Outpaced by the Red Bull Racing RB5’s, the Brawns of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello had to be content with third and fourth places. McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively.
After his maiden win in 2008 for Toro Rosso at Monza, Sebastian Vettel’s success in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix marked his second Formula One victory. But for his team, Red Bull Racing, it was a maiden triumph. Coming in their fifth season of F1 competition, and with Mark Webber finishing second, it couldn’t taste sweeter. And the weekend had started well with Vettel taking Red Bull Racing’s first ever pole position, with Webber close behind in third.
The team was formed through Red Bull’s purchase of Jaguar Racing in 2005, and prior to Shanghai, two podiums had been their best results: for David Coulthard in Monaco 2006 and Webber in Hungary 2007.
Reliability woes marred their early campaigns and last season they found themselves overshadowed by the performance of ‘junior’ sister team Toro Rosso. But, with the radical Adrian Newey-designed RB5 at their disposal and an excellent mix of talent and experience in Vettel and Webber, it was immediately clear Red Bull could be a force to be reckoned with in 2009, and Sunday’s dominant performance saw that potential finally become reality.
“A great result for the team and Red Bull,” said team principal Christian Horner. “It’s testimony to all the effort and hard work that Red Bull and (owner) Mr Mateschitz has committed to Formula One. I want to thank Red Bull and everyone in Milton Keynes, who have worked so hard for this.
“It’s just an unbelievable result. We’ve got a great car, a great team, great drivers, a single diffuser and we have a double one to come, so we’re looking good. The whole team and company can be very proud of this moment.”
Vettel didn’t put a foot wrong all afternoon in Shanghai and even survived being hit from behind by Toro Rosso stable-mate Sebastien Buemi. Afterwards he had nothing but praise for the team: “winning my second race, one with Toro Rosso and one with Red Bull, makes me extremely happy and I hope we can continue working in this direction!” said the German. “I’m extremely proud and happy. I’m so happy to have won the race; it was an enormous and great job by the whole of Red Bull. I want to say a massive thank you to them all; everyone has worked so hard, so thanks to the team and also to Red Bull.”
Webber’s chances of victory effectively ended with one error when he ran wide while battling Brawn’s Jenson Button for second place. But after the driveshaft issues the team had suffered earlier in the weekend, and pulling off what he described as ‘one of the best moves of his career’ to re-pass Button, the Australian insisted he was happy with his result. “It’s incredible to get the cars home and to get maximum points,” he said. “This comes after the near misses in Australia for Sebastian and for myself in Malaysia. It’s a great day for the team in Milton Keynes, well done and thank you to them, and also to everyone in Austria.”
Vettel’s win and Webber’s second place means Red Bull are now second in the constructors’ standings with 19.5 points, one ahead of third-placed Toyota and 16.5 behind leaders Brawn GP.
Source: Formula 1
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