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Vettel started the race on pole after beating his teammate Webber by four tenths of a second during final qualifying on Saturday. Nico Rosberg qualified third just ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button completed the top six.
Rosberg used the clean side of the track to his advantage as he leapfrogged Webber at the start, to move into second. However this was only to last four laps before Webber used his KERS and DRS to his advantage to overtake the German.
Hamilton had a worse start, losing places to Alonso and teammate Button which saw him drop down to sixth by the end of the first lap. The two McLaren drivers would continue to battle it out during the race, providing some entertainment for the fans.
Overall the DRS provided many overtaking opportunities, most of which were pulled on Rosberg as his Mercedes struggled for straight line speed. This lead to suggestions that the DRS activation point was too soon, as much of the overtaking was done on the straight, instead of turn 12.
Hamilton lost a lot of time during a pit-stop as his mechanics struggled to get a new tyre on, however this didn’t have a big impact on his race as he finished in fourth, half a minute behind third place.
Alonso managed to take advantage of a fresher set of soft tyres to overtake Webber on Lap 29 to take second place, however Webber would reverse this in the dying stages as the Spaniard struggled on the harder tyre compound.
Button slipped behind Rosberg after he chose to take one less stop, this resulted in his tyres wearing out quicker and him losing grip and speed. The new shorter lasting Pirelli tyres are clearly living up to their goal of making racing more exciting.
With his third victory out of the four races so far this season, Sebastian Vettel is the hot favourite for this year’s drivers championship. He is currently on 93 points, leading by 34 points to Hamilton, Webber is a close third. Despite being fifth in the standings, Alonso showed promise in the race and is defiantly a dark horse for the title.
Red Bull still lead the constructors championship, their 1-2 extending their lead to 43 points over McLaren, Ferrari are a distant third, but with the full force of Maranello behind the F150 that could all change in the coming weeks.
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