The 2010 European Grand Prix (formally the 2010 Formula 1 Telefónica Grand Prix of Europe) was a
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
motor race held on 27 June at the
Valencia Street Circuit
The Valencia Street Circuit (, ) was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years (2008–2012). The first Formula One race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23–24 August 2008 wee ...
in
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, Spain. It was the ninth round of the
2010 Formula One World Championship
The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drive ...
.
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...
driver
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Vettel won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from to with Red Bull, and rema ...
won the 57-lap race from
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
.
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...
finished second for the
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...
team and his teammate
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...
was third. It was Vettel's second win of the season, and the seventh of his Formula One career.
Vettel maintained his leading heading into the first corner and resisted Hamilton's attempts to pass him. The safety car was deployed following a large accident involving Vettel's teammate
Mark Webber and
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish auto racing, racing and rally driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix with McLaren. In sportscar racing, Kovalainen won Super GT ...
on the ninth lap. Hamilton passed the safety car and was later issued with a drive-through penalty for which he served on lap 27. Vettel remained the leader at the restart despite running deep in the track's final corner. Hamilton drew closer to Vettel but he was unable to get close and Vettel maintained the lead for the remainder of the race to win.
As a consequence of the race, Hamilton extended his lead in the
World Drivers' Championship
Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which a ...
to seven points ahead of Button. This ensured the pair would enter the next, and their home race – the – as first and second in the championship. Vettel's victory elevated him to third; he was six points behind Button after surpassing the totals of teammate
Mark Webber and
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...
. By gaining the most points from the race, McLaren extended their lead in the
World Constructors' Championship
Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which ...
to thirty over Red Bull.
Background

The 2010
European Grand Prix
The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...
was the ninth out of 19 scheduled rounds of the
2010 Formula One World Championship
The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drive ...
, and was held on 27 June at the
Valencia Street Circuit
The Valencia Street Circuit (, ) was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years (2008–2012). The first Formula One race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23–24 August 2008 wee ...
in
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, Spain.
Tyre supplier
Bridgestone
is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (18891976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of (), meaning ...
brought two types of tyre to the race; two soft compounds (super soft "options" and medium "primes"). The super soft tyres were identified by a green stripe on their side-walls.
Before the race McLaren driver
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...
led the
Drivers' Championship with 109
points
A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to:
Mathematics
* Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...
, three points ahead of teammate
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...
in second, and
Mark Webber in third.
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...
was fourth on 94 points, and
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Vettel won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from to with Red Bull, and rema ...
was four points behind in fifth place.
McLaren were leading the
Constructors' Championship with 215 points; Red Bull and Ferrari were second and third with 193 and 161 points, while Mercedes (108 points) and Renault (79) contended for fourth place.
After winning the previous two races of the season which put him into the lead of the Drivers' Championship, Hamilton said he did not fear a Red Bull resurgence in the following events having declared that the McLaren team was in a good state for the second half of the season. However, he did not consider himself a favourite to win the championship.
Button became concerned that his team would lose its recent momentum but said he would get the maximum amount needed from his car to help him remain in contention.
Despite being afflicted with reliability issues with his Red Bull car, Vettel said there was no reason for him or his team to panic and was looking forward to the European Grand Prix in Valencia. Alonso was optimistic that car updates to his Ferrari would allow him to become more competitive but was calm about his expectations.
Some teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault introduced
diffuser
Diffuser may refer to:
Aerodynamics
* Diffuser (automotive), a shaped section of a car's underbody which improves the car's aerodynamic properties
* Part of a jet engine air intake, especially when operated at supersonic speeds
* The channel bet ...
designs similar to the
Red Bull RB6
The Red Bull RB6 is a Formula One motor racing car designed by Red Bull Racing for the campaign. It was driven by World Champion Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber (racing driver), Mark Webber and was launched on February 10 at Circuito de Jerez ...
. Ferrari's design largely changed the shape of their exhaust system, and introduced a new gearbox case for
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (; born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG Racing, TMG and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Riley Technologies, Riley. Massa competed in Formula One from to , and w ...
