Red Bull's Mark Webber won the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso after Lewis Hamilton crashed out late on.
Aussie dominates as Hamilton crashes out in closing stages
Red Bull's Mark Webber produced a dominant display on Sunday to take victory in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
Starting from pole position, the Australian led the 66-lap race from start to finish to take the chequered flag 24 seconds ahead of the field.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished second in his home race, although that place was inherited when its longtime occupant, Lewis Hamilton, crashed out late on after suffering a tyre failure.
Despite suffering a brake problem late in the race, Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel therefore salvaged third place, with Michael Schumacher earning the best result of his comeback so far with fourth.
World champion Jenson Button finished fifth ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Force India's Adrian Sutil.
Renault's Robert Kubica came home eighth ahead of Williams driver Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari.
Although Webber never looked like surrendering his lead, the race was hardly the "walk in the park" Button predicted it would be for the Red Bull team.
As has so often been the case this season, they found the going more difficult on Sunday - although on this occasion all their misfortune was heaped on Vettel.
He immediately tucked in behind Webber as the top six held position off the grid although, starting third, Hamilton had a look up the inside of the polesitter on the run down to turn one before thinking better of it.
Kubica and Nico Rosberg, who started seventh and eighth, fell down to 10th and 12th after making poor starts, while Kamui Kobayashi dropped from 10th on the grid to 15th place.
Banzai
Massa and Sutil in turn climbed to seventh and eighth, with Alguersuari up to ninth after a banzai run down to the first turn of his home track came off.
However, Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastien Buemi was forced to pit along with Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa at the end of lap one after they collided on the long run off the line.
Webber built a 3.4-second advantage over Vettel by lap 14, with Hamilton in third about 5.5 seconds off the lead.
Running sixth and seventh, Schumacher and Massa were the first of the leaders to pit on lap 15, with Rosberg also stopping the same lap - his visit albeit slowed by a brake problem which sent him even further down the order.
Alonso, Vettel and Button all stopped two laps later but the latter pair had problems - Red Bull struggling with Vettel's right front, while McLaren had the same problem with Button's right rear.
The world champion therefore lost a place to Schumacher, with Vettel losing second place to Hamilton when the latter stopped one lap later.
The McLaren rejoined just ahead of the Red Bull heading into turn one and with the Virgin car of Lucas di Grassi almost coming to halt trying to get out of the way of the pair, Hamilton held his ground while Vettel briefly took to the run-off area through turn two.
In contrast, Webber's stop on lap 18 was perfect and he emerged with an 8.7-second lead over Hamilton, with Vettel about two seconds further back and Alonso fourth.
The action now centred on Button's attempts to pass Schumacher for fifth. The Englishman repeatedly closed on the Mercedes on the start-finish straight, but Schumacher comfortably closed the door each time into turn one.
Unable to find a way past, Button therefore backed off with Massa - who earlier suffered slight damage to his front wing when lapping Hispania's Karun Chandhok - slowly closing on the pair.
Button's failure summed up the uneventful tone that developed as the race entered its second half, although events livened up in the closing stages.
Tyre failure
Firstly, Vettel suffered more bad luck on lap 55 when a front brake problem necessitated an extra pit stop.
Alonso therefore moved up to third but Vettel was still struggling and, much as had been the case in Bahrain when a spark plug problem intervened, he was forced to nurse his car during the closing laps.
Then with just two laps remaining, Hamilton suffered a front left tyre failure through the long, high-speed, turn three.
His McLaren plunged off the track at speed as a result and clouted the barriers, ripping off the front left wheel in the process.
The impact was not as severe as it might have been, however, and as he climbed from his car, the Spanish crowd lapped it up as Alonso moved into second.
Alguersuari finished 10th in spite of earning a drive-through penalty for almost colliding with Chandhok, while his Toro Rosso team-mate Buemi retired on lap 45.
Kobayashi and Rosberg finished 12th and 13th respectively, while de la Rosa, who also suffered a tyre failure, was out by lap 18.
Webber climbs to fourth in the drivers' championship as a result of his third career win, with Button still leading by three points overall from Alonso.
Vettel stands third ahead of his team-mate, with Hamilton dropping to sixth in the standings behind Rosberg.
Spanish Grand Prix, result:
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1hr 35mins 44.101secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:36:08.166, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:36:35.439, 4 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:36:46.296, 5 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:36:47.829, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:36:49.868, 7 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:36:57.042, 8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:36:57.778, 9 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1:36:57.778, 10 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 lap, 11 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault at 1 lap, 12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber at 1 lap, 13 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP at 1 lap, 14 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren at 2 laps, 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India at 2 laps, 16 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams at 2 laps, 17 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 3 laps, 18 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 3 laps, 19 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing at 4 laps Not Classified: 20 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 42 laps completed, 21 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 27 laps completed, 22 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 18 laps completed, 23 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0 laps completed, 24 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 Did Not Start
Drivers' Championship: 1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 70pts, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 67, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 60, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 53, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 50, 6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 49, 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 49, 8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 44, 9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 22, 10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 16, 11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 8, 12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 7, 13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 6, 14 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3, 15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1, 16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 0, 18 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 0, 19 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 20 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 21 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 0, 22 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0, 23 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 24 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0
Manufacturers' Championship: 1 McLaren 119pts, 2 Ferrari 116, 3 Red Bull 113, 4 Mercedes GP 72, 5 Renault 50, 6 Force India 24, 7 Williams 8, 8 Scuderia Toro Rosso 3, 9 BMW Sauber 0, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0
