Webber led every lap at Catalunya, while a damaged wheel rim cost Hamilton a podium and kept the championship close.
Catalunya's 2010 race went to Red Bull's Mark Webber, who started from pole and led every lap. Alonso finished second for Ferrari and Vettel third, leaving Button three points clear in the championship.
Mark Webber won the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya from pole, leading every lap of a race that opened the European season. Fernando Alonso took second for Ferrari, and Sebastian Vettel finished third after a brake problem that forced him to nurse his car home. The result left Jenson Button in the lead of the championship by just three points.
Why was the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix a restart for the teams?
The 2010 Spanish Grand Prix was the fifth round of the season and the first European race of the year, held on 9 May at the Circuit de Catalunya. Teams brought big upgrades to Barcelona, and Mercedes had replaced their airbox with a rigid vertical rollbar and two intakes behind the cockpit.
Virgin solved a fuel tank that was too small with a longer chassis and a new fuel feed system, which let the team run as light as possible in qualifying. The VR-01 also wore a shark fin engine cowling, and the team's upgrades were the most visible of the newcomers.
Volcanic ash from Iceland had disrupted air travel before the previous race, so only one Virgin chassis reached Barcelona, and it was used by Timo Glock. Ferrari had been given permission by the FIA to modify their engines after dramatic engine problems that had affected both them and their customer teams, and they removed the generic Marlboro barcode decal from their car for the weekend.
Hispania signed former Jaguar driver Christian Klien as a test driver, and he was set to take part in the first practice session. His FIA Super Licence had reportedly expired, because he had not raced since the 2006 Italian Grand Prix. His licence was said to have been renewed just ten minutes before the session began, and Klien took part.
Pole, every lap led, and a win that left Button's championship lead at just three points.
How did practice and qualifying set up the grid?
Webber and Vettel set the fastest times in each of the three qualifying sessions, and Webber took pole. Lewis Hamilton edged out local hero Fernando Alonso for third, while Button narrowly missed putting his McLaren alongside his team-mate.
In the first practice session, Hamilton and Button topped the timesheets for McLaren, with Michael Schumacher returning to form to finish third after a poor opening to his 2010 campaign. Schumacher later said the team's updates to the W01 had given him more confidence.
Alonso was eighth in that session, between the Renaults of Kubica and Petrov. Heikki Kovalainen was the fastest of the new teams, his Lotus finishing four seconds slower than Hamilton.
The session was topped by Vettel, with Webber close behind and Schumacher again third-fastest. Alonso improved to fourth, while the McLarens slipped back, with Hamilton fifth and Button ninth. Trulli then took the fastest new-team spot from his Lotus team-mate Kovalainen.
Hulkenberg tore his front wing off in the second session after an off-track excursion at the exit of Campsa, and Alguersuari's car stopped with minutes left, sending the recovery truck into a bridge. In the third session Kobayashi and Petrov each found standing water at the Repsol corner, minutes apart. Kobayashi survived, but Petrov's crash damaged his car so badly that a new gearbox earned him a five-place grid penalty.
Qualifying was a race to see who would take third on the grid behind the Red Bulls. Q1 eliminated the six newcomers, along with Barrichello, who said he had been unable to understand his engineer on the radio. Trulli and Kovalainen qualified nineteenth and twentieth, ahead of the two Virgins and the two Hispanias. The circuit had a history of radio trouble, and in 2009 Mark Webber heard Spanish truck drivers talking over CB radio during practice.
In the second part, Sutil, de la Rosa, Hulkenberg, Petrov, Buemi, Alguersuari and Liuzzi all fell away, and four tenths of a second separated all but two of them from the third session. Mercedes did not send Michael Schumacher out late, expecting his time to be enough, which was the same tactic Ferrari had used in 2009 when Kimi Raikkonen was eliminated early. Ferrari were later fined US$20,000 for an unsafe release that sent Alonso across Rosberg's path.
How did Webber keep the lead at the start?
Webber led into the first corner from pole, with Vettel behind him. The two Red Bulls held off Hamilton and Alonso on the long run to the first corner, and Reigning world champion Button and seven-time champion Schumacher kept fifth and sixth. Kubica and Kobayashi touched, and both lost places.
Rosberg was forced onto the grass to avoid contact. De la Rosa had a similar altercation with Buemi that punctured his tyre, and the incident later became a bigger problem when it forced him to retire with accident damage.
Bruno Senna's Hispania hit the barriers at the same corner, and Lotus's Heikki Kovalainen was the only driver who failed to start, when his gearbox software tried to select two gears at the same time.
What happened in the middle of the race?
Webber pulled away from Hamilton slowly, gaining two or three tenths of a second per lap rather than the full second suggested in practice. One round of pit stops took place shortly after lap fifteen. A Red Bull error during it cost Vettel four seconds and a place to Hamilton.
Button came out behind Schumacher after a poor McLaren stop. He later criticised the German's move across the track to take the place, and for the rest of the race his view was the rear wing of Schumacher's Mercedes.
Chandhok's race was a series of incidents in the final sector. Massa had contact with him as they negotiated the corner before the final chicane, and Massa's front wing was damaged. A pit stop would have dropped Massa at least two or three places, so the team left him out.
Alguersuari then chopped across Chandhok's front end and knocked his front wing off. Chandhok was forced to pit and retired a lap later with suspension damage, while Alguersuari was given a drive-through penalty. Buemi had been penalised earlier for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner.
Vettel went wide at turn six on lap fifty-four with a suspected front brake failure, and his tyres were damaged. He came in for a new set of tyres, and then he had to nurse his brakes for the rest of the race.
On lap sixty-five, Hamilton lost second place when a left-front tyre punctured and then blew out at turn three, sending him into the wall. A damaged wheel rim had caused the puncture, and he was classified fourteenth after completing 90% of the winner's distance. Liuzzi's engine gave up on the same lap, and he was classified on the same 90% basis.
Who won the race, and how did the top ten finish?
Webber took the flag first, the tenth driver to win from pole in ten Spanish Grands Prix. Alonso finished second, Vettel third, and Schumacher was ahead of Button at the finish after a long duel.
| Finish | Driver | Team | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | Pole |
| Second | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | Fourth |
| Third | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | Second |
| Fourth | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | Sixth |
| Fifth | Jenson Button | McLaren | Fifth |
| Sixth | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | Ninth |
Massa took sixth, with Sutil and Kubica behind him and Barrichello and Alguersuari a lap down. Trulli's Lotus was the leading new team home, and Virgin enjoyed a double finish for the first time that season.
The top three drivers collected their trophies on the podium and spoke to the press afterwards. Red Bull team mechanic Kenny Handkammer received the winning manufacturer's award.
What did the result do to the title race?
Button kept his championship lead by just three points from Alonso. McLaren stayed three points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' standings, and Red Bull were a further three points behind.
