Sebastian Vettel zooms by the skin of his teeth in Barcelona

Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull padded his overall Formula One championship lead to 41 points by edging Lewis Hamilton by a slim 0.6 seconds at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

It was the fourth win in five Grand Prix races so far this season for Sebastian Vettel, who is off to a good start in his bid to defend his 2010 title.

The win at Barcelona gave him 118 points while Hamilton of McLaren has 77 points and Vettel's teammate Mark Webber has 67 points after five races.

Sebastian Vettel had to stave off a surging Hamilton for the final 12 laps at the Catalunya racing circuit amidst problems with his KERS power boost. But the German had enough to be the first at the chequered flag.

"A lot of people said today wouldn't be a race - that's why I'm even more happy we made it," said Sebastian Vettel, who was the first driver in the past 11 events who won the race in spite of not having pole position.

"The last 10 laps I felt tires going away and I was praying. On top of that sometimes KERS on, sometimes KERS off. It wasn't an easy race," Vettel added.

Webber held pole position but had to settle for fourth behind McLaren's Jenson Button. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was fifth. Button was fifth to start but fell to 11th place before recovering later for a spot at the podium.

Alonso led during the first 18 laps until the second round of stops. Button and Webber crossed the finish line within 50 seconds of Sebastian Vettel.