Race Report
European GP
Rubens Barrichello drove flawlessly to win the European Grand Prix at Valencia. Barrichello was beaten off the line by the KERS powered McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen but he kept his cool and bided his time picking off Kovalainen during the first pit stop sequence. He then kept the pressure on a hard charging Lewis Hamilton and pounced when the McLaren team faltered during Hamilton's second pit stop and easing into a relatively comfortable lead. McLaren's blunder almost certainly cost Hamilton any chance of victory although this was disputed after the race by team boss Martin Whitmarsh. Hamilton was 2.3 seconds adrift at the flag and led third placed Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari by 13.6 seconds. Kovalainen drove a strong and competent race to secure fourth place and more valuable points to add to McLaren's growing tally. Nico Rosberg produced another great drive for Williams pushing Kovalainen hard all the way to the finish and missing out by the narrow margin of 0.8 seconds. Fernando Alonso finished a useful 6th in the Renault but was never in contention to challenge the front runners much to the disappointment of the partisan fans. Jenson Button was seventh after a difficult start lost him places and forced him to cut accross a corner after which he apparently yielded to Mark Webber to avoid a penalty. Although the championship leader ended the race with good pace he was unable to overhaul Alonso and settled for two valuable points and safety. Robert Kubica earned the final point for hard pressed BMW with eighth place. Sebastian Vettel endured a difficult race after experiencing refuelling problems during the first pit sequence that forced a return to the pits for a top up. He then suffered what looked to be engine failure and subsequent retirement. Team mate Mark Webber also struggled for pace throughout the race finishing outside the points in ninth place and adding to Red Bull's woes. Barrichello's win takes him to second place in the title race eighteen points adrift of team mate Button.
