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Red Bull gets wings

April 22 - 28, 2009
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Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull its first ever Formula One victory after leading throughout to win the Chinese Grand Prix in wet conditions on Sunday.

Vettel recorded the second victory of his career, winning by 10.9 seconds from teammate Mark Webber, who had his best-ever race finish.

Championship leader Jenson Button of Brawn was third on a slick Shanghai International Circuit, extending his lead after three races to six points.

Button's Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello was fourth, holding off the McLaren pair of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton, who had just one pit stop, along with seventh-placed Timo Glock of Toyota.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi got the last point-paying position in eighth, recovering after crashing into the back of Vettel while travelling behind the safety car on the 20th

lap.

Red Bull's one-two finish was a credit to the team's crew, who had to fix a driveshaft problem that blighted the race cars in Saturday practice, restricting their running in

qualifying.

"I am extremely happy," said Vettel, whose only previous win also came in wet conditions at Italy last year. "The car was fantastic. The team did a really, really

good job in preparing the car. We found the problem. That speaks for the quality of the team."

It was the third straight race this season in which the pole sitter took victory.

Ferrari again finished out of the points, with Felipe Massa's car breaking down and Kimi Raikkonen wallowing in midfield throughout before finishing 10th. It was the first time since 1981 that Ferrari had gone three races into the season without a point.

Force India's Adrian Sutil spun off the track while running in sixth with only five laps remaining, costing his team a chance of getting its first ever F1 points.

Webber described Red Bull's one-two finish in difficult driving conditions as 'extremely rewarding'. "It's the best result of my career and I'm hoping to go one step better in the future," Webber said. "It's an incredible result for Red Bull."

Webber and Button had a good tussle for second position, passing each other repeatedly just after the halfway mark in the race.

"We couldn't challenge these two guys today, who were immensely quick," Button said of the Red Bulls. "But it's good to get six points on the board and keep the

consistency."

The race started behind the safety car due to standing water on the track, with the drivers travelling in formation for seven laps. The safety car re-emerged after BMW's Robert Kubica crashed into the back of Toyota's Jarno Trulli on the 19th lap.







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