Whilst one Red Bull was flying to victory in Valencia, the other one was literally flying. Sebastian Vettel’s race victory was somewhat overshadowed by the horrific crash involving Mark Webber.

Going into the event in Spain, Red Bull were expected to be struggling to even make the podium on the street track, but as they’ve done so many times before, they proved the paddock wrong. Come 3 o’clock on Saturday afternoon, the other 11 teams were left stunned by the pace of the team.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber resumed normal service in qualifying and locked out the front row, four tenths quicker than Lewis Hamilton in third place. Vettel pipped Webber to the pole by just 0.075 seconds so the race seemed like it would be an open affair between the German and the Australian.

Unfortunately for Red Bull, this was scuppered by an appalling first lap from Mark Webber. The Australian dropped from 2nd to 9th by the end of the opening lap and this set the tone for the rest of his race. Having to try and overtake cars slower than himself forced him to run harder on his first set of tyres and thus having to make a pit-stop earlier than he would’ve liked. A problem on the left front wheel did not help matter and he came out just behind Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus.

Lap 9 was the fateful lap that Webber suffered one of the biggest crashes in Formula One history. As he was getting in the slip stream of the Lotus, Kovalainen braked early and Webber went flying over the top of his car, landing upside down and careering into the tyre wall. Thankfully, Webber walked away unharmed.

Webber admitted afterwards that he was lucky to be in one piece.

“I’m happy. I was just having a shower and thinking, ‘Mate, you’re lucky to be in one piece. It was a nasty incident. I was surprised by what happened. I’m a little bit tender here and there but the car did a great job.”

Ignoring all the crama behind him, Sebastian Vettel drove superbly to collect his 2nd victory of the season. The German hardly put a foot wrong and was understandably delighted with the way the car performed.

“We didn’t expect to be that strong so it was great to be quick enough to slightly pull away, find the gap and then bring the car home.

“It’s good to get a lot of points, it’s good for the championship and the guys can be extremely proud – they had very little sleep but it paid off, and now we have to focus on the next one.”

The victory did Vettel a power of good in the Drivers Championship as he moved upto 3rd place and within 12 points of leader Lewis Hamilton. Webber’s accident dropped him back to 4th in the Championship, 12 points behind his team mate.

As far as the Constructors Championship goes, Red Bull dropped 8 points to McLaren due to the British outfit finishing 2nd and 3rd in the race.

As the Formula One wagon rolls into Silverstone, Red Bull will undoubtedly feel confident of building on this win on a circuit that should suit the car more than the last two races.

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