British GP - Biggest points haul of the year
Silverstone, 8 July
An imaginative tyre strategy, running two long stints on the Prime, before switching to the Option at the end, almost saw Fernando Alonso win the British Grand Prix, but in the end he had to settle for second place, behind the faster Red Bull of Mark Webber, who chased him down with seven laps remaining. Felipe Massa, running a more conventional strategy, starting on the softer tyre and doing the final two stints on the harder Pirelli looked to be heading for his first podium of the season, but lost out in the pit stops to Sebastian Vettel, in the other Red Bull, who stood on the bottom step of the podium. The Spaniard still leads the Drivers’ classification although today’s winner has cut the Ferrari man’s advantage to 13 points. The two men who head the classification are the only ones to have won two Grands Prix this season. Felipe is gradually hauling his way up the order and is 13th, while the Scuderia has leapt from fourth to second in the Constructors.’
The unpredictable English weather produced sunny skies for the start of the race and the outlook looked sunny for Scuderia Ferrari, as Fernando made a perfect start from pole to lead; he and Lewis Hamilton the only front runners to start on the harder tyre. Felipe immediately passed Vettel to go fourth, while Di Resta pitted immediately with a puncture and Petrov retired. By lap 3, Felipe was closing on Schumacher in the Mercedes, but he slipped back a bit allowing Vettel in the Red Bull to close right up on the Ferrari. The order on lap 5 was Fernando, Webber, Schumacher, Felipe, Vettel, Raikkonen, Maldonaldo, Hamilton, Perez and Senna completing the top ten. By now, Felipe was under Schumacher’s gearbox, trying all sorts of exciting moves to get past, with Vettel over half a second behind. At the front, Fernando had almost 2 seconds in hand over Webber.
Vettel was the first to pit for fresh tyres on lap 10, switching to the Prime tyre. Lap 11, and Felipe finally got past the German to go third, as Maldonaldo and Perez pitted. But the two men tangled a few corners after leaving the pits and while the Williams continued the Sauber had to retire at the side of the track. Schumacher came in on lap 12. Felipe and Raikkonen came in on lap 13. Felipe was running in tenth after the stop, with Schumacher behind him and the other Mercedes of Rosberg ahead of him. Fernando made his stop on lap 15, as did Rosberg. While this was going on, Felipe dispensed with Button’s McLaren to take eighth. Hamilton had yet to stop and was therefore in the lead, 1.5s ahead of the Spanish Ferrari driver, as Kobayashi, Hulkenberg, Button and Ricciardo all switched tyres. Lap 19 and Fernando was putting a superhuman effort into passing Hamilton: even if the Englishman had yet to stop, the Ferrari man needed to make the most of his new tyres and he managed to pull off the overtake in a thrilling wheel to wheel battle.
Felipe however found himself fifth at this point having lost out to Vettel in the run of pit stops, with the two Red Bulls now directly ahead of him. Hamilton finally pitted on lap 21, which meant that, in the lead, Fernando had a five second cushion to second placed Webber. The battle for fifth was close and lap 24, saw Raikkonen get his Lotus ahead of Schumacher, with Hamilton on fresh Option tyres closing in on the Mercedes, easily getting past to be sixth behind Raikkonen. Lap 25 saw Fernando put in a fastest race lap, as his lead over Webber had grown to 5.4, with Vettel a further 3.4 behind and Felipe 2.9 off the German’s Red Bull.
Hamilton’s short stint on the softer tyre ended when he pitted on lap 28, dropping down to twelfth place, but now going for the chequered flag with no more stops. Lap 31 saw Felipe temporarily promoted to third when Vettel made his second pit stop, as Button also brought in the McLaren at this time. Webber came in from second spot on lap 33, so that Felipe was second, although he would still need another tyre change. Raikkonen and Schumacher made their second stops on lap 34. Next time round and Felipe made his final stop, planning to run the remaining 18 laps to the flag.
Lap 37 was the key moment of the race for Scuderia Ferrari, as Fernando made his second stop, switching to the Option tyre for his final run to the end of the 52 lap race. At the same time, there was a scary moment in the Sauber pit, as Kobayashi came in, knocking some of his crew flying. Fernando had kept the lead, by 3.9 seconds over Webber, but the question was, how long would the Ferrari man’s softer tyres last and would he be able to hold off the Australian on the more resilient Prime Pirellis?
After initially seeing the gap between the Ferrari and the Red Bull increase to just over 4 seconds, it started to come down again and eventually, the inevitable happened as, after a spirited duel, Webber swept into the lead. Vettel was also closing on the Spaniard, but there were not enough laps left and the top three thus finished in this order, with Felipe just behind them, having had to keep an eye in his mirrors for Raikkonen, although in the end the Finn could not mount a real challenge. Six was his Lotus team-mate, Romain Grosjean, followed by the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher in seventh. The remaining points went to Lewis Hamilton, Bruno Senna and Jenson Button. The busy month of racing resumes in a fortnight’s time at Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix, with the Hungarian event following on just seven days later.