's car to raise the pick-up points of its rear suspension to help him adjust to the changes. They constructed a larger radiator to deal with the additional heat. Mercedes elected not to bring a new gearbox casing, but introduced a new rear diffuser to fully utilise the air blowing from the car's exhaust. Renault's design had the exit of their car's exhaust which had thermal protection against high temperatures and the team introduced a new design of their gearbox casing to allow for the pick-up points for its rear suspension to be accommodated. After running the
F-duct
The McLaren MP4-25 is a Formula One racing car designed and raced by McLaren in the season. The chassis was designed by Paddy Lowe, Neil Oatley, Tim Goss, Andrew Bailey and John Iley and was powered by a customer Mercedes-Benz engine. The ...
device (which increases a car's top speed) in Friday practice, Red Bull decided to use it for the remainder of the weekend.
Lotus celebrated the 500th Grand Prix for the brand. For this occasion, the team changed the usual decoration of its car, including the number 500 between laurels on both sides of the rear of the
Lotus T127
The Lotus T127 is a Formula One motor racing car designed and built by Team Lotus (2010–11), Lotus Racing for the season. It was driven by Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen and was unveiled in London, on 12 February 2010. The car made its t ...
. The family of
Colin Chapman
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of the sports car company Lotus Cars.
Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initia ...
, the founder of the original
Team Lotus
Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, American Championship Car Racing, Ind ...
, attended this celebration.
Practice
Per the regulations for the 2010 season, three practice sessions were held, two 90-minute sessions on Friday morning and afternoon and another 60-minute session on Saturday morning.
Conditions were hot and sunny for the Friday practice sessions. Several drivers went off the track due to the track being dusty.
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German and Finnish former racing driver and entrepreneur, who competed under the German flag in Formula One from to . Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes, and w ...
recorded the first session's fastest lap with a time of 1 minute and 41.175 seconds, ahead of McLaren teammates Hamilton and Button.
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...
, Massa, Vettel, Webber,
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in ...
, Alonso and
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves Barrichello (; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for Full Time Sports. Nicknamed "Rubinho" (), Barrichello competed in Formula One fro ...
rounded out the session's top-ten drivers.
Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli (; born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Senna won the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with Rebellion.
Born and raised ...
's left-side view mirror became detached from his
Hispania F110
The Hispania F110, also known as the HRT F110, is a Formula One motor racing car designed and built by Dallara for Hispania Racing, for the season. It was driven by Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Christian Klien and Sakon Yamamoto and was unveile ...
, which grazed his helmet, and was run over by
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Humbert Buemi (; born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota and in Formula E for Envision. In formula racing, Buemi competed in Formula One from to , and w ...
heading into turn 12, which caused the session to be stopped to allow
marshals
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated of ...
to clear the track of debris.
In the second practice session, Alonso set the fastest lap of the day with a time of 1:39.283; Red Bull drivers Vettel and Webber finished with the second and third-fastest times. Rosberg was fourth, ahead of Hamilton and Kubica. Massa,
Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to .
Born and raised in Starnberg, Sutil started kart racing, karting aged 14 and moved into single seater racing in 2002 in the Formula Ford, Sw ...
, Button and Barrichello followed in the top-ten.
Massa caused the session to be disrupted after spinning in the fourth corner and narrowly avoided making contact with a barrier. The session was stopped to allow Massa's car to be removed from the centre of the track for transport to the pit lane.
Timo Glock
Timo Glock (; born 18 March 1982) is a German racing driver, who competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Dörr Motorsport. Glock competed in Formula One between and .
Glock raced in Formula One for Jordan, Toyota, Virgin and Marussi ...
's lost the use of his car's fifth gear and pulled over to the side of the track at turn twelve to prematurely end his running.
Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to ...
spun at the exit of turn 14 and reversed his car to rejoin the circuit, avoiding the need for a red-flag.
Vettel was the fastest driver in the final practice session with a lap of 1:38.052; Webber was third-fastest. Kubica separated the two Red Bull drivers in second, with Sutil fourth. Alonso, Barrichello,
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi (born 6 August 1980) is an Italian former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to .
Born and raised in Bari, Liuzzi began competitive kart racing aged nine. After a successful karting career—culminating in ...
, Massa, Button and Hamilton rounded out the top ten.
Qualifying

Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for twenty minutes and eliminated the cars that finished eighteenth or lower. The second session lasted fifteen minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions eleven to seventeen. The final ten-minute session set
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
to tenth. Cars which competed in the final session were not allowed to change tyres before the race. They started the race fitted with the tyres on which they set their quickest lap times.
