Mark Webber won his first race of the year yesterday when he took advantage of Red Bull team-mate and double world champion Sebastian Vettel’s gearbox problems to win the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.

Driving with great speed, precision and a near-flawless sense of judgement, the 35-year-old Australian came home 16.9 seconds ahead of his team-mate Vettel to give Red Bull a third one-two of the 2011 season.

It was an excellent drive by Webber who delivered his seventh career win to make sure he finished third in the championship behind Vettel and Jenson Button, who came home third for McLaren.

Vettel, who had already wrapped up his second title, finished with a final total of 392 points ahead of Button on 270 and Webber on 258. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fourth on 257.

Alonso finished fourth in the race just ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, with Adrian Sutil of Force India and Nico Rosberg of Mercedes sixth and seventh respectively.

Webber took the lead after 30 laps of the 71-lap contest when Vettel, struggling with gearbox problems from lap five onwards, accepted the team’s advice to ease off and nurse his car home to second.

“I felt good all weekend. Seb did a great lap for pole. Today I had the rub of the green. It would have been nice to have a race with Seb all the way through but he had a problem,” said Webber.

Vettel, from his record 15th pole of the year, made a now-customary smooth departure and established a lead of more than a second on the opening lap ahead of Webber and Button.

Behind that trio, Lewis Hamilton was unable to resist the surge from Alonso’s Ferrari as he fought past him to take fourth.

The order remained unchanged through the opening 10 laps when Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna clashed and the German suffered a puncture to his Mercedes.

One lap later, Alonso produced a stunning passing move when he flew round the outside of Button to take third place on the outside of turn six.

As the Spaniard made his dramatic progress, Vettel was confirming the news that he had a serious gearbox problem, a difficulty that persuaded him to accept that Webber should lead the race.

After some discussions, he gave up the number one spot to Webber on lap 30, giving him sight of his first win of the season.

Hamilton retired on the 47th lap with a gearbox failure, parking his car out on the circuit.

Button turned up the heat on Alonso as he pursued a podium finish and he passed him with a well-judged move on lap 61, the last major positional change on a day when Red Bull again demonstrated their overall superiority.

Brazilian Grand Prix result

1. Mark Webber (Red Bull) - 1h32:17.464
2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) at 16.983
3. Jenson Button (McLaren) at 27.638
4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) at 35.048
5. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) at 1:06.733
6. Adrian Sutil (Force India) at one lap
7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) - one lap
8. Paul di Resta (Force India) - one lap
9. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) - one lap
10. Vitaly Petrov (Lotus-Renault) - one lap
11. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) - one lap
12. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) - one lap
13. Sergio Perez (Sauber) - one lap
14. Rubens Barrichello (Williams F1) - one lap
15. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) - one lap
16. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus) - two laps
17. Bruno Senna (Lotus-Renault) - two laps
18. Jarno Trulli (Lotus) - two laps
19. Jerome d’Ambrosio (Virgin Racing) - three laps
20. Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania) - three laps

Did not finish
Timo Glock (Virgin Racing) - mechanical problem 22nd lap
Pastor Maldonado (Williams F1) - mechanical problem 27th lap
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) - mechanical problem 47th lap
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania) - mechanical problem 62th lap

Final standings (after 19 races)

Drivers
1. Vettel 392, 2. Button 270, 3. Webber 258, 4. Alonso 257, 5. Hamilton 227, 6. Massa 118, 7. Rosberg 89, 8. Schumacher 76, 9. Sutil 42, 10. Petrov 37, 11. Heidfeld 34, 12. Kobayashi 30, 13. Di Resta 27, 14. Alguersuari 26, 15. Buemi 15, 16. Perez 14, 17. Barrichello 4, 18. Senna 2, 19. Maldonado 1.

Constructors
1. Red Bull 650, 2. McLaren 497, 3. Ferrari 375, 4. Mercedes GP 165, 5. Lotus-Renault 73, 6. Force India 69, 7. Sauber 44, 8. Toro Rosso 41, 9. Williams F1 5.