Mark Webber goes top of heap

Hamilton pulled over on lap 24,saying there was something wrong with the car. McLaren had expressed concern about his car’s brakes before the start but his retirement appeared to be unrelated to that. “I went through turn one and basically lost drive,” he told BBC. “I think the gearbox went. When you push cars to the limit these things can happen.”

Webber,celebrating his fourth win of the campaign,did everything right after going against the flow and staying out when the other frontrunners pitted for fresh tyres when the safety car was deployed on the 15th of 70 laps. His hopes were handed a massive boost when the stewards slapped a drive-through penalty on Vettel for a safety car infringement,which dropped him behind double world champion Alonso.

Vettel rage

While Vettel cruised through the pitlane shaking his fists in the air with obvious rage at the officials,the Australian streaked away to build up a sufficient advantage to pit and retain the lead. Button had a miserable start and languished in 14th place until the safety car deployment,due to debris on the track,triggered chaos in the pitlane and allowed him to get into the points.

The Briton,who had pitted before the safety car,finished eighth — and lapped.

Mercedes’s Nico Rosberg was released from his stop with a loose wheel that then bounced high among the mechanics as cars were coming in. In the mayhem,with a Sauber mechanic luckily catching the wheel,Renault’s Robert Kubica drove into Force India’s Adrian Sutil.

Kubica,in what amounts to a home race for the Pole,was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty with a further investigation to be held after the race. Renault team mate Vitaly Petrov came good for the team,however,with the Russian rookie chalking up his best result in fifth place. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa,back in Hungary a year after an accident that nearly killed him and ended the Brazilian’s season,was fourth.

Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg was sixth for Williams,with Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa collecting his first points of the season for Sauber in seventh. Japanese team mate Kamui Kobayashi was ninth and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello 10th for Williams after passing former Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher despite the German pushing him perilously close to the wall. The incident was under investigation by stewards.

Dry run for Force India

Points eluded Force India as Adrian Sutil retired after a freak collision in pit lane and Vitantonio Liuzzi finished 13th. Sutil made a good start after starting 13th on the grid but the collision in lap 16 ended his race. Liuzzi,who started 16th,improved to 14th in lap 21 and gained one position when Hamilton retired.

Schumacher penalised

Seven times champion Michael Schumacher was handed a 10 place penalty on the starting grid for this month’s Belgian Grand Prix for impeding Rubens Barrichello. The governing International Automobile Federation said the four race stewards had ruled that the Mercedes driver had illegitimately impeded the Brazilian’s Williams during an overtaking manoeuvre.

Schumacher will be dropped 10 positions from wherever he qualifies at Spa on August 28. Barrichello took the final point in the race with Schumacher 11th. Mercedes were also fined $50,000 for the unsafe release of Nico Rosberg’s car during a pitstop that saw the German’s tyre work loose and bounce down the pit lane.