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A blown tyre and the cunning resilience of Michael Schumacher thwarted McLaren's impressive form at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, writes Paul Logothetis.
Lewis Hamilton was positioned for a second-place finish before his tyre blew out on the penultimate lap, while Schumacher held off overall Formula One leader Jenson Button in a battle for fourth.
Mark Webber led Red Bull to victory, while Hamilton's exit promoted Fernando Alonso of Ferrari to second ahead of Sebastian Vettel, also of Red Bull. McLaren's strong form yielded only 10 points.
"The car was handling well. I was great in second and it was looking like a great result for us, but it's never over till it's over," Hamilton said. "It would have been perfect for the team but these things happen."
Button was especially frustrated by Schumacher's stubbornness as they duelled for fifth, with Button criticising the seven-time champion for nearly causing an accident.
"I didn't really know where he was on the outside of me into turn 1 and he turned in, and if I didn't back out of it we would have crashed, so he didn't really give me a lot of room there," said Button, the defending F1 champion. "You'd think with his experience he'd know, but there you go."
Button, who leads the field with two victories, stayed top of the overall standings. Hamilton went from three points back of his teammate in second to 21 behind in sixth place after another tyre problem.
"I had a great race - nice and constant and in control and cruising to the finish - and something failed," Hamilton said. "It's probably my third or fourth tyre blowout in my career in Formula One. It's probably more than anyone's had in their lifetime."
Bridgestone said it was investigating the problem but that initial impressions suggested the accident was not caused by its tyre. Hamilton was put on a three-stop pit strategy in Turkey in 2008 when Bridgestone couldn't guarantee the safety of his tyres for the expected two due to the pressure from his driving style.
Although Red Bull has dominated qualifying pace, McLaren's race speed has allowed it to stay with the F1 favourites as it leads both the drivers and constructors' championships. The racing outfit is partly-owned by Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat.
"It showed with McLaren with the failure there that everyone is pushing things to the limit," Webber said. "Ferrari have had some engine problems. You need to build Formula One cars that are on the edge and this is the balance everyone is chasing."
Button's dashboard also cut out at the start to leave him driving on instinct. A clutch problem also dragged out his pit stop to send him into a 52-lap battle with Schumacher.
"It's really frustrating because the pace of the car was really good but it doesn't make a difference if you can't overtake," Button said.
"It's not the result we wanted (or) we deserved. The car was quicker, which was positive and negative since we weren't able to use it. But we should never really have been in that position in the first place."
RESULTS & STANDINGS
1 M Webber Red Bull 1:35:44.101, 2 F Alonso Ferrari +00:24.065, 3 S Vettel Red Bull 00:51.338, 4 M Schumacher Mercedes 01:02.195, 5 J Button McLaren 01:03.728, 6 F Massa Ferrari 01:05.767, 7 A Sutil Force India 01:12.941, 8 R Kubica Renault 01:13.677, 9 R Barrichello Williams 1 lap, 10 J Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1 lap, 11 V Petrov, Renault 1 lap, 12 K Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1 lap, 13 N Rosberg Mercedes 1 lap, 14 L Hamilton McLaren 2 laps, 15 V Liuzzi Force India 2 laps, 16 N Huelkenberg Williams 2 laps, 17 J Trulli Lotus 3 laps, 18 T Glock Virgin 3 laps, 19 L Di Grassi Virgin 4 laps, r S Buemi Toro Rosso 24 laps, r K Chandhok HRT 38 laps, r P de la Rosa BMW Sauber 48 laps, r B Senna HRT 63 laps, r H Kovalainen Lotus 66 laps.
(rank: r = retired, nc = not classified)
Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton, 1:24.357, lap 59.
Drivers' championship: 1 Button 70points, 2 Alonso 67, 3 S Vettel 60, 4 M Webber 53, 5 N Rosberg 50, 6 Hamilton 49, 7 Massa 49, 8 Kubica 44, 9 Schumacher 22, 10 A Sutil 16, 11 Liuzzi 8, 12 Barrichello 7, 13 Petrov 6, 14 Alguersuari 3, 15 Huelkenberg 1.
Constructors championship: 1 McLaren-Mercedes 119points, 2 Ferrari 116, 3 Red Bull-Renault 113, 4 Mercedes GP 72, 5 Renault 50, 6 Force India-Mercedes 24, 7 Williams 8 Toro Rosso 3.
