Red Bull happy and relieved; others fume over safety car

By Claas Hennig Jun 28, 2010, 10:06 GMT

Valencia, Spain - Red Bull team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were about the only ones with something to celebrate at the European Formula One Grand Prix - although for different reasons.

'I am lucky to be in one piece,' said the Australian Webber after walking away unhurt from a horror crash in which his car flipped over in midair after driving into Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus.

'The car, thank God, was very safe. I am OK, I lost some points, but in the end when you're up there, you're not worried about points, I was worried that I was OK.'

Vettel, meanwhile, finally stayed out of all trouble as he handily got his second victory from the pole position.

'It's about time I won from pole,' said the German. 'It's good to be back winning and on a circuit where we didn9t expect to be that strong. It's good to get a lot of championship points.'

Vettel topped the Valencia podium from McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button who had finished one-two in the previous two races.

Hamilton stretched his lead atop the standings with 127 points. Button has 121 and vettel moved from fifth to third with 115.

However, there was plenty of controversy, especially Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team very unhappy that Hamilton still came second despite a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car when it came on to the track after Webber's crash.

'Fernando Alonso reopens old wounds as Lewis Hamilton extends lead,' said British paper The Guardian on Monday.

The two had a bitter rivalry at McLaren in the past with the disgruntled Alonso quitting the team after just one year.

Alonso eventually finished eighth on Sunday in his home country, after being bumped up one place as several other drivers were also punished for driving too fast in the initial safety car phase.

'The race was ruined by the safety car and everything that followed on from that,' fumed Alonso.

'I am very bitter about what happened today. I was in third place, a metre behind Hamilton at the moment the safety car came out on track and, at the chequered flag, he was second and I was ninth, even though we had made the same choice of strategy.'

Team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed: 'The outcome of this Grand Prix leaves us with a very bitter taste.

'I think that the incidents linked to the neutralisation put some questions on the table regarding how to manage situations like this and the eventual penalties linked to them. We have to ensure that our sport remains credible in the eyes of those involved and those who follow it,' he said.

La Gazzetta dello Sport said on Monday: 'Scandal Hamilton, Ferrari deceived,' and La Rubblica spoke of 'Formula Chaos.'

Also not amused over the safety car stage were Mercedes GP who had to swallow a 10th place finish from Nico Rosberg and a dismal 15th from record champion Michael Schumacher after he was held up by the red light at the pit exit.

'We would like to have clarification about the safety car situation as the red light on the exit from my first pit stop destroyed a race which otherwise would have offered us very good possibilities,' Schumacher said.