SAO PAULO, Brazil — Mark Webber won the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday after mechanical problems slowed his Red Bull teammate, the world champion Sebastian Vettel, who started the race from a record 15th pole position of the season.
But for the first time this year, Vettel had a mechanical problem, with the gearbox, and he dropped behind Webber, who celebrated his first win of the season. Vettel finished second.
“In motorsport, you take them as they come,” Webber said. “It’s great to finish on a high. I enjoyed the last few laps. Unfortunately, Sebastian had a little bit of a problem, and it would have been great to race with him throughout race.”
It was the seventh victory of Webber’s career and his second in Brazil.
In the early stages, Vettel drove a smooth and controlled race, leading Webber by 2.8 seconds after only five laps.
The Red Bulls were clearly in another league, and Webber quickly established a large lead over Fernando Alonso, who was fighting for second place in the series with Webber and Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button of the McLaren Mercedes team. In the end, that laurel would go to Button, who finished the race in third after he passed Alonso on Lap 62.
“All round it has been a reasonable season,” Button said.
By Lap 30 of the 71-lap race, Webber had caught up to Vettel and was only 0.6 seconds behind. Webber had not won a single race this season — Vettel had won 11 — and when Webber suddenly moved ahead, Vettel dropped to more than a second behind. It looked like Vettel was handing the victory to his teammate, as Ayrton Senna did for his teammate Gerhard Berger in 1991.
Vettel saw a different parallel to Senna’s career, and he pointed it out to his team on his radio. “I told them that I felt like Senna in 1991 where he had to manage the gearbox around here, but he won the race,” Vettel said.
There was another eerie reminder of Senna, who died in a 1994 racing accident. early in the race. Michael Schumacher, who returned last year after three years of retirement, finished his second season with problems involving Senna’s nephew Bruno Senna. (Schumacher and Ayrton Senna were rivals in 1994.)
At the beginning of Lap 10, Schumacher dived at the first corner after the main straight to try to dislodge Bruno Senna from ninth position. The two cars struck each other side by side as Schumacher appeared to turn in on Senna.
Schumacher moved ahead, but Senna then clipped the rear left tire of the German’s Mercedes with his front wing. Schumacher suffered a puncture and went to the pits, now in last place. Eight laps later, the control tower announced that Senna was to blame in the accident and had to serve a drive-through penalty.
The race also marked the passing of the torch this year from Schumacher to Vettel, who is sometimes called “Baby Schumacher.” Vettel clearly dominated the year and became the youngest double world champion in history. He was just two races short of equaling Schumacher’s 2002 record of 13 victories in a single season.
Still, Webber controlled the race perfectly. He ran the fastest lap several times and finished 16.9 seconds ahead of Vettel.
“Today was a very special day for me,” Webber said. “I’m looking forward to recharging over the winter.”