Hungarian Grand Prix

Australian racer Mark Webber overtook his teammate, German pole position favorite Sebastian Vettel, at Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, grabbing back the Formula One championship lead from Lewis Hamilton and taking the lead for Red Bull.

McLaren's Hamilton meanwhile retired with a gearbox failure, falling to second overall, four points adrift. The Briton had led the championship since deposing Webber in Canada in June.

Vettel, who had started on pole position for the seventh time in 12 races, pulled away at almost a second a lap but was shaken when the safety car was released at the 15th of 70 laps to clean up tire debris.

Vettel became trapped in third when he was handed a penalty for failing to keep the correct distance in second place behind the clean-up.

Angrily shaking his fist at officials, the 23-year-old came in third behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, further frustrated by a radio problem that left him unable to understand what mistake he had made.

'A gift'

Webber celebrated the win he referred to as "a gift" from Vettel.

"He was on pole and was leading the first stint and unless he makes a mistake or has a problem, it is probably going to be his race...But this is racing and sometimes it happens. Most of my other victories haven't been gifted to me," Webber said.

Vettel said he was "obviously disappointed" at losing what should have been a "walk in the park."

Renault's rookie Vitaly Petrov of Russia came in fifth after Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who came back to Budapest after suffering a nearly-fatal accident in the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Schumacher makes enemies

Meanwhile, German comeback racer Michael Schumacher earned enemies in Budapest in a maneuver his former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello called the most dangerous ever used against him.

"If Michael wants to go to heaven - in the event that he is going to heaven - then I don't really care. But I don't want to go before him," said Barrichello, who demanded that action be taken against Schumacher.

Barrichello managed to pull ahead of Schumacher, finishing in 10th place despite Schumacher allegedly pushing him within millimeters of the wall and off the track. Stewards ruled that Schumacher had "illegitimately impeded" the Brazilian racer.

"As far as I was concerned there was enough room for him to get through there," Schumacher responded. "But it's clear that I wanted to make life for him as difficult as possible."

Author: David Levitz (AFP/Reuters)
Editor: Martin Kuebler