Vettel set the fastest times in the second and third sessions to win his fourth pole position of the season with a time of 1:37.587. It was the Red Bull team's eighth pole in the season's nine races. He was joined on the grid's front row by Webber who recorded a lap time 0.075 seconds slower. Hamilton qualified third but locked his rear tyres on his final timed lap heading into turn 17 and slowed, preventing him from improving his grid position. The two Ferrari drivers were fourth and fifth (with Alonso ahead of Massa); Slower cars prevented Massa from gaining optimum tyre temperature and could not improve his fastest lap. Kubica took sixth position and felt more movement on his Renault when he had the medium compound tyres equipped. Button had
oversteer
Understeer and oversteer are vehicle dynamics terms used to describe the sensitivity of the vehicle to changes in steering angle associated with changes in lateral acceleration. This sensitivity is defined for a level road for a given steady state ...
through turn 24 and an error in the following corner restricted him to seventh.
Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German racing driver who competes in Formula One for Sauber. In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Hülkenberg won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2015 with Por ...
was eighth, ahead of Williams teammate Barrichello in ninth who had a brake-warm up problem. Petrov rounded out the top ten and mistakes on his final timed lap prevented him from obtaining a better starting position.
Buemi was the fastest driver not to advance into the final session; his best lap time of 1.38:586 was half a second off Vettel's pace in the second session.
He was disappointed as he had Barrichello ahead of him driving towards turn 25 on his final timed lap which slowed Buemi and lost him two tenths of a second.
Rosberg took 12th position.
Sutil had no
grip in his car and qualified in 13th. His teammate Liuzzi clinched 14th place after an oversteer and struggled on his car's soft tyres. Schumacher was unable to get his tyres working to his preference and had a right-front brake problem restricted him to qualifying in 15th.
Schumacher's qualifying effort was criticised by the Formula One paddock.
Pedro de la Rosa
Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former racing driver, motorsport executive and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One between and . In Japanese motorsport, de la Rosa won the Formula Nippon Championship a ...
took 16th having struggled with a lack of grip on the super soft compound tyres.
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known by his stage name Squire, is a Spanish former racing driver, sports broadcasting, broadcaster and DJ, who competed in Formula One from to .
Born and raised in Barcelona, Al ...
drove hard but a lack of top speed put him 17th.
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese racing driver and motorsport executive, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, Toyota and in Super Formula for KC Motorgroup, KCMG. Kobayashi competed in Formula One from to . In end ...
failed to advance beyond the first session;
he
flat-spotted his front super soft compound tyres on his first timed lap which caused him to feel vibrations in his car.
The two Lotus cars of
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Trulli won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix with Renault in Formula One, Renault.
He regularly competed in Formula ...
and
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish auto racing, racing and rally driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix with McLaren. In sportscar racing, Kovalainen won Super GT ...
qualified in 19th and 20th positions, ahead of both Virgin drivers
Lucas di Grassi
Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Lola Yamaha ABT. In formula racing, di Grassi competed in Formula One in , and won the 2016–17 Formula E Championship with Abt. In endu ...
and
Timo Glock
Timo Glock (; born 18 March 1982) is a German racing driver, who competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Dörr Motorsport. Glock competed in Formula One between and .
Glock raced in Formula One for Jordan, Toyota, Virgin and Marussi ...
in 21st and 22nd. Both Hispania drivers lined up at the back of the field (with
Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (; born 19 January 1984) is an Indian former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One at 11 Grands Prix from to .
Chandhok also competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed fo ...
ahead of Senna).
Qualifying classification
The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold.
Race
The race commenced at 14:00
Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST, UTC+02:00), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central E ...
(UTC+2).
At the start, weather conditions were sunny and hot with an air temperature of and a track temperature between .
The top ten qualifiers started on the super soft compound tyre. When the five red lights extinguished to signal the start of the race, Vettel maintained his pole position advantage heading into the second corner. Hamilton accelerated faster than Webber off the line, overtaking him heading into the second turn. Vettel fended off a challenge from Hamilton who made contact with Vettel's right wheel in the second corner and Hamilton reported a vibration in his left-front tyre.
The contact damaged Hamilton's front wing.
