Formula 1 returned to the home of Motorsport, Silverstone, for the British Grand Prix.
A fan and driver favourite and for many a 1st, 2nd or 3rd home Grand Prix, the excitement built quickly. Formula 1 brought with it the typical English summer time weather, wet and windy in Northamptonshire.
Packed grandstands and enthusiastic crowds helped to brighten the mood as hundreds of thousands of people flooded the classic F1 track over the weekend.
Drivers and teams alike love Silverstone for its old school nature, challenging fast speed corners and the loving fans.
With rain sweeping across the circuit over the weekend the challenge increased even more.
FP1
A rain swamped session drew a new challenge for drivers on the already difficult Silverstone circuit.
Romain Grosjean was the one who cleared the spray to emerge fastest. His best time of 1m56.552 was set just 37 minutes into the session, before the rain intensified further. Grosjean had one off track excursion, taking to the muddy grass at Becketts.
He was not the only one, many drivers taking to the grass or run off. Aquaplaning was common on the "green" track, even in straight lines. Initial pace setter Daniel Ricciardo showed just how conditions changed, his best time of 1m56.827 being one of the first laps to be set. The Aussie finished 4 tenths ahead of 3rd placed man Hamilton. Laps were kept to a minimum in the puddle ridden track, with the top 5 being rounded out by Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa.
Jenson Button advanced on his FP1 finishing position by setting the 6th fastest time, with fellow front runners Raikkonen, Alonso and Vettel in 8th, 10th and 13th. The Iceman was behind a fellow Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen who set an incredible 7th fastest time.
Fellow Brit Paul Di Resta finished 11th, with Williams driver Bruno Senna finishing 17th. The Brazilian brought out a Red Flag with around 30 minute left in the session after crashing at the Beckett exit.
A number of over drivers including Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso struggled on the track. Meanwhile Webber, Ricciardo and Grosjean did not complete a timed lap and De La Rosa did not even emerge from the garage.
FP3
The wet weather front avoided Silverstone for the final 60 minutes of Free Practice, with drivers getting their first dry running of the weekend.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso capitalised on the conditions with a late lap time to go top, on a 1m32.167. He was just 2 tenths ahead of home favourite Jenson Button who looked alot happier in the car. He set his fastest lap on a used set of the Harder tyre compound, with Alonso choosing the soft tyres for his fastest run. Grosjean showed Lotus are still in the running by finishing the session in 3rd place.
Further back Mclaren driver Lewis Hamilton finished the session 6th, behind 2010 and 2011 world champion Sebastian Vettel and 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen. Sauber's Sergio Perez finished 8th after a bumpy ride across the grass at Becketts, dislodging his front wing, while at the same time team mate Kobayashi spun at the final corner. The Japanese racer finished the session 1 tenth off his team mate in 9th.
Paul Di Resta put his Force India 12th in the standings, 1 place ahead of Mark Webber. Both Mercedes had disappointing sessions, Schumacher finishing 14th and Rosberg 17th after an oil leak halted his running. Charles Pic also experienced 2 problems, slowing on track on both occasions.
Dark clouds loomed ahead throughout the session but only spots of rain arrived. However the slippery kerbs caught out many including session topper Alonso who spun at the final corner.
Qualifying
Q1
Rain returned for the first qualifying session of the British GP, with not much luck being given to the British drivers.
Jenson Button was the first person out of Q1 after struggling on worn intermediate tyres. On his final lap a yellow flag was waving just past the finish line but Jenson backed off and lost out despite being 1.5 seconds up after sector 2. It was dissapointing for Jenson infront of his home crowd, the Brit has not started in the top 4 since 2005.
Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen could not capitalise on the trick conditions and had to settle for 19th and 20th. Glock, who brought out the final yellow flag, finished the session 21st ahead of De La Rosa and Karthikeyan.
Charles Pic struggled and was outside the 107% lap time set by Q1 topping Vettel. The German was followed by fellow countryman Nico Hulkenberg, with Maldonado, Perez and Alonso following close behind.
Lewis Hamilton was the top Brit in 14th, ahead of Di Resta in 15th. Rosberg narrowly made it though to Q2 in 17th.
Q2
The rain intensified for the second qualifying session, meaning the wet tyre was the best bet.
Perez and Hamilton set competitive benchmark times and stayed there for the duration of the session. The rain intensified and brought out the red flag with 6 minutes 19 seconds left on the clock due to the vast amount of aquaplaning.
Alonso and Massa both experienced lairy moments on track, with the former narrowly missing the barrier. Schumacher also spun at Becketts, while Hamilton expressed on the radio the poor visibility, claiming "I almost crashed into a Sauber" due to the spray.
The provisional top 10 at the red flag point were Perez from Hamilton, Rosberg, Vergne, Hulkenberg, Kobayashi, Raikkonen and Webber rounding out the top 8. Ricciardo and Vettel finished the top 10.
