Webber survives crash as Vettel wins in Valencia

Sebastian Vettel won the European Grand Prix on Sunday, but the biggest talking point was the fact that his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber was still alive after a massive crash that saw his car become airborne and land upside down.

Incredibly the Australian driver walked away from the wreckage unscathed after what remained of his car ploughed into a tyre wall following the crash with Heikki Kovalainen.

Webber was attempting to pass the Lotus of Kovalainen in lap 10 of the race after an early pit stop, but when the Finnish driver braked sooner than expected coming into corner 13 of the Valencia circuit Webber ploughed into his back. The Red Bull, which was travelling at around 190mph, flipped up into the air before coming back to earth some 100m further down the track. The vehicle landed upside down, leaving a scar on the track where it impacted. It then flipped the right way up before sliding into a tyre wall.

Incredibly Webber clambered out of the wreckage and walked away from the incident, although he later admitted that he felt "a little bit tender here and there" and said that he was "lucky to be in one piece".

Inevitably, the safety car came out after the crash but Lewis Hamilton illegally overtook it as he emerged from the pits. The result was a drive-through penalty for the English McLaren driver that effectively handed Vettel a race-winning lead.

Button, who came in third, was one of nine drivers to be awarded a five second penalty after the race for driving too fast when the safety car was out. The penalties did not affect the order of the top drivers. But Sebstian Buemi was relegated to ninth and Pedro De La Rosa was demoted to 12th.

The result leaves Lewis Hamilton top of the drivers championship with 127 points, six ahead of team mate Jenson Button in second. Vettel is third with 115 points. ·