t replace Piquet.
Hamilton was having a lot of fun ;)
Ben Ell
19th April 2009, 10:35
Damn that racist FIA kept putting puddles in Hamilton’s path! He surely would have won without their meddling!
Ben Ell
19th April 2009, 10:39
by the way I’m obviously having a laugh at certain people’s expense.
Well doen to Red Bull, fantastic to see their hard work reap their deserved rewards, including the drivers.
It was obvious even from the back of his head that Flavio was on the verge of another epic tanty during the race.
Cameron
20th April 2009, 5:57
The joke isn’t so funny when you immediately point out it was a joke. :(
m0tion
19th April 2009, 10:42
Vettel was very cool and consistent, Mark found a single puddle again when asked to push that cost him the challenge for the race. Great drive by Sutil which confirms him right up there with the best ever wet drivers and as he has so little aero downforce he was more on the edge than anyone. Barrichello should have been there so I suspect he had car trouble. I think RBR won it by selecting a higher downforce aero anticipating the wet.
Nik
19th April 2009, 10:43
I tipped Red Bull before the start of the season to take out the WCC and I am even more confident now. With the new diffuser and chassis they will dominate at Spain the same way Brawn did in Australia.
I am surprised at how poorly Toyota and Williams have performed. It suggests that once we have diffuser parity both teams will drop to the back of the midfield. Their cars are not stable in the wet – which is a bad sign.
McLaren are performing consistently and have their drivers to thank. Lewis seemed to have over-steer problems today so I wouldn’t blame his problems today on his drive – which was otherwise excellent.
Piquet needs to go, asap. He has a decent car yet couldn’t move from the back of the field. Sutil showed what a good driver can do in the wet with poor machinery and if Alonso had a better backup driver they should readily be taking away at least 2-3 points every race weekend.
Ferrari seem to have big problems, to the point of where it seems now that it would take a new, fresh long-term plan with a refreshed team to see them out the front again.
Otherwise an excellent race. I would say the championship now comes down to Button / Vettel and Brawn / Red Bull.
Filipe
19th April 2009, 10:43
Did Raikonnen set some kind of record of how many t8imes a driver is overtaked without a mistake? Everytime he showeds up on TV there were someone else trying to make a pass at him.
andy
19th April 2009, 10:49
Well done vettel,great to see people on the podium SMILING.
Oh dear ferrari,mclaren LOL
looks like titles between jenson vetal barra.
THANK GOD (if there is a god up there)the l hamilton ROADSHOW has stopped may it continue!!!
the Sri lankan
19th April 2009, 10:56
I Wander what on earth happened to Toyota. are they going backwards as usual? im a huge Toyota fan but its almost unbelievable watching Jarno loosing upto two positions per lap before crashing out in that car when his team mate ( who was my driver of the Day) pulling a massive result from nothing. i hope they sort tings out before bahrain because this is unacceptable. does anyone know if this is due to their new double diffuser not working out?
matt
19th April 2009, 10:56
McLaren seem to have taken a step forward. Hamilton looked unbeatable when he wasn’t flying off the track, Vettel drove well, although I’d love to see if the Red Bulls would have had the same advantage in the dry.
gaz
19th April 2009, 11:09
really enjoyed that! vettel is a class act for sure.
on another note well done the bbc great coverage yet again. the legard and brundle pairing sounding better every race i also thought mike gascoyne was really good.
iBlaze
19th April 2009, 11:20
Great race, well-deserved for Red Bull.
Again, shame for Sutil, but is it just me or are the wheel tethers just not working at all this season?
First we had Kubica’s wheels flying in Melbourne and now Sutil’s came straight off in a crash where they really shouldn’t have. Quite dangerous actually.
Anyway, let’s hope Red Bull can keep up this pace in the dry and give Brawn a run for their money in the championship.
iBlaze
19th April 2009, 11:29
Of course, this also means that still no driver has won more than once in China…
04 – Barrichello
05 – Alonso
06 – Schumacher
07 – Raikkonen
08 – Hamilton
09 – Vettel
Siwongo
19th April 2009, 11:35
Heh, will have to see if their sales of the drink will shoot up this week :p
HounslowBusGarage
19th April 2009, 11:58
Will there be more changes in the Ferari team after that showing? Not sure why Massa stopped, though.
Why do you think Reubens was so slow in the middle part of the race? Could it just be that the Brawn’s aren’t quite so good in the rain after all? We know Barrichelo *is* good in the wet.
There was an article here a while ago about Adrian Newey versus Schumacher, I think. If anyone can recall the title, could they post a link, it would stand reading again. It looks as though Newey has come up trumps again – if the car can be adapted to deal with a DDD, it could be fantastic.
benno
19th April 2009, 11:59
redbull: drink sucks, but cars and drivers are great. With a super diffuser the Newy cars are championship winners. Just like cool balls Vettel.
Smitty
19th April 2009, 12:01
Red Bull Cola is where it’s at.
Oh, and the team is pretty good too.
luky
19th April 2009, 12:12
if (!) vettel wins this year championship he will be the youngest wdc after fittipaldi (24), alonso (23) and hamilton (23).
until buemi comes along!
StrFerrari4Ever
19th April 2009, 13:23
Oh this feels so good :D get in there Sebastian a great display. Mark Webber good second place & the action in the midfield was great Buemi surely wouldve finished higher if it wasn’t for him hitting Vettel but he showed that he could be one for the future to challenge Vettel.
Ferrari oh dear oh dear no points and seemingly being overtaken by Mclaren in development surely this wont continue for long but i’m still buzzing Vettel BabySchumi indeed this year could be his you never know
cyanide
19th April 2009, 13:40
Red Bull the drink is nice :D. Kudos to Vettel, the man can do no wrong if he starts from pole in a wet race.