Webber made contact with Button and dropped to ninth by the end of the first lap.
Petrov lost the most places, falling from tenth to 16th by the conclusion of the lap.
This was due to a large amount of
wheelspin
A wheelspin occurs when the force delivered to the tire tread exceeds that of available tread-to-surface friction and one or more tires lose traction. This leads the wheels to "spin" and causes the driver to lose control over the tires that no ...
delaying Petrov when he drove away from his starting position.
At the end of the first lap, Vettel led from Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Kubica, Button, Barrichello, Hülkenberg, Webber, Buemi, Schumacher, Sutil, Liuzzi, Rosberg, Petrov, Alguersuari, de la Rosa, Kobayashi, Kovalainen, di Grassi, Glock, Chandhok, Senna and Trulli.
Vettel began to pull away from the rest of the field.
Trulli made a pit stop for a replacement nose cone at the start of the second lap after another car made contact with the rear end of his car and his front wing was removed.
Webber battled Hülkenberg for eighth position but was unable to overtake the latter.
Trulli made a second pit stop on the fifth lap to allow his mechanics to rectify a problem with his car's gearbox and turned off his engine to allow for repairs to occur.
Vettel set a
fastest lap
In motorsports, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. In some racing series, like NASCAR, the fastest lap award championship points for a driver or team. In Formula One and MotoGP no point is awarded for the fastest lap.
Formula O ...
of the race on lap five, a 1:43.055, and was three seconds ahead of Hamilton, who in turn was being caught by Alonso.
It was reported by Red Bull on the following lap that eighth-placed Webber had no mechanical issues.
Webber made an early pit stop on lap seven for the medium compound tyres but his crew had a minor problem fitting his left-front wheel which meant he was stationary for 7.9 seconds, and rejoined in 18th position. Rosberg made a similar stop on the next lap but he overshot his pit stall and rejoined in 19th place.
On lap nine, Webber attempted to pass Kovalainen for 17th,
by running in his
slipstream
A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...
at on the main straight but the latter appeared to brake earlier than Webber expected, and the Red Bull made contact with Kovalainen's right-rear wheel, sending him airborne. He struck an advertising hoarding and somersaulted.
Webber's car landed on its nose, careered into the turn 12
run-off area
A run-off area is an area on a motorsport race track used for racer safety. Run-off areas are usually located along a road racing circuit where racers are most likely to unintentionally depart from the prescribed course. There are different types ...
at high speed and collided with a tyre barrier. Webber was unhurt.
The large force of the accident broke his brake pedal. The incident prompted the deployment of the
safety car
In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is a car that limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a ''caution period,'' such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The safety car aims to enable the ...
, to allow marshals to clear debris from the area and extricate Webber's car from the run-off area.
Kubica, Button, Barrichello, Hülkenberg, Buemi, Sutil, Liuzzi, de la Rosa and Chandhok elected to make pit stops during the safety car period.
The safety car was sent onto the circuit as the leaders completed the ninth lap but did not emerge in front of Vettel. Hamilton had the opportunity to overtake the safety car but initially hesitated prior to committing to going by and the delay meant that the safety car had just crossed the official pit-exit line.

The two Ferrari cars and the Renault of Kubica were the first to queue up behind the safety car, while the rest of the field had enough notice to divert to the pitlane for their first stop. The significance of these events was that both Vettel and Hamilton were able to make their first stops before their advantage over the rest of the field was nullified by catching the safety car, while Alonso, Massa and Kubica fell down the order. Hamilton's stop was for a replacement front wing. The safety car drove into the pit lane at the end of lap 14 and the cars were allowed to overtake.
Vettel locked his tyres and ran deep driving into the final turn, and resisted Hamilton's attempt to overtake him.
Alonso immediately pushed hard and passed Hülkenberg for ninth place at turn 17 on the 15th lap.
A line of cars formed behind Kobayashi while Vettel and Hamilton pulled away from the rest of the field, as the front two began trading the fastest lap time of the event.
Button gained a large amount of top speed but remained behind both Sauber cars. Schumacher passed both Virgin cars to move into the 17th position by lap 17.
