German Sebastian Vettel gave Red Bull their first Formula One win with a pole to chequered flag victory ahead of team mate Mark Webber in the rain-soaked Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. The 21-year-old claimed the second victory of his career, with Australian Webber celebrating his own best result to date, in a Red Bull one-two on a track that resembled a skidpan for much of the race.
"Getting the top two for Red Bull is incredible, I'm extremely happy," said Vettel, who took nearly two hours to complete the 56 laps.
"It was extremely challenging, there was a lot of aquaplaning ... really hard to keep the car on the track, sometimes it was like there was a river running down the track."
Webber, whose previous best result was third, said the race had been "right on the edge in terms of safety".
Briton Jenson Button, who won in Australia and Malaysia, finished third to extend his championship lead to six points over Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello, who was fourth.
"It's a great result for me," said Button, who now has 21 points.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was fifth to get his season going at last after failing to finish a lap in the previous two races, while world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton finished sixth after a late spin robbed him of a better result.
"I made a few too many mistakes today," said Hamilton, who has four points. "This afternoon was a real struggle but I'm glad I got some points for the team."
German Timo Glock was seventh for Toyota, who slipped to third in the constructors' standings behind Red Bull, and Toro Rosso's Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi was eighth.
There was heartache for Force India, still without a point since their debut last year, who had Adrian Sutil in sixth place until the German crashed out six laps from the finish. Brawn have 36 points to Red Bull's 19.5 and Toyota's 18.5.
FERRARI MISERY:
Ferrari's misery continued with the champions failing to score for the third race in a row. Brazilian Felipe Massa's car ground to a halt with an electrical problem when he was running third during the second safety car period while 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 10th.
Ferrari, who remained bottom of the constructors' standings, are now suffering their worst start to a season since 1981 when their cars retired from the first three races.
They will be looking for a vast improvement in Bahrain next weekend, where at least wet weather should not be a problem. "I'm very disappointed and a bit upset but my motivation is still intact," said Massa. "All of us must work together to get out of this situation. The team is united and there is real will to turn things around as soon as possible."
The heavy rain meant the first eight laps were run behind the safety car, which returned on lap 20 after one of the string of collisions and crashes left debris strewn over the track. Vettel, who became Formula One's youngest winner for Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso in the wet at last year's Italian Grand Prix, had his share of good fortune and escaped unscathed when Buemi shunted into the back of his car on lap 19.
"I'm really sorry for Sebastien," said Vettel. "I was extremely lucky to continue." He emerged from the pits in third place with 19 laps to go and only had to wait for Webber and Button to make their final stops to retake the lead.
But with Button struggling with his tyres, Vettel went ahead and steered his car through the rain and spray to victory.