Webber was punished for colliding with Brawn's Rubens Barrichello at the start but was in a class of his own to dominate the race despite his handicap.

Sebastian Vettel made it a Red Bull one-two ahead of Felipe Massa.

Barrichello finished sixth behind Williams's Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button while Lewis Hamilton was last.

Brawn's Button remains in the world championship lead on 68 points but Vettel and Webber have leap-frogged over Barrichello, who angrily accused his own team of costing him victory after the race.

It's an incredible day for me. I wanted to win so badly Mark Webber

Germany's Vettel is now 21 points behind Button with team-mate Webber just 1.5 points behind - and Webber the same margin ahead of Barrichello.

Starting from pole position, 32-year-old Webber was an odds-on favourite heading into the race but he made life difficult for himself from the moment the lights went out at the start.

He was slow off the line and in trying - and failing - to prevent Barrichello passing him he swerved at the Brawn and the two cars touched.

The stewards took a dim view of the manoeuvre and handed Webber a drive-through penalty, which meant he had to drive through the pits - where there is a 120km/h speed limit - before rejoining the race.

But, crucially, Red Bull left Webber - who also slightly damaged his front wing when he touched with Hamilton at the first corner - as long as they could before bringing him in to serve the penalty on lap 14.

Because Vettel and Brawn's Button had been held up after being passed by the slower McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen at the start, Webber was able to rejoin in the lead and set about re-building his advantage.

The race further fell into his lap because Barrichello, who made his first pit stop when Webber came in for his penalty, and he came out behind Felipe Massa's Ferrari, which held him up until his first pit stop on lap 25.