Alonso made a complaint about Hamilton and asked his team to work with the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; ) is an international organisation with two primary functions surrounding use of the automobile. Its mobility division advocacy, advocates the interests of motoring organisations, the automot ...
race director
Charlie Whiting
Charles Whiting (12 August 1952 – 14 March 2019) was Chief Mechanic for the Brabham F1 team and latterly the Formula One race director. He served as the FIA Formula One Race Director, Safety Delegate, Permanent Starter and head of the F1 Tech ...
to discuss the issue with the safety car. Massa attempted to pass Liuzzi around the outside heading into turn 17 but Liuzzi turned right to defend the position. Shortly afterwards, Massa made a slight mistake which allowed Alguersuari to close the gap. Hamilton started to conserve fuel and prepare for a late attack on lap 20. On the following lap, it was announced Hamilton would be investigated by the stewards for his safety car overtake for which he was given a drive-through penalty which he served on the 27th lap.
He remained in second position due to Kobayashi holding up the rest of the field.
Massa placed further pressure upon Liuzzi but was unable to pass him.
A glass bottle appeared on the outside of the track on lap 28 which was retrieved by a marshal three laps later to allow racing to continue unaffected. Massa made an error at the final turn on lap 35 which meant he fell behind Liuzzi in the battle for 14th place.

Vettel extended his lead to 13 seconds when Hamilton lost time due to struggling to pass the lapped cars of Senna and Glock. Glock attempted to pass Senna around the outside heading into the first corner but was unable to move ahead.
On lap 37,
Glock again attempted to overtake Senna but the two cars collided. The incident caused a puncture on Glock's car that very nearly threw him into a wall and forced him to make a pit stop, though his crew were not ready for him and he lost several seconds as the tyres were brought out. Senna remained on the circuit with a damaged front wing, and made a pit stop on the next lap. Sutil overtook Buemi for seventh place on lap 40. Hamilton was eight tenths of a second quicker than Vettel on the same lap and reduced the gap to 11.9 seconds. Hülkenberg's car emitted blue smoke from the rear on the next lap but disappeared on the 42nd lap.
It was announced two laps later that Button, Barrichello, Hülkenberg, Kubica, Petrov, Liuzzi, Sutil, Buemi and de la Rosa were under investigation for exceeding the speed limit during the safety car period.
Hamilton set a new fastest lap of the race on lap 47 to reduce the time deficit to Vettel to 7.9 seconds. Petrov began to challenge de la Rosa for 12th place on the same lap. Hülkenberg's right rear tyre delaminated on lap 50, causing damage to his car's exhaust system and became the race's final retirement.
Kobayashi made his only pit stop of the event on lap 53 and rejoined in ninth position behind Alonso. Button was worried about a possible post-race time penalty and pushed hard to record the overall fastest lap of the race, a 1:38.766, on the 54th lap.
Alonso challenged Buemi for seventh place on lap 55 but was unable to pass. Kobayashi ran close behind Alonso and passed him around the inside for eighth after Alonso ran wide at turn 17 on the following lap. Buemi was overtaken by Kobayashi at the final corner on the last lap for seventh.
Vettel maintained his lead and crossed the start/finish line on lap 57 to win the race. Hamilton finished second, with his teammate Button third.
Barrichello clinched fourth (his best result of the season),
ahead of Kubica, Sutil and Kobayashi. Buemi took eighth on the road, and Alonso and de la Rosa rounded out the top ten. Petrov was the first non-points scoring finisher in eleventh, followed by Rosberg, Liuzzi and Massa. Alguersuari clinched 15th, half a second ahead of Schumacher. Di Grassi, Glock, Chandhok, Senna and Trulli were the final classified finishers.
It was Vettel's second victory of the season, and the seventh of his career.
Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference.
Vettel said it was good to accumulate a large number of points in the championship battle and was "very pleased" with his victory. He said it was not the easiest win he had and he felt satisfied to win on a track where his team did not expect to be dominant. Hamilton stated that he felt it was "very positive" that he remained the Drivers' Championship leader and his team McLaren were still at the top of the Constructors' Championship heading into the British Grand Prix. He hoped that he would be able to close the gap between the two Red Bull cars and challenge them. Button said that the first lap of the race was "fun", and felt that the McLaren and Red Bull teams were strong but did not want to dismiss Ferrari from the championship battle. Overall, he said the event was not the most "exciting" race, but was happy that he and Hamilton were the first two drivers leading the championship.

