European GP: Barrichello finishes in fantastic fourth

With both AT&T Williams drivers qualifying in the top ten for the fifty seven lap 2010 European Grand Prix the Williams team was looking at their best chance of late to come home with a good result. Nico Hulkenberg would qualify one place ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello but both drivers had set the same time. With the very small number of points that the team had achieved so far this season this race was a very important opportunity for the Williams team.

With Vettel on pole followed by Webber and Hamilton the first lap will be interesting. Alonso and Massa were in fourth and fifth while Kubica and Button were in sixth and seventh while Nico and Rubens were in eighth and ninth. All the top ten would be starting on the super soft tyre with predictions making it a one stop race. The field would move away with a lot of the drivers at the rear of the grid on the harder tyre. The grid would line up and as the lights went out it would be Vettel leading from Hamilton and Webber. Both Ferrari's would pass Webber while Kubica would pass Button for sixth.

Webber was now ninth with Rubens and Nico in eighth and ninth. Lap one and Vettel was leading by 1.6 seconds from Hamilton and Alonso. Rubens was running with the F-Duct system as Trulli pitted. Hamilton would complain that he had been hit by Vettel. Lap two and a fastest lap from Vettel, 1m:43.768, as Webber tried to get past Nico. Buemi was in tenth while at the front Vettel was 2.3 seconds in the lead. Alonso was 1.5 seconds behind Hamilton as reports came back saying that Hamilton had lost parts off his front wing as a result of making contact with Vettel at Turn one. Lap three and a 1m:43.534 from Vettel followed by a 1m:43.153 on lap four. His lead was now 2.9 seconds as Trulli pitted again.

Webber was still running right with Nico as on lap five Vettel set a 1m:43.055. Rubens was pulling away from Nico with the gap out to 1.3 seconds. Vettel's lead was now 3.0 seconds over Hamilton. Rubens was 1.0 seconds behind Button as on lap six Vettel set a 1m:42.684. The Red Bull driver was looking very comfortable in the lead with his lead now 3.3 seconds. On lap eight Webber would pit dropping way down the order. He would take on the harder tyre but there would be a delay seeing him stationary for 7.9 seconds. Rosberg would also pit swapping to the harder tyre. Lap eight and Vettel was leading by 3.7 seconds from Hamilton and Alonso. Massa was in fourth followed by Kubica, Button, Rubens and Nico.

But the safety Car would come out as a result of a massive accident when Webber would run into the back of Kovalainen's Lotus seeing the Red Bull fly through the air and crash back down and fly into the barrier. It looked like a misunderstanding between the two drivers seeing Webber fly though the air. There would be rush of drivers coming in to change tyres but the leaders had already passed the pit entry seeing the likes of both Williams cars able to pit. Schumacher would be one of the last to pit as Webber's Red Bull was removed from the track and the debris cleared. Vettel and Hamilton were picked up by the Safety Car with Vettel still leading from Hamilton, Kobayashi, Button, Rubens, Kubica, Buemi, Sutil, and Nico.

Kovalainen would say that he was defending his position and that Webber hit him. Alonso was down in tenth followed by De la Rosa, Petrov, and Rosberg and thirteenth. Hamilton was able to change his front wing during his pit stop. Schumacher would pit again on lap fourteen, taking on the harder tyre. Vettel would slow the field as the Safety car came in on lap fifteen. Vettel would lock up at the final turn but was able to keep Hamilton behind as Button tried to pass Kobayashi. Rubens was fighting off Kubica for fifth place. Alonso would pass Nico for ninth at Turn two. Now it was De la Rosa trying to pass Nico while Vettel would pull out a 1.0 second lead over Hamilton. Massa was down in a disappointing fifteenth.

Lap sixteen and a fastest lap from Vettel with a 1m:42.059. Kobayashi in third was losing time to Hamilton seeing Button drop away from the leaders as well. Hamilton was pushing going fastest with a 1m:41.828 on lap seventeen, now 1.1 seconds behind Vettel. Lap eighteen and Vettel would respond with a 1m:41.696 seeing his lead out to 1.3 seconds. As the laps counted down everyone were setting personal bests with Rubens still in fifth and Nico tenth. Lap twenty and a 1m:41.478 from Vettel while Rosberg was told to try and save on his brakes. It was announced that Hamilton's car was under investigation by the Stewards.

A 1m:40.943 from Vettel while fourth placed Button was 12.8 seconds behind the leader. Kobayashi certainly seemed to be bunching up the field behind him. As the laps counted down it was finally announce3d that Hamilton would get a drive through penalty for overtaking the Safety Car earlier on in the race. Lap twenty six and Hamilton was pushing and set a 1m:40.715 after been told by his team to push prior to having to take his penalty. Hamilton would pit on lap twenty eight after having reported that there was a glass bottle out on the circuit. Hamilton was lucky to be able to come back out in front of Kobayashi maintaining his second place. Vettel was now leading by 14.5 seconds leading the race comfortably.

