Story highlights
Red Bull's Mark Webber claims first win of season at Brazil GP
Teammate and two-time champion Sebastian Vettel finishes second
Vettel was leading until his car had gearbox problem
Mark Webber claimed his first victory of 2011 as he relegated his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel to second place in the season-ending race in Brazil.
The Australian took the lead on the 30th lap as Vettel was under team orders to nurse a serious gearbox problem.
Until then, Germany’s Vettel had looked set to cap his triumphant season with his 12th race win.
He had led off his record 15th pole position with Webber taking close order in second place.
But after the first round of pit stops, the technical problem on the normally ever reliable Red Bull of the two-time champion came to light.
McLaren’s Jenson Button overtook Fernando Alonso of Ferrari for the final podium position late in the race to retain second spot in the championship behind Vettel.
Abu Dhabi winner Lewis Hamilton went out with a faulty gearbox in the second McLaren as he bid unsuccessfully for back-to-back victories.
But few could begrudge Webber his belated win, repeating his 2009 success at the same circuit and his seventh career triumph in F1.
“Seb did a great lap for pole, but today I had the rub of the green. It would have been nice to have a race with Seb all the way through but he had a problem,” he told the post-race media conference.
“I enjoyed the last few laps. It’s always nice when I could pit a bit later than people and cover people off. Nice way to finish,” he added.
“It was a real shame for me as I had a good start,” said Vettel.
Home hope Felipe Massa claimed fifth place in the second Ferrari with Adrian Sutil an excellent sixth for Force India.
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes finished seventh with rookie Paul Di Resta in eighth in the second Force India car.
Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber and Vitaly Petrov for Renault rounded out the point-scoring.