An imaginative tyre strategy, running two long stints on the Prime, before switching to the Option at the end, almost saw Fernando Alonso win the British Grand Prix, but in the end he had to settle for second place, behind the faster Red Bull of Mark Webber, who chased him down with seven laps remaining. Felipe Massa, running a more conventional strategy, starting on the softer tyre and doing the final two stints on the harder Pirelli looked to be heading for his first podium of the season, but lost out in the pit stops to Sebastian Vettel, in the other Red Bull, who stood on the bottom step of the podium. The Spaniard still leads the Drivers’ classification although today’s winner has cut the Ferrari man’s advantage to 13 points. The two men who head the classification are the only ones to have won two Grands Prix this season. Felipe is gradually hauling his way up the order and is 13th, while the Scuderia has leapt from fourth to second in the Constructors.’
The unpredictable English weather produced sunny skies for the start of the race and the outlook looked sunny for Scuderia Ferrari, as Fernando made a perfect start from pole to lead; he and Lewis Hamilton the only front runners to start on the harder tyre. Felipe immediately passed Vettel to go fourth, while Di Resta pitted immediately with a puncture and Petrov retired. By lap 3, Felipe was closing on Schumacher in the Mercedes, but he slipped back a bit allowing Vettel in the Red Bull to close right up on the Ferrari. The order on lap 5 was Fernando, Webber, Schumacher, Felipe, Vettel, Raikkonen, Maldonaldo, Hamilton, Perez and Senna completing the top ten. By now, Felipe was under Schumacher’s gearbox, trying all sorts of exciting moves to get past, with Vettel over half a second behind. At the front, Fernando had almost 2 seconds in hand over Webber.
Vettel was the first to pit for fresh tyres on lap 10, switching to the Prime tyre. Lap 11, and Felipe finally got past the German to go third, as Maldonaldo and Perez pitted. But the two men tangled a few corners after leaving the pits and while the Williams continued the Sauber had to retire at the side of the track. Schumacher came in on lap 12. Felipe and Raikkonen came in on lap 13. Felipe was running in tenth after the stop, with Schumacher behind him and the other Mercedes of Rosberg ahead of him. Fernando made his stop on lap 15, as did Rosberg. While this was going on, Felipe dispensed with Button’s McLaren to take eighth. Hamilton had yet to stop and was therefore in the lead, 1.5s ahead of the Spanish Ferrari driver, as Kobayashi, Hulkenberg, Button and Ricciardo all switched tyres. Lap 19 and Fernando was putting a superhuman effort into passing Hamilton: even if the Englishman had yet to stop, the Ferrari man needed to make the most of his new tyres and he managed to pull off the overtake in a thrilling wheel to wheel battle.
Felipe however found himself fifth at this point having lost out to Vettel in the run of pit stops, with the two Red Bulls now directly ahead of him. Hamilton finally pitted on lap 21, which meant that, in the lead, Fernando had a five second cushion to second placed Webber. The battle for fifth was close and lap 24, saw Raikkonen get his Lotus ahead of Schumacher, with Hamilton on fresh Option tyres closing in on the Mercedes, easily getting past to be sixth behind Raikkonen. Lap 25 saw Fernando put in a fastest race lap, as his lead over Webber had grown to 5.4, with Vettel a further 3.4 behind and Felipe 2.9 off the German’s Red Bull.
Hamilton’s short stint on the softer tyre ended when he pitted on lap 28, dropping down to twelfth place, but now going for the chequered flag with no more stops. Lap 31 saw Felipe temporarily promoted to third when Vettel made his second pit stop, as Button also brought in the McLaren at this time. Webber came in from second spot on lap 33, so that Felipe was second, although he would still need another tyre change. Raikkonen and Schumacher made their second stops on lap 34. Next time round and Felipe made his final stop, planning to run the remaining 18 laps to the flag.
Lap 37 was the key moment of the race for Scuderia Ferrari, as Fernando made his second stop, switching to the Option tyre for his final run to the end of the 52 lap race. At the same time, there was a scary moment in the Sauber pit, as Kobayashi came in, knocking some of his crew flying. Fernando had kept the lead, by 3.9 seconds over Webber, but the question was, how long would the Ferrari man’s softer tyres last and would he be able to hold off the Australian on the more resilient Prime Pirellis?
After initially seeing the gap between the Ferrari and the Red Bull increase to just over 4 seconds, it started to come down again and eventually, the inevitable happened as, after a spirited duel, Webber swept into the lead. Vettel was also closing on the Spaniard, but there were not enough laps left and the top three thus finished in this order, with Felipe just behind them, having had to keep an eye in his mirrors for Raikkonen, although in the end the Finn could not mount a real challenge. Six was his Lotus team-mate, Romain Grosjean, followed by the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher in seventh. The remaining points went to Lewis Hamilton, Bruno Senna and Jenson Button. The busy month of racing resumes in a fortnight’s time at Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix, with the Hungarian event following on just seven days later.
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