Webber charges to Hungarian GP win

The Australian was bundled down to third at the start behind his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

But a combination of a perfect strategy call from his pit crew and some exceptional speed throughout the middle of the race helped him to beat Alonso to the chequered flag by 17.8 seconds.

Key to Webber's victory was the deployment of the safety car on lap 15 to enable the recovery of debris between turns 13 and 14.

While most drivers pitted for their mandatory tyre changes, Red Bull pulled a strategic masterstroke as Webber was left out on the circuit and moved into the lead.

As the race resumed Webber led from Vettel, Alonso, Lewis Hamilton's McLaren and Felipe Massa's Ferrari, the Australian knowing that he would need to pull out enough of a gap in the remaining laps to enable him to make his tyre change under green flag conditions.

His task was made easier when Vettel was given a drive-through penalty for failing to keep within 10 car lengths of his team-mate while behind the safety car, which dropped the German to third behind Alonso.

When Webber did eventually make his tyre change, on lap 43, he had built up a lead of over 23s, and that enabled him to rejoin the circuit still with 4s in hand over the Ferrari. It was an advantage he extended all the way to the finish and to his fourth win of the season.

Hamilton, by this time, had retired with a suspected gearbox failure. That ensured that he lost his championship lead to Webber, who now has a four-point advantage over the Briton.

Massa was no match for the front three, but finished an untroubled fourth.

Vitaly Petrov drove a sensational race in his Renault as he took a career-best fifth place, one spot ahead of his 2009 GP2 Series title rival Nico Hulkenberg.

Hulkenberg's Williams team-mate Rubens Barrichello held sixth for a long time, but made his tyre change late and dropped down the order.

The Saubers of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi finished seventh and ninth, sandwiching the McLaren of world champion Jenson Button.

Michael Schumacher looked on course to round out the top 10, but came under late pressure from Barrichello, who had far fresher rubber in the latter stages of the race.

Barrichello closed onto the tail of the Mercedes looked set to pass Schumacher heading down to Turn 1 with a few laps left.

Schumacher squeezed him against the pit wall - for which race stewards will investigate him after the race - but Barrichello held his nerve and took the final points position.

Another man with the pace to finish in the top 10 was Robert Kubica, but his race was effectively ended by a pitlane collision with Adrian Sutil while the safety car was on-track.

Kubica was released by the Renault team into the path of Sutil's Force India, which had already begun to turn into his own pit stall.

The Pole continued, only to be given a 10s stop/go penalty for causing the incident. He retired a few laps later.

Sutil, however, was out on the spot and so too was Nico Rosberg, whose Mercedes shed its right-rear wheel just seconds earlier and left him stranded at the pit exit.

The only other retiree was Jaime Alguersuari, who pulled his Toro Rosso off the track with smoke pouring from its engine bay on the second lap.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Hungarian Grand Prix
The Hungaroring, Hungary;
70 laps; 306.663km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           1h41:05.571
 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    17.821
 3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +    19.252
 4.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    27.474
 5.  Petrov        Renault                    +  1:13.100
 6.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +  1:16.700
 7.  De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
 8.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     1 lap
 9.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
10.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
11.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
12.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
14.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +    3 laps
15.  Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +    3 laps
16.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
17.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps
18.  Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +    4 laps
19.  Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:22.362

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             25
Kubica        Renault                      25
Rosberg       Mercedes                     17
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         17
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari           2


World Championship standings, round 12:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Webber       161        1.  Red Bull-Renault          312
 2.  Hamilton     157        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          304
 3.  Vettel       151        3.  Ferrari                   238
 4.  Button       147        4.  Mercedes                  132
 5.  Alonso       141        5.  Renault                   106
 6.  Massa         97        6.  Force India-Mercedes       47
 7.  Rosberg       94        7.  Williams-Cosworth          40
 8.  Kubica        89        8.  Sauber-Ferrari             23
 9.  Schumacher    38        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         10
10.  Sutil         35       
11.  Barrichello   30       
12.  Petrov        17       
13.  Kobayashi     17       
14.  Liuzzi        12       
15.  Hulkenberg    10       
16.  Buemi          7       
17.  De la Rosa     6       
18.  Alguersuari    3       
       
All timing unofficial