Vettel made a clean start and was soon way ahead of the lead from Alonso. Alonso moved to second after a poor start by Webber. Webber started from the dirty side of the track and didn't have a clean getaway.
After the first lap the race order was Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Massa, Hamilton and Petrov.
On lap 15 things turned quite a bit. Safety car was deployed and every one headed into the pits. The pit lane was crowded with the pit crew and the race cars each trying to jump ahead of another during the stop.
The lollipop in front of Robert Kubica was lifted just when Adrian Sutil was entering his pits and both the cars collided. That ended the race for Sutil and Kubica rejoined later a lap down. He was issued a stop-go penalty which served later. But he soon retired from the race which any way seemed fruitless for him.
Nico Rosberg right rear wheel flew off his car and was bouncing up and down in the pit lane. This happened immediately after he was released by his pit crew and that ended his race. Luckily no one was hurt from the flying wheel which could have been quite dangerous. Both Mercedes and Renault have been fined 50000 dollars for unsafely releasing their cars.
Red Bull didn't pit Webber during the safety car period. Vettel however came in for his pit stop and rejoined the track behind Webber.
The order behind the safety car was Webber, Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa. Hamilton gained position over Massa during the pit stops. The idea from Red Bull would have been to let Webber run ahead with a empty track ahead of him, gain enough advantage and then take his pit stop. That would have meant that Vettel would have finished in first and Webber in second if everything went right for Red Bull. But things didn't work out as they planned.
Webber was right behind the safety car as it came in and literally flew ahead in the race. Vettel however was slow and there was quite a gap between him and Webber. It could have been Red Bull's plan to slow the cars behind or it probably was Webber jumped ahead much faster than Vettel could have reacted. Nevertheless Vettel failed to maintain less than 10 cars lengths between him and Webber when following the safety car and he was handed a stop go penalty. Vettel was absolutely fuming when he took his penalty. 'Why am i given a drive through ?' he asked over his pit radio.
The Red Bull were a league apart from the rest of the cars. Webber with an empty track behind him took his pit stop on lap 44 a full 23 seconds ahead of Alonso and rejoined the track comfortably ahead of Alonso. Vettel after knowing about his investigation was able to build a lead sufficient to be ahead of Massa after his drive through. Vettel however even with superior pace couldn't get ahead of Alonso and had to settle for third.
Lewis Hamilton's championship challenge suffered a setback. The championship leader retired from the race after a gear box failure on lap 24. His team mate Jenson Button would be dissappointed with eight.
Fernando Alonso has gained massively from his win last weekend and his second here. Alonso is now only 20 points behind Webber.
Webber leads the championship with 161 points. Hamilton is second with 157 points and Sebasitan Vettel is third with 151 points
Michael Schumacher has been given a 10 place grid penalty for moving to right to block an overtaking move by Barrichello. Barrichello was pushed right against the pit wall. The race stewards after investigation by the stewards found Schumacher guilty of illegimately impeding Barrichello in an overtaking move.