Webber said he had minor cuts and bruises after his lap nine accident with Kovalainen. He said he was unsure about Kovalainen's mindset and thought that the driver would allow him to pass.
Nevertheless, he did not apportion blame to Kovalainen and said the difference between the braking capabilities of both cars caught him out. Webber later admitted that he misjudged how early Kovalainen would brake for the corner but felt the latter had moved more than once while defending the position. Kovalainen claimed that he had not done anything wrong and blamed Webber for causing the crash. Both drivers were transported to the circuit's medical centre. Commentators likened the crash to the
1999 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 67th 24 Hours of Le Mans, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1999. The race had a large number of entries in the fastest Le Mans Prototype classes, with Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lola Cars, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Pan ...
when his
Mercedes-Benz CLR
The Mercedes-Benz CLR was a Sports prototype, prototype race car developed by Mercedes-Benz in collaboration with in-house car tuning, tuning division Mercedes-AMG, AMG and motorsports specialists HWA Team, HWA GmbH. Designed to meet Le Mans Pr ...
became twice airborne down the
Mulsanne Straight
The Mulsanne Straight (, "Straight Line of Les Hunaudières") is the name used in English for a formerly long straight of the Circuit de la Sarthe around which the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race takes place. Since 1990, the straight is interrup ...
.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
pundit and former driver
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard (born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster from Scotland who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "DC", Coulthard was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' ...
said of the crash: "Motor racing has just seen one of its luckiest days. That could have been a very, very bad incident."
Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Buemi, de la Rosa, Petrov, Liuzzi, and Hülkenberg were all issued with five second-time penalties by the stewards for exceeding the safety car-in lap time. The finishing positions of Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil and Liuzzi were unchanged, but the penalty issued to Buemi moved him from eighth to ninth, allowing Alonso to finish eighth. Rosberg inherited tenth position as de la Rosa moved to twelfth in the final race classification. Glock was awarded a 20-second time penalty for failing to observe blue flags.
Ninth-place finisher Alonso criticised the race stewards, and felt the race had been fixed after they took longer than expected to issue Hamilton's penalty.
Piero Ferrari
Piero Ferrari (born Piero Lardi, 22 May 1945; later Piero Lardi FerrariRancati, p. 107) is an Italian billionaire businessman and sport personality. He is the second and only living son of Enzo Ferrari, and a 10.48% owner of the Ferrari automoti ...
, the vice-president of Ferrari, stated that he was "incredulous and bitter, not just for Ferrari, but for the sport as a whole, as this is not the sort of thing one expects from professionals." Other teams – including Red Bull, Lotus and McLaren – rejected Alonso's accusations, with Lotus' technical director
Mike Gascoyne
Michael Robert Gascoyne (born 2 April 1963) is a British Formula One designer and engineer.
Gascoyne has worked for numerous Grand Prix teams including McLaren, Sauber, Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell, Jordan Grand Prix, Jordan (later known as Midland ...
stating "changing the safety car regulations had opened up a set of scenarios that had never been anticipated before. Hamilton passing the safety car is the only recorded example of a driver doing so in the modern era of Formula One." Ferrari subsequently argued for a change of safety car rules to prevent a similar situation reoccurring.
The result extended Hamilton's lead in the World Drivers' Championship over Button to six points. Vettel's victory elevated him from fifth to third, 12 points behind Hamilton. Webber's retirement dropped him to fourth, while Alonso's eighth-place finish demoted him from fourth to fifth.
McLaren increased their advantage over Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship to 30 points ahead. Ferrari remained in third place, while Renault reduced the points deficit to Mercedes in the battle for fourth place.
Race classification
Drivers who scored
championship points are denoted in bold.
Notes:
:1. – Button, Barrichello, Kubica, Sutil, Buemi, de la Rosa, Petrov and Liuzzi were given five-second time penalties for exceeding the safety car-in lap time. Hülkenberg was also given a five-second penalty, but he retired from the race.
:2. – Glock was given a 20-second time penalty for failing to observe blue flags.
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
*
2010 Valencia GP2 Series round
*
2010 Valencia GP3 Series round
References
{{Portal bar, Formula One, Sports, Spain
European
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In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...
European Grand Prix
European Grand Prix
The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...
21st century in Valencia
June 2010 sports events in Europe