Sebastian Vettel dominated proceedings in Valencia as he strolled to his 6^th win in 8 races this season at the European Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso was able to work his way into second after a fierce tussle with Mark Webber, who eventually crossed the line in 3^rd place after a bungled pit stop cost him 2nd place to the Spaniard.

Both McLaren drivers suffered a bad day at the office meanwhile as Lewis Hamilton, who endured a terrible start off the line battled back to wind up in 4^th, while Jenson Button failed to replicate the spectacular winning performance of two weeks ago at the Canadian Grand Prix, crossing the line in 6^th behind Felipe Massa.

Both drivers complained of being unable to get the harder medium compound tyre working properly all weekend and the race offered little change as Hamilton and Button were left well off the pace of the leading trio.

The reigning world champion rarely looked troubled in the scorching Spanish heat as he set a new record of not finishing outside of the top two in the first eight races of the season to open up a 77 point lead at the top of the driver standings.

Alonso will look back on a job well done after promising improved results in front of his home crowd, and the double world champion will be pleased after showing he is more than capable of matching the McLaren drivers for pace.

“Maybe from the outside, it looked like a boring race but I enjoyed it so much” – Sebastian Vettel

In a race that was unremarkable, the fact one of the main talking points after the race was that all 24 cars on the grid made it home safely for the first time this season was perhaps evidence that this wasn’t the tightly contested classic most had hoped for at the start of the weekend.

Leading from start to finish, Vettel made a mockery of pre-race claims that Red Bull’s dominance would be brought to an end by rule changes that out-lawed engine mapping changes between qualifying and the race. The German insisted afterwards that his win wasn’t as easy as he had made it look.

“Maybe from the outside, it looked like a boring race but I enjoyed it so much,” Vettel said.

“Of course I had some pressure from Fernando (Alonso) and Mark (Webber) behind and even though I had a gap before the stop, they were still very close.

“I was pushing hard, judging the tyres, trying to imagine what the end of the stint would be like.

“For some reason I enjoy this track. Last year I had a smooth race and again this year, I had a good race.

“This track is not made for us with no real fast corners, but we still managed to put everything together.”

Attention now turns to the seemingly make or break British Grand Prix, where the controversial hot-blown diffusers will be banned, with most believing that if Red Bull can maintain their dominance at Silverstone without the controversial devices, there is little hope of the chasing pack catching Vettel at the top of the standing.

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