Webber claims first win as Red Bull continues fightback (Roundup)

By Claas Hennig Jul 12, 2009, 14:45 GMT

   Nuerburg, Germany - Mark Webber overcame a drive-through penalty to claim his first career win in Formula One racing at the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

   The Australian was punished for an incident with Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello seconds after the start, but his Red Bull was the superior car on the day in a big victory from pole position.

   Webber triumphed ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa as Red Bull continued its comeback on the early-season dominators Brawn whose six-time season winner and championship leader Jenson Button had to settle for fifth.

Barrichello led early on before fading to sixth which prompted a furious outburst at his team.

   Red Bull have now won two races in a row and three for the season as Brawn appeared to suffer in cool conditions as in the last race in Britain where Vettel won from Webber.

   But Button still leads the standings after nine races with 68 points. Vettel moved into second with 47 points, Webber has 45.5 and Barrichello lost two places with 44 points.

Webber is the third Australian to win after Jack Brabham and Alan Jones, and the first since Jones won the US Grand Prix in Las Vegas in October 1981. He fractured his leg in a bicycle accident in January but made a remarkable recovery to be ready at the start of the season.

'It's incredible. I wanted to win so badly,' said the delighted Webber who appeared to cry tears of joy after crossing the finish line.

'It's a great day for me. It was a difficult winter, but I had great people around me.'

While Webber delighted in victory, Barrichello was furious that he he missed out on a first race win since 2004 yet again and openly attacked his team.

'It was a good show from the team on how to lose a race today. I'm terribly upset with the way things went. I did all I had to do. I went first on the first corner and then they made me lose the race.

'If it is really what's going on, we're going to end up losing both championships.

'I feel sorry for myself, the team. To be very honest, I wish I could get on the plane and go home. I don't want to talk to anyone in the team. It will be all 'bla bla bla' and I don't want to hear that,' Barrichello fumed.

   There was relief all around that the conditions were dry on Sunday after rain played havoc with part of the previous day's qualifying, but the start was nonetheless tumultous.

   Webber was unable to take advantage of his first career pole, he briefly touched with Barrichello in the first seconds and then also unintentionally sliced the right rear tyre of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren with his front wing as the Briton had a super start from fifth on the grid with the help of the power booster KERS.

   That ended Hamilton's ambitions before the first turn as he had to limp to the pits. The world champion later considered retiring but his crew told him via team radio that he had to drive on and he finished in 18th and last place.

   Webber had to swallow the drive-through penalty which cost him valuable time, but he remained in the frame because Barrichello was held up by the KERS-powered Massa for 11 laps until the Ferrari finally pitted in the 25th lap.

'I lost Rubens completely off the start and banged into him. It's not normally my style, so I had to take the drive-through and recover from that,' said Webber.

   Barrichello latest hope of a first race win since September 2004 went up in smoke for good when refuelling on his second stop in the 31st lap went wrong and he had come in once more instead of driving the final 28 laps.

   Webber was untroubled up front while both Brawns had a third stop in the closing stages which allowed Vettel into second place for Red Bull's third one-two of the campaign, 9.2 seconds behind Webber who clocked 1 hour 36 minutes 43.310 minutes.

Vettel was not upset about missing victory in the home race: 'Mark was unbeatable. I'm very happy with the result. It was quite a good recovery from quite a bad start.'

   Nico Rosberg of Germany finished fourth ahead of the Brawns, ex-champ Fernando Alonso was seventh in a Renault and Heikki Kovalainen eighth in a McLaren-Mercedes.

   The next race is the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26.