Sebastian Vettel won the European Grand Prix for Red Bull

There seems to be no stopping to Sebastian Vettel’s winning streak this season as he continued to dominate the track and won the European Grand Prix comfortably.

Starting from pole position, the World Champion held onto his lead throughout the race by cruising ahead of his rivals.

<< Red Bull's F1 driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany celebrates after winning the European Formula One Grand Prix at the Valencia racetrack, in Valencia, Spain, on Sunday, June 26, 2011.

Though Ferrari's Fernando Alonso tried to outdo Vettel in front of his home fans in Valencia, the Spaniard had to settle for a deserving second place. With his sixth win in this season, Vettel extends his Championship lead to 186 points, a huge 77-point margin over a tie between Jenson Button and Mark Webber.

There was a tough battle for the second place between Alonso and Red Bull's Webber, which was eventually won by Alonso. Though Webber started the race from P2 behind his team-mate, Alonso's fantastic pit-stop strategy helped him to better the Australian, who faced some gearbox issues.

The gap between the first three places and the others was significant as McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who struggled with his tyres, finished fourth and was close to 50 seconds behind the leader. Ferrari's Felipe Massa lost time after a slow pit-stop and managed to finish at P5. After winning the Canadian GP, McLaren's Jenson Button was unable to pick up his pace today and could only manage a sixth place finish.

Mercedes GP had a disappointing day as Nico Rosberg finished at seventh place, while his team-mate Michael Schumacher was far behind in P17. Schumi lost time after he had to change his broken front wing following a collision with Nick Heidfeld on Lap 16.

It was a great race by Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso, who climbed 10 places from a P18 start to finish at eighth place. Alguersuari faced tough challenge from Force India's Adrian Sutil during the closing laps of the race but Sutil could not outpace the Spaniard and finished behind him in ninth place. Renault's Heidfeld took the last point of the race by finishing at P10.

Sauber's Sergio Perez finished outside the points zone at P11, ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the Williams. Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso took P13, while Paul di Resta of Force India finished at P14, ahead of Vitaly Petrov of Renault. All the 24 drivers managed to finish the race, which was largely incident free. The last two places in the race were occupied by the two HRTs with Vitantonio Liuzzi finishing ahead of his team-mate Narain Karthikeyan.

With another win in the season at the European Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel, who will celebrate his 24th birthday on July 3, gets closer to clinching his second World Championship. As we move into the next race of the season at the legendary Silverstone Circuit, Vettel and Red Bull would be hoping to finish on top at the British Grand Prix as well!

European Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton targets podium

European Grand Prix

• Venue: Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia
• Date: 24, 25 & 26 June

Highlights - European GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton has set his sights on a European Grand Prix podium finish, all but writing off his chances of overhauling the Red Bulls in Valencia.

The McLaren driver will start third on the grid and, after four collisions in his last two races, Hamilton is keen simply to consolidate on Sunday.

"We're going to push for the win but after two tough races I'd be delighted to finish third here," said the Briton.

"To get back into the fight is key. Anything more would be a huge bonus."

Hamilton collided with Jamie Alguersuari's Toro Rosso and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado on his way to a sixth-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix two races ago, later becoming embroiled in a row with officials over race penalties.

McLaren have race pace - Whitmarsh

The 26-year-old followed that by failing to finish at the Canadian Grand Prix last time out, colliding with his Red Bull's Mark Webber and then his team-mate Jenson Button, who went on to win a dramatic race.

It has led to widespread criticism of Hamilton's mindset and attacking driving style, but having vowed not to change his approach to Formula 1 races the Stevenage driver is simply targeting a podium place in Valencia this weekend.

That is despite McLaren having the fastest race car at the last three grands prix.

Hamilton finished the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona right behind winner Vettel and before Canada Button was unlucky not to win in Monaco - where he finished a close third behind Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

We can race Red Bull. We're not afraid of them walking away with it, said Jenson Button

Asked if he felt he could challenge Red Bull pair Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in first and second on the grid, Hamilton said: "If I could finish where I am now that would be fantastic.

"We're not as fast as we were in Barcelona, that's for sure.

"It's been a tough few weeks for me and so to come here and be quite solid would be great.

"To get ahead of the Ferraris [in qualifying] was big for us.

"The most important thing is to try to finish where I start. That would be fantastic - I really would be so grateful for that."

It had been thought that the introduction of a number of technological restrictions would close the gap between Red Bull and the chasing pack from this weekend.

Hamilton has seemed uncertain about his intention to draw a line under a difficult month with a strong performance at this weekend's European Grand Prix

But Hamilton conceded: "Coming into the weekend, we were unsure what would happen, we thought perhaps the changes would affect them [Red Bull] more.

"As soon as we started racing, though, it was clear that they were very, very fast.

"Now we'll have to look at strategy and ways I can try to capitalise on different situations out on the track.

"But we need a bit of luck at the same time. I think you make your own luck but it'd be great if something went my way on race day."

But Button, who qualified sixth, was more optimistic about McLaren's chances of taking on Red Bull.

"Considering my position, it's more difficult for me, but I don't think they'll fly away," he said.

"We can race them. We're not afraid of them walking away with it."