MOTORSPORT: Webber's finest hour

Aussie capitalises on a super Red Bull car
Nothing might ever be quite as sweet for Mark Webber as his first grand prix win, but his third success in Spain last night was his finest hour in Formula One.

It took a bit longer than an hour -- 95 minutes and 44.101 seconds to be precise -- and came after one of the great qualifying laps in F1 history that put him on pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya. It added up to what Webber called "a faultless grand prix weekend".

"It was a crucial pole. I was very happy and satisfied that I started on the pole and could control the race," Webber said. "It was a very well executed GP. I just settled into a rhythm, looking after the tyres.

"It was a special victory. The first one is good, but this one is right up there with it. (The second, in Brazil late last season, was overshadowed by Jenson Button clinching the world title).

"It (Spain) felt like the longest GP I've ever done. With the other victories there has been a bit more going on, as I wasn't always in the lead. But today was all about watching the lap board go down ... and it just takes forever."

Webber's young German teammate Sebastian Vettel admitted the Aussie had been in a league of his own.

Red Bull Racing's Renault-powered RB6 is a super car. It has been on the pole at all five GPs so far this season, yet only won two of them. Webber maximised its capabilities in both qualifying and the race in Barcelona.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner called it "a very commanding performance from Mark".

"It was an absolutely immaculate race by Mark … he has been sensationally quick all weekend and this was a fitting result," Horner said.

Webber has jumped from eighth to fourth in the drivers' world championship -- on 53 points, seven less than Vettel, who had something of a horror race in Spain, was thoroughly outclassed by Webber all weekend, but nonetheless wound up third.

McLaren's Jenson Button still leads the championship, on 70 points, despite being unable to overtake Michael Schumacher's extended wheelbase Mercedes last night. It was Schumi's best weekend since returning to F1 after a three-year layoff, but his fourth place was still more than a minute behind victor Webber.

Who could have imagined that Webber, having started with Minardi and been plagued by woe at Jaguar and Williams and in the early days at Red Bull, would find himself in the best car in the field, whipping the seven-time world champion by that much?

Still, a world title is a long way off, with 14 more races to go this season -- the next of them this week, starting on Thursday, with Friday a lay day -- in Monaco.

Fernando Alonso, victor at the season-opening GP in Bahrain but not on the podium again until last night, is now second in the standings, just three points behind Button.

The constructors' championship has become an equally intense fight, with McLaren-Mercedes on 119 points, Ferrari 116 and Red Bull 113 -- with the Mercedes factory team that won the title last year as Brawn-Renault now a distant fourth on 72 points.

Nico Rosberg has tumbled from second to fifth in the driver standings, while Schumacher is still only ninth on 22. Had it not been for an Australian winning the Spanish GP we surely would have been lamenting yet another processional F1 race.

Webber is the 10th driver in a row to win in Barcelona from the pole -- but the first driver this season to take victory from that position. He got off the start line precisely as he should and, despite intense pressure from Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, held it together to get through the first corner cleanly, then scooted away.

His winning margin over Alonso was 24 seconds, while Vettel was almost another half a minute back.

In contrast to his delirious reaction in the cockpit after his first victory, in Germany last year, Webber was remarkably composed this time -- although he broke out once he was out of the car.

"I said to some people that when I win a race this year I will do something different, so it was nice to throw my helmet into the crowd and give a present back to the fans - because they don't always get the best treatment in F1," he said.

The transcript of the post-race formal interviews on the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) website contains Webber's story of the race, as well as his views on the upcoming Monaco GP and the championship, and the comments of Alonso and Vettel.

Hamilton was on course for second place but a front left tyre blowout, perhaps caused by a failure in the suspension, left him empty-handed. Instead of taking the lead in the championship -- he would have been a point ahead of Button had he finished second -- Hamilton finds himself equal sixth, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Schumacher outshone young Mercedes teammate Rosberg for the first time this season -- in qualifying and the race -- yet he must face the reality that he cannot be truly competitive at the minute.

"It was quite an entertaining race right from the start, even if we knew from the beginning that there would not be a chance for us to compete for a podium place if everything goes as normal," Schumacher said. "Still, it was exciting for me to manage to keep the position that I gained.

"But then I am obviously not too happy as we could only defend. All we could do was to hope for reliability problems of others in order to make up positions - and that's not really what you want to do. It was an interesting fight with Jenson, but all I could do is try to not give him a possibility to overtake.

"In the end the gap to the front is just too big to be really happy after this race. For Monaco, we hope that the characteristics of the track will suit our car better."

Button was stuck behind Schumacher for 50 of the 66 laps.