Sush Meerkat
19th April 2009, 13:42
Once again, Kubica hates Trulli, smashes into him out of spite.
A rookie torro rosso driver hits a red bull in the rain behind safety car.
I’ve seen this race before, its Chinada 2007!
Kovy
19th April 2009, 14:01
Pretty amazing that Kubica was still able to overtake other drivers with that car, let alone continue. Good race.
Kovalainen seems to have improved over last year. Piquet and Nakajima again showed why they would be best suited to NOT driving an F1 car. Fisichella should probably retire soon, too. Speaking of retirements, I was hoping to see Kimi get another WDC, but at the moment it’s not looking too good for that. He peaked in 2005.
Finally, as much as I hate to complain, Channel 10 sunk to a new level of bad with their broadcasting. The race commenced live in China at 5PM local time, and I watched it over the internet. I’m glad I did that – Channel 10 was advertising that they were broadcasting the grand prix “live” at 11:15PM that night – but at 9PM, they announced the winners in the news, spoiling the race for every Australian F1 fan who also happened to be watching TV tonight.
Ben
20th April 2009, 0:19
Digital is your friend.
It was live on ONE. Ten never broadcast outside races live.
Ere
19th April 2009, 13:56
Vettel rain master bla bla bla
Ok hi takes his 2 wins in the rain but starting from pole
Lets see him begin from a middle of the field.
Previous rain master (LH) spinning 5 or 6 times today because hi was fighting for positions. Let see Vettel in those kind of situation before we call him the king.
matt
20th April 2009, 1:57
That’s what I was thinking. there’s no denying he’s good, and the same with Sutil. Until we see them Sutil and Vettel in reasonable cars fighting for possitions, it’s hard to judge how good they really are. After all, Webber was similarly fast yet he’s never been called a great rain-driver has he?
Jay Menon
20th April 2009, 2:12
Hey, Lewis won two races in the wet and he was labelled the rain meister as well.
Look, lets looks at it this way, if there is one person who deserves the tag rain meister on the current grid, its Ruebens, simply because he’s done it so many times, his track record in the wet is proof enough. Micheal Schumacher didn’t get the tag of Rain Meister after 2 seasons in F1, he earned the tag over the years with consistent performances in the rain.
Whatever said and done, Vettel drove a great race from the front, didn’t put a foot wrong, his consistency was frightening at times. He strung 10 laps in the low 1 min 54s one after the other.
Oliver
19th April 2009, 14:12
What I’d like to know is why Webber was called the the pits before Vettel. I assumed he had more fuel in his car than Vettel.
m0tion
19th April 2009, 14:21
Oilver, mark weighs more than vettel.
James
19th April 2009, 14:42
@ m0tion… Whay should that make a difference? The cars with either Vettel or Webber sat in them will still weigh 605kg.
Lustigson
19th April 2009, 15:05
I was surprised by the fact that God Save the Queen was played for Red Bull Racing. I thought they ran on an Austrian licence.
Oliver
19th April 2009, 20:58
Ahh M0tion, got it..This is real confusing stuff. So webber was lighter..I really see the light. I guess the FIA would now have to publish each driver’s weight well at least once.
Oliver
19th April 2009, 21:00
To be honest I thought I was hearing God save Mclaren from the FIA.
Pink Peril
19th April 2009, 22:06
Great race ! Fantastic result for RBR and very joyous to see Webber on the podium.
Some surprising performances back in the pack though, *** were Renault thinking putting Alonso on such a heavy fuel load in the rain? And as for Nelson “Pirouette” Piquet, he might be looking for a new job sooner rather than later. Shame about Sutil, I was really hoping he could snag a point or two. Same goes for Buemi.
And the less said about Ferrari the better…
Jay Menon
20th April 2009, 2:17
This was a great race, lthough the first six laps behind the SC seemed at eternity. Kudos to Vettel and Webber for driving a great race. The entertainment value of this race was great too, the tussle between Jenson and Webber for second was class.
Interesting to see Kovy finish ahead of Lewis, I bet he’d hate that. Pity to see Alonso down in 9th, the rain messed up his strategy of running light on super softs for the first 10 laps. Having said that, he could have scored some decent points of he hadn’t spun out, what a shame, very uncharacteristic of Alonso.
Ferrari seem to have a long glum trip to back to Maranello. Kimi was utterly disappointing, but that could be down the engine problem was reported to have. Massa faired slightly better, I believe that he could have grabbed a few points if it wasn’t for the malfunction.
Can’t wait for the next race!!
Gman
20th April 2009, 3:40
With the new Red Bull car, Vettel is going to be a major force for the rest of the season. The drive today was great, but the really impressive thing about the whole weekend was his performance in Q3 yesterday-absolutley unreal.
I was also happy to see Webber get a good result, hopefully he’ll make it to that top step one of these days before the season is out.
DGR-F1
20th April 2009, 8:19
Great race, great racing! Its always good when the rain makes everything so unpredictable, but what on earth was going on behind the SC at the beginning when cars fell off the track at low speed? Pay attention back there!
Lovely pictures of McLaren vs Ferrari and Force India vs Ferrari, and well done to most drivers for good overtaking in horrible conditions.
And of course well done Vettel, Webber and RBR. Now where is the argument about DDDs? They weren’t using it!
I personally am hoping for a complete season not dominated by the traditional battle between Ferrari and McLaren, as its much better racing when they aren’t around!
andy
20th April 2009, 11:51
great result for vettel,but our jens will romp away with the title.
that boys class.