The session restarted over an hour later, with the sun emerging from behind heavy clouds. Coming out in track seemed to be the best choice, with drivers improving time after time. Rosberg went off briefly but conditions improved.
The order changed immensly by the time the chequered flag came out. Hamilton was fastest from Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Webber and Grosjean. Massa made it though to Q3, as did Alonso in 9th. Raikkonen and Maldonado also progress.
Out in Q2 were home favourite Di Resta, Kobayashi who made a poor choice to go on Intermediates and made a late change, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Senna, Vergne and Perez who also started on the Intermediate and did not change for the wets.
Q3
After hours of waiting the wet Silverstone crowd were treated to Qualifying 3.
The track had dried slightly and the field were mixed, some going for Intermediate tyres while others kept with the wets. After a few tricky laps it seemed the former tyre choice was the better option.
Cars came in to change from wet to Intermediate tyres ,including Hamilton and Raikkonen. Grosjean failed to set a time in the session after beaching his Lotus in the gravel at the end of Q2.
As the chequered flag came out it was Alonso who emerged from the spray to get pole position. Mark Webber finished 0.50seconds further back to take 2nd. Michael Schumacher showed his pace in the wet with 3rd position, Vettel in 4th. Massa got his best qualifying for a while in 5th. Raikkonen showed Lotus has pace in the E20 in 6th, Maldonado 7th and home favourite Hamilton in 8th. It would of been better for the Mclaren driver but he almost spun at the last turn and lost time recovering.
Nico Hulkenberg finished the session in 9th while Grosjean did not set a time.
It was one of the widest timed grids of the season due to the difficult conditions, typical British summer. The gap to P9 was over 2.5 seconds.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m51.746s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m51.793s + 0.047
3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m52.020s + 0.274
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m52.199s + 0.453
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m53.065s + 1.319
6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m53.290s + 1.544
7. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m53.539s + 1.793
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m53.543s + 1.797
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m54.382s + 2.636 *
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m56.931s Gap **
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m57.009s + 2.112
12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m57.071s + 2.174*
13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m57.108s + 2.211
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.132s + 2.235
15. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m57.426s + 2.529
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.719s + 2.822*
17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m57.895s + 2.998
Q1 cut-off time: 1m47.105s Gap *
18. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m48.044s + 1.765
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m49.027s + 2.748
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m49.477s + 3.198
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m51.618s + 5.339
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m52.742s + 6.463
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m53.040s + 6.761
24. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m54.143s + 7.864
*Penalty
The Race
Silverstone, the home of motor racing and host to the British Grand Prix, was bathed in sunshine for the Grand Prix.
With the 3 British favourites lined up 8th, 10th and 16th it did not look good, but they tried their best to put on a show for the fans.
The cars lined up for the start, 23 rather than 24 due to an engine problem for Vitaly Petrov. The lights went out and both Mclaren's advanced. Raikkonen moved up the order, as did Senna. However going in to turn 5 Di Resta suddenly veered off with a puncture, ending his race.
It was tyre strategy to the max for this race, with cars starting on a mixture. However for the 2nd stints many chose the harder tyre. Maldonado and Perez collided on lap 12 after an ambitious overtake by the Mexican. Perez was out with suspension damage, contacting his team over the radio to say "why does he drive like that?". Maldonado managed to carry on.
The first stints ended with Alonso in a clear lead. Webber and Vettel followed after an early stop by Vettel, while Massa was a surprise in 4th. Raikkonen moved up to 5th shortly after the first stops as he and Hamilton, who made a late stop, moved ahead of Schumacher. Jenson Button had moved up to 12th after his first stint.
Hamilton opened the 2nd stops early, with 23 laps to do on the hard tyres. Vettel followed soon after, with Button pitting on the same lap. Race front runner Webber pitted on lap 34 to cover off his team mate. Race leader Alonso went for his 2nd stop a little later than most, on lap 38. Kobayashi pitted on the same lap as Alonso and accidentally hit some of his pit crew, being too far to the right on approach to his pit box.
As the final lap closed in, small battles emerged around the track. Alonso was being caught by Webber at the front, with Massa closing in on Vettel and bringing Raikkonen and Grosjean with him. Further back Schumacher was closing on Hamilton and Button was involved in a battle with Hulkenberg and Senna.
On lap 48 Mark Webber took the lead into Brooklands, with a little help from DRS. He has been closing in lap by lap and this time exiting turn 5 he got the best drive off the corner. A few laps prior to this overtake 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher passed Hamilton for 7th.
Fernando Alonso 48 laps but could not hold the Aussie off. His last run on the soft tyres did not work out to plan. Sebastian Vettel closed in on Alonso by the flag and finished just 1.7 seconds back. Felipe Massa held off Raikkonen in 4th to claim his best result in some time. Both Lotus drivers finished in the points, with Grosjean coming home 6th behind Kimi after an early pit stop to change his nose cone. Michael Schumacher moved into 7th place late on and took valuable points.
