Webber leads Red Bull to victory in Spain

(REUTERS)

Mark Webber became the first driver to win from pole this season as the Spanish Grand Prix lived up to its notoriously dull reputation until late catastrophe struck Lewis Hamilton.

The past 10 winners of the race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya have won from the top spot on the grid, with Webber emphatically enforcing that statistic with a lights-to-flag triumph.

It was the 33-year-old Australian's first win this year, and third of his career, elevating him up to fourth in the championship, the 25 points for the victory almost as much as his haul from the first four races.

Hamilton should have grabbed the runner-up spot for the second successive race, only to suffer a suspension failure on the penultimate lap that plunged him into a tyre wall, with the Briton fortunately emerging unharmed.

That, though, was to the delight of the Spanish fans as Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished second, benefiting also from Sebastian Vettel suffering an issue with the front right of his Red Bull that dropped him to third.