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Rising German star Sebastian Vettel lived up to his reputation as ‘the new Schumi’ on Sunday when he led from start to finish to win the British Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old Red Bull star delivered an impeccable drive to claim his third Formula One victory in a Red Bull one-two ahead of his Australian team-mate Mark Webber.
On the podium Vettel produced a victory leap that was a leaf from the well-worn book of compatriot and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
It was Vettel’s first victory in dry weather conditions after his two previous triumphs in torrential rain in Italy last year and China earlier this season.
And it confirmed that the Red Bull team, with a heavily-revised car, are set to mount a major challenge to the previously dominant Brawn team in the second half of this year.
Vettel said: “It’s fantastic. It shows we’re on the right way. Everyone has worked so hard. It was all kind of last minute but we did it. I want to thank Silverstone – I enjoyed it so much.
“The people were all standing up at the end. The emotions… I have to thank every single person in the grandstands. This is what I dreamt of when I watched in the era of (British driver Nigel) Mansell…”
Webber said: “I guess I lost it yesterday (Saturday) in qualifying and then in the first stint Rubens (Barrichello) did a great job in his car to keep me there, he did his best with a tricky car.
“I couldn’t do it then and that meant Seb was able to run away at the front. But it’s a great result for the team.”
In what was widely expected to be Silverstone’s final British Grand Prix, 60 years after hosting the first world championship race in 1950, there was precious little for the home fans to cheer.
Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton gave everything in a spectacular and incident-filled outing that saw him start 18th and finish 16th.
Brawn’s championship-leading British driver Jenson Button finished sixth after struggling for grip, balance and tyre performance and had his lead in the title-race cut to 23 points.
His team-mate Barrichello finished third behind the two Red Bulls and now has 41 points to Button’s 64 with Vettel third on 39 followed by Webber on 35.5.
The 21-year-old tyro came home 15.188 seconds ahead of Webber to score a win that was well received by a huge Silverstone crowd.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: “It has been just perfect and it was a seamless race by both drivers – a dream result for everyone in the team and reward for all the hard work on the car by the team.”
Technical director Adrian Newey, who schemed the successful changes to the car, said: “I think part of it – our advantage here – is down to the circuit. We always hoped it would suit us with the high-speed corners. We now need to get to the other circuits and see what happens.”
Vettel started from the fourth pole of his career and was never challenged as he fought off Barrichello at the start to pull clear and dominate the 60-laps race. He reeled off a series of fastest laps, drove smoothly through the middle stint and then cruised home.
Barrichello said he felt happy with the result. “It was so tough and we did our best – my car was good, but not like it has been because the conditions were not ideal for us. And I am so thankful to the medical guys who helped me through this weekend – my back has been giving me so much pain.”
Brawn team chief Ross Brawn said: “Red Bull have made a good step forward but we will be back to fight them at the next race. This was never going to be a good circuit for us with so many high-speed corners.
“We have a car that is really great under braking, but there is hardly any braking here. And the cold weather was not good for the tyres. I am hoping it is a lot warmer at the Nurburgring.”
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