Mark Webber just came home in second place to make it a Red Bull one-two, despite a late attack from the new world champion Jenson Button.
In the battle for third in the constructors’ McLaren came out on top, despite retiring Lewis Hamilton with brake issues.
Hamilton made a quick start from the grid, using his KERS on the short run down to turn one to his advantage, however the outgoing world champion outbraked himself into turn seven and allowed Vettel to close right up on him.
Webber and Barrichello made contact at the first corner, causing pieces of the Brawn driver’s front wing to break off, however both continued on their way.
The second McLaren of Kovalainen, having started 18th after a gearbox failure during qualifying and taken a five-place grid penalty, also got a good start and was up behind his Finnish compatriot Raikkonen in 12th by the end of lap one.
The newly crowned champion Button seemed to be the fastest in the early phase of the grand prix and he passed his Brazilian team-mate for fourth place on lap two, however Barrichello picked up the pace and was only slower than Hamilton at the front.
Hamilton led the way over Vettel in the first stint, however, the McLaren driver was unable to draw out a lead over the German like he hoped to do before his first stop, picking up the odd tenth with every lap.
McLaren reported no problems on Hamilton’s car and there was wide acknowledgement that the Briton wasn’t doing enough.
As the race leader approached his first stop he picked up the pace and went on to set the fastest lap of the race, only to throw away any advantage he had built up with a mistake at turn 17.
Webber was consistently fastest in third, picking up two tenths on average over his Red Bull team-mate and then setting a new fastest lap to gain seven tenths on lap 13, bringing the gap to Hamilton down to less than 2.5 seconds.
The outgoing world champion then responded to Webber’s pace with a 1m40.3 just before making his first stop of the afternoon.
Vettel also went quickly during his in laps and he emerged well ahead of Hamilton after his stop, however the McLaren driver managed to get out ahead of Webber.
Button’s first stop went smoothly but unlike Hamilton who came out in clean air, he emerged from the pits just ahead of Toyota’s rookie driver Kamui Kobayashi who is on a one-stop strategy.
The Japanese driver, who was impressive in his grand prix debut in Brazil, attempted to run around the outside of Button through the turn seven hairpin but he had to fall back.
Kobayashi then forced Button to go defensive along the following straight and into turn eight and, because the Brawn driver was off-line he went wide at the exit of the left-hander and allowed the Japanese driver through into a provisional ninth place.
Button lost a significant amount of time in the next few laps and began to fall into the clutches of Barrichello.
On lap 18, having lost the lead to Vettel, Hamilton was called into the pits to retire as the McLaren team had spotted an issue with his right-rear brakes on the telemetry; a disappointing blow for the Briton after dominating practice and qualifying.
There was a curious incident involving Jaime Alguersuari when the Toro Rosso rookie pulled into the Red Bull pit-box when making his first stop just as Vettel was due in.
The RBR mechanics waved the Spaniard through, desperate to clear him before Vettel made his stop and the rookie then went back out on track, only to run out of fuel at turn 13.
Toro Rosso confirmed that Alguersuari ran out of fuel, but the 19-year old claimed to have suffered a gearbox problem.
Crucially for McLaren, Kovalainen emerged from his one and only stop of the day ahead of Raikkonen in the Ferrari, with whom he was fighting for third in the constructors’ championship.
At the front, things Button began to take significant chunks out of Webber’s advantage and he was just 1.1 seconds adrift of the Red Bull with five laps to go.
Webber made adjustments to his brake balance and fuel mix to keep hold if his second place and, despite a tough challenge from Button on the last lap, he had it covered.
In the battle for third in the constructors’ McLaren came out on top, despite retiring Lewis Hamilton with brake issues.
Hamilton made a quick start from the grid, using his KERS on the short run down to turn one to his advantage, however the outgoing world champion outbraked himself into turn seven and allowed Vettel to close right up on him.
Webber and Barrichello made contact at the first corner, causing pieces of the Brawn driver’s front wing to break off, however both continued on their way.
The second McLaren of Kovalainen, having started 18th after a gearbox failure during qualifying and taken a five-place grid penalty, also got a good start and was up behind his Finnish compatriot Raikkonen in 12th by the end of lap one.
The newly crowned champion Button seemed to be the fastest in the early phase of the grand prix and he passed his Brazilian team-mate for fourth place on lap two, however Barrichello picked up the pace and was only slower than Hamilton at the front.
Hamilton led the way over Vettel in the first stint, however, the McLaren driver was unable to draw out a lead over the German like he hoped to do before his first stop, picking up the odd tenth with every lap.
McLaren reported no problems on Hamilton’s car and there was wide acknowledgement that the Briton wasn’t doing enough.
As the race leader approached his first stop he picked up the pace and went on to set the fastest lap of the race, only to throw away any advantage he had built up with a mistake at turn 17.
Webber was consistently fastest in third, picking up two tenths on average over his Red Bull team-mate and then setting a new fastest lap to gain seven tenths on lap 13, bringing the gap to Hamilton down to less than 2.5 seconds.
The outgoing world champion then responded to Webber’s pace with a 1m40.3 just before making his first stop of the afternoon.
Vettel also went quickly during his in laps and he emerged well ahead of Hamilton after his stop, however the McLaren driver managed to get out ahead of Webber.
Button’s first stop went smoothly but unlike Hamilton who came out in clean air, he emerged from the pits just ahead of Toyota’s rookie driver Kamui Kobayashi who is on a one-stop strategy.
The Japanese driver, who was impressive in his grand prix debut in Brazil, attempted to run around the outside of Button through the turn seven hairpin but he had to fall back.
Kobayashi then forced Button to go defensive along the following straight and into turn eight and, because the Brawn driver was off-line he went wide at the exit of the left-hander and allowed the Japanese driver through into a provisional ninth place.
Button lost a significant amount of time in the next few laps and began to fall into the clutches of Barrichello.
On lap 18, having lost the lead to Vettel, Hamilton was called into the pits to retire as the McLaren team had spotted an issue with his right-rear brakes on the telemetry; a disappointing blow for the Briton after dominating practice and qualifying.
There was a curious incident involving Jaime Alguersuari when the Toro Rosso rookie pulled into the Red Bull pit-box when making his first stop just as Vettel was due in.
The RBR mechanics waved the Spaniard through, desperate to clear him before Vettel made his stop and the rookie then went back out on track, only to run out of fuel at turn 13.
Toro Rosso confirmed that Alguersuari ran out of fuel, but the 19-year old claimed to have suffered a gearbox problem.
Crucially for McLaren, Kovalainen emerged from his one and only stop of the day ahead of Raikkonen in the Ferrari, with whom he was fighting for third in the constructors’ championship.
At the front, things Button began to take significant chunks out of Webber’s advantage and he was just 1.1 seconds adrift of the Red Bull with five laps to go.
Webber made adjustments to his brake balance and fuel mix to keep hold if his second place and, despite a tough challenge from Button on the last lap, he had it covered.
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