Rubens was still in fifth and Nico tenth. Rubens still had Kubica right behind him as Hamilton went fastest again on lap twenty nine, 1m:40.686. Alonso was quite upset that Hamilton had maintained his second place while he had lost out so much as a result of Hamilton's actions on the track. Rubens was doing a great job holding off Kubica but was slowly dropping away from Button. Hamilton would pull away from Kobayashi and start to close up to Vettel. Lap thirty seven and Vettel's lead was now 13.0 seconds. Kobayashi and Button would have to find their way past back markers and shortly after Rubens would have to get past the same cars. Lap thirty eight and Rubens was now 6.2 seconds behind Button while Kubica was right behind the Williams. Nico was still down in tenth and running basically by himself.

Ninth placed Alonso was trying to pass Buemi but Alonso would not be able to take advantage of a lockup by Buemi at the final turn. Vettel was now 11.2 seconds in front of Hamilton while there was some smoke briefly coming from the back of Nico's Williams. The Williams mechanics would come out in the pit lane while out on the track Nico was now right with Alonso. Nico would continue as the Williams cars went back into their garage. Rubens was still in fifth and had been able to pull away from Kubica to see the gap now 1.1 seconds on lap forty two. Eighteenth place Di Grassi would pit as it was announced that a group of cars would all be investigated after the race for been too fast behind the Safety Car. It included Button, Rubens, Nico, De la Rosa, Petrov, Sutil, Liuzzi, Buemi, and Kubica. Six of these cars were all running in the points.

Nico had now drop off the back of Alonso while the gap from Button to Rubens was remaining fairly static. Lap forty seven and a 1m:39.776 from Hamilton to see the gap to Vettel 7.9 seconds. Vettel would respond but Hamilton would set a 1m:39.418 on lap forty eight to be 7.4 seconds behind Vettel. Button was right behind Kobayashi while Rubens was now 9.3 seconds behind Button. Lap forty nine and the gap was now 6.6 seconds from Vettel to Hamilton while Kubica continued to run right behind Rubens. Third placed Kobayashi had yet to make his pit stop with just seven laps remaining. For Nico his race would come to an end when he would pull off the track and retire at Turn twelve. Nico would be told to stop by a fire marshal while he also had a delaminated right rear tyre and damaged rear bodywork. Nico would kick the tyre barrier in his obvious frustration.

Lap fifty one and Vettel's lead was still 6.9 seconds as on lap fifty two Vettel would set a 1m:39.141 to take his lead out to 8.0 seconds. He had the answer to Hamilton's attack. With Nico's retirement De la Rosa was now in tenth. Such a shame for Nico as he had put in a good showing in this race. Kobayashi would pit on lap fifty four taking on the softer tyre. Button was now in third and Rubens in fourth and Kubica fifth. Kobayashi would come out in ninth just in front of his team-mate De la Rosa. Sutil was now sixth from Buemi and Alonso. Lap fifty four and a 1m:38.766 from Button but he was 7.7 seconds behind Hamilton. Rubens was now 11.6 seconds behind Button with Kubica still right behind the Williams.

Buemi, Alonso, and Kobayashi were all running right together looking to either keep or secure seventh place. Kobayashi would pass Alonso for eighth place as Vettel started his final lap. Vettel would complete his lap and come round to cross the finish line and take what was an easy victory for the Red Bull driver. Hamilton was second from Button, Rubens, Kubica, Sutil, Kobayashi , Buemi, Alonso, and De la Rosa in tenth. Kobayashi had passed Buemi at the final corner in what was a good race for the Sauber team. For Williams it was great to see Rubens come home in fourth but there was a degree of disappointment not to see both cars come home in the points with Nico's retirement. But now there was the issue of the steward's investigation which could see several drivers, including Rubens, get penalties.

Pos  Driver  	   Team		  	      Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h40:29.571
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +     5.042
 3.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     7.658
 4.  Barrichello   AT&T Williams-Cosworth     +    20.627
 5.  Kubica        Renault                    +    22.122
 6.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +    25.168
 7.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +    30.965
 8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    31.299
 9.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    32.809
10.  De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari             +    42.414
11.  Petrov        Renault                    +    43.287
12.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    44.382
13.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +    45.890
14.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    46.621
15.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    48.239
16.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    48.826
17.  Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +     1 lap
18.  Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
19.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
20.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
21.  Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth             +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Button, 1:38.766

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth            50
Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth               9
Webber        Red Bull-Renault             9