A Red Bull driver claimed victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, but for once this season it wasn't Sebastian Vettel.
Teammate Mark Webber took advantage of pole-starter Vettel's gearbox problems to grab his first victory of the season from the German, with McLaren's Jenson Button third. As so often in 2011, Vettel appeared to be in complete control at the front of the race until he was given warnings by his team of a serious gearbox issue.
Webber closed the gap on the race leader and Vettel eventually acknowledged the inevitably, allowing the Australian to pass him on lap 30. And although he at first tried to keep pace with Webber, the German double world champion began to concentrate on staying ahead of Fernando Alonso as the race reached the closing stages.
But the Ferrari driver, who qualified in fifth but overtook Lewis Hamilton at the second corner of the first lap and was running in third, had his hands full with Button. The Spaniard had eased ahead of the Brit on the outside of Turn Five on lap 11, with Button taking evasive action to avoid debris on the track.
Alonso's grasp on third place disappeared with 10 laps left as his Pirelli tyres appeared to leave him short of grip and he had to watch as Button roared past him on lap 62 to claim another podium finish. Hamilton had been tracking Button but found himself stuck behind Brazilian driver Felipe Massa at the second set of pit stops, and had to retire on lap 46 with gearbox problems of his own.
Massa went on to claim fifth for Ferrari ahead of Force India's Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, Force India's Paul di Resta, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Renault's Vitaly Petrov who filled the remaining points scoring places.
Further down the field, Rubens Barrichello was 14th for Grove-based Williams while teammate Pastor Maldonado was forced out of the race on lap 18. Bruno Senna was 17th for Enstone-based Renault.