Home favourite Lewis Hamilton failed to progress from his grid slot. After starting on the hard tyre his long first stint did not pay off. However he delighted the crowd after finishing 8th by doing some donuts. Bruno Senna gave classic F1 team Williams more points, coming out of the shadow of his team mate after Maldonado faltered. Jenson Button, another home favourite, managed to pick up 1 point. The Brit progressed from 16th on the grid, his Hard, Soft, Hard tyre strategy not paying off.
Kobayashi recovered from his pit stop blunder to finish 11th, just 1 second off a points score. Nico Hulkenberg made a penultimate lap error and dropped to 12th after running wide at Copse. Ricciardo and Vergne had quiet runs to 13th and 14th, with Rosberg dropping to 15th after a slow pit stop.
Maldonado, Kovalainen, Glock and Pic finished the race a lap down. The former managed to come out of the incident with Perez unscathed, but being called "stupid" in the process by the Mexican racer. De La Rosa and Karthikeyan were both 2 laps down at the finish.
Perez and Di Resta were the only retirements. After contact with Maldonado, Perez retired with a damaged car. Di Resta had contact in the first few corners and retired with damage to his car after a puncture.
It was a glorious day at Silverstone, the sun shining. However the sunshine could not beat Webber's beaming smile on the podium as he joined Alonso in being 2 time winners in 2012.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h25:11.288
2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.060
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 4.836
4. Massa Ferrari + 9.519
5. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 10.314
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 17.101
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 29.153
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 36.400
9. Senna Williams-Renault + 43.300
10. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 44.400
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 45.300
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 47.800
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 51.200
14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 53.300
15. Rosberg Mercedes + 57.300
16. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:34.661
Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 14
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 3
Petrov Caterham-Renault 1
If you want to book tickets for the 2013 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, check out this guide at EnterF1 http://www.enterf1.com/f1-tickets/british-grand-prix-tickets.asp
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
Packed grandstands and enthusiastic crowds helped to brighten the mood as hundreds of thousands of people flooded the classic F1 track over the weekend.
Drivers and teams alike love Silverstone for its old school nature, challenging fast speed corners and the loving fans.
With rain sweeping across the circuit over the weekend the challenge increased even more.
FP1
A rain swamped session drew a new challenge for drivers on the already difficult Silverstone circuit.
Romain Grosjean was the one who cleared the spray to emerge fastest. His best time of 1m56.552 was set just 37 minutes into the session, before the rain intensified further. Grosjean had one off track excursion, taking to the muddy grass at Becketts.
He was not the only one, many drivers taking to the grass or run off. Aquaplaning was common on the "green" track, even in straight lines. Initial pace setter Daniel Ricciardo showed just how conditions changed, his best time of 1m56.827 being one of the first laps to be set. The Aussie finished 4 tenths ahead of 3rd placed man Hamilton. Laps were kept to a minimum in the puddle ridden track, with the top 5 being rounded out by Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa.
Webber, Kobayashi and Schumacher were all within 2 seconds
of the leading time, with Rosberg and Vergne a little further behind. Vitaly
Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen showed how changeable conditions could move them
up the time sheets, the Russian beating his team mate in P1 finishing P12 and
P14.
Top runner Sebastian Vettel; sporting a special "Wings for life" charity livery made up of thousands of people's faces, finished the session 11th ahead of fellow front runners Raikkonen and Button in 16th and 17th. Off track excursions were a common occurrence, Kobayashi, Perez and both HRT drivers giving fans the best action.
Top runner Sebastian Vettel; sporting a special "Wings for life" charity livery made up of thousands of people's faces, finished the session 11th ahead of fellow front runners Raikkonen and Button in 16th and 17th. Off track excursions were a common occurrence, Kobayashi, Perez and both HRT drivers giving fans the best action.
Many cars and drivers sported Maria de Villota's iconic
orange stars in respect to the Spaniard, who was injured earlier in the week.
FP2
The British crowd saw a British driver topping the times in
FP2, with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time in the rain affected session.
His best time of 1m56.345 was one of 8 laps done in the treacherous conditions.
His time was just 2 tenths ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, who's
Sauber did a total of 15 laps. The Sauber drivers looked fast in the wet
conditions and seemed happy to be out on track, more common than not being the
only drivers out. Schumacher and Rosberg followed Kobayashi, with the latter’s
team mate Perez in 5th 1 second off the pace.Jenson Button advanced on his FP1 finishing position by setting the 6th fastest time, with fellow front runners Raikkonen, Alonso and Vettel in 8th, 10th and 13th. The Iceman was behind a fellow Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen who set an incredible 