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Sebastian Vettel leads Mark Webber in Red Bull one-two - Source: Reuters -
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German Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull their first Formula One
win with a pole to chequered flag victory ahead of team mate Mark
Webber in the rain-soaked Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 21-year-old claimed the second victory of his career, with
Australian Webber taking his best result to date, in a Red Bull
one-two on a track that resembled a skidpan for much of the
race.
Briton Jenson Button, who won the first two races of the season,
finished third to extend his championship lead to six points over
Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello, who was fourth.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was fifth to finally get his season
going after failing to finish a lap in the previous two races,
while world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton finished sixth after
a late spin robbed him of a better result.
German Timo Glock was seventh for Toyota, who slipped to third in
the constructors' standings behind Red Bull, and Toro Rosso's Swiss
rookie Sebastien Buemi won the final point in eighth.
There was heartache for Force India, still without a point since
their debut last year, who had Adrian Sutil in sixth place until
the German crashed out six laps from the finish.
Ferrari's misery continued with the champions failing to score for
the third race in a row.
Felipe Massa's car ground to a halt during the second safety car
period while 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished
10th.
Ferrari, who remained bottom of the constructors' standings, are
now suffering their worst start to a season since 1981 when their
cars retired from the first three races.
Heavy rainfall meant the first eight laps of the race were run
behind the safety car, which returned on lap 20 after one of the
string of collisions and crashes in the race left debris strewn
over the track.
Vettel, who became Formula One's youngest winner for Red Bull's
sister team Toro Rosso in similarly wet conditions at last year's
Italian Grand Prix, had his share of luck and escaped unscathed
when Buemi shunted into the back of his car on lap 19.
He emerged from the pits in third place with 19 laps to go and only
had to wait for Webber and Button to make their final stops to
retake the lead.
With Button struggling with his tyres, Vettel
took on the championship leader and reclaimed the lead on track
before steering his car through the pools of water to
victory.