Initially he had been hopeful of being able to pass him, but the wily German was never going to make it easy for him.

Button somehow seemed astounded that Schumi did not move aside for him.

Button is the reigning world champion, has been in F1 a decade now, and ought to know as well as anyone that at the top level of racing you can't expect to get anything for nothing, especially from Schumacher.

The worry for both of them is that the Red Bull RB6 looks to be astoundingly fast in all conditions -- and that Webber and Vettel ought be on the front row again in Monaco this weekend.

Barring miscalculations or mechanical issues, one of them ought to win there too. Perhaps even a one-two. Whatever, it will be fascinating to see how the young Vettel handles Webber's success -- especially if it continues.

F1 drivers' world championship standings after five of 19 rounds - Jenson Button (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 70 points, Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 67, Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 60, Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault)     53, Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 50, Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 49, Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 49, Robert Kubica (Poland, Renault) 44, Michael Schumacher (Germany, Mercedes) 22, Adrian Sutil (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 16, Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy, Force India-Mercedes) 8, Rubens Barrichello (Brazil, Williams-Cosworth) 7, Vitaly Petrov (Russia, Renault) 6, Jaime Alguersuari (Spain, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 3, Nico Huelkenberg (Germany, Williams-Cosworth) 1.

F1 constructors' championship standings - McLaren-Mercedes 119 points, Ferrari 116, Red Bull-Renault 113, Mercedes 72, Renault 50, Force India-Mercedes 24, Williams-Cosworth 8, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 3.

Shock rally win for Ford in NZ
Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala won the Rally of New Zealand after costly mistakes by Citroen's six-time world champion Sebastien Loeb and then his young French countryman Sebastien Ogier on the very last stage.

Ogier spun and stalled three corners from the finish after starting the last stage 6.20 seconds ahead of Finn Latvala.

Ogier finished second 2.40 seconds behind, matching his best WRC finish and improving to fourth in the championship standings.

Latvala could hardly believe his good fortune on the final stage. "I tried not to be too hard at the start (of that stage) in case I made a mistake," he said. "At the last split I realised I was 2.7 seconds down, so then I did try. But at the end I could not believe it."

The win was Latvala's first since the Rally of Italy last year and lifted him above Ford teammate and countryman Mikko Hirvonen and Norway's Petter Solberg into second place in the standings -- 36 points behind Loeb.

Superstar Loeb still salvaged a podium from an eventful weekend. He drove brilliantly on Saturday in fighting back from a first-day crash that had left him more than a minute off the pace. He even took the lead after the first stage on Sunday, but then hit a tree on the next stage and ended 15.2 seconds behind Latvala and 12.8 behind Citroen junior driver Ogier.

Ogier's co-driver Julien Ingrassia said: "We can't be disappointed when you look at what we have achieved.

"It was a very good rally, a fantastic place and incredible stages. It was a left-right sequence, second or third gear where we tapped a bank and spun. Unfortunately we stalled the engine and lost a lot of time."

Hirvonen finished fourth, while Solberg's late charge for victory ended when he crashed his privateer Citroen into an electricity pole.

World rally championship driver standings - Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen) 108 points, Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Ford) 72, Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Ford) 64, Sebastien Ogier (France, Citroen) 63, Petter Solberg (Norway, Citroen) 53, Daniel Sordo (Spain, Citreon) 34, Matthew Wilson (Britain, Ford) 30, Henning Solberg (Norway, Ford) 24, Federico Villagra (Argentina, Ford) 22, Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Citroen) 14.

WRC constructor standings - Citroen Total WRT 156 points, BP-Ford Abu-Dhabi WRT 151, Citroen Junior Team 75, Stobart VK M-Sport Ford WRT 74, Munchi's Ford WRT 32.

Ambrose three laps down at Darlington
Australia's Marcos Ambrose finished three laps down in 25th in the 11th round of NASCAR's Sprint Cup at Darlington, South Carolina.

Denny Hamlin won the latest round -- his third victory of the season in a Toyota, edging out Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch.

See nascar.com for more.

The 12th round is this Sunday at on the one-mile (1.61km) oval at Dover, Delaware.

NASCAR Sprint Cup standings after 11 of 36 rounds - Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet)  1622 points, Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 1512, Kyle Busch (Toyota) 1509, Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) 1475, Matt Kenseth (Ford) 1472, Denny Hamlin (Toyota) 1458, Greg Biffle (Ford) 1431, Kurt Busch (Dodge) 1420, Jeff Burton (Chevrolet) 1394, Mark Martin (Chevrolet) 1357, Carl Edwards (Ford) 1345, Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 1318.  Marcos Ambrose (Toyota) is 28th on 1013 points.

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