Mark Webber romps to victory in Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton watched 18 points disappear at the Spanish Grand Prix as
Mark Webber underlined Red Bull’s dominance with a pole-to-flag ­victory in Barcelona.

Hamilton was cruising to second only for his McLaren to suffer a puncture on the penultimate lap, pitching him into the gravel and then a tyre wall.

However, Hamilton was unscathed and put a positive spin on his bad luck.‘It was quite a good race for me. I had really good fun out there,’ he said.‘It’s nice to take a step forward and split the Red Bulls, which would have been perfect for the team. But these things happen. I don’t know what it was. I guess we’ll find out but there are many more races to go.

‘I was just cruising to the finish line and it was great points for me but then I blew a tyre. That’s motor racing.’

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh added: ‘It could have been debris caught in the rim, I think that probably caused the failure but that’s speculation.

‘It’s not a straightforward puncture. It’s difficult for the team.’

Fernando Alonso, in his first home race for Ferrari, inherited a crowd-pleasing runner-up position when Hamilton crashed out while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who had started on the front row alongside Webber, was promoted to third despite brake problems.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was fourth, the best result so far of the 41-year-old’s comeback season, with Hamilton’s team-mate ­Jenson Button unable to find a way past the German and forced to settle for fifth.

‘I’m rapt,’ said Webber after the ­Australian’s first win of the season. ‘The team have been incredible this week. We had a faultless grand-prix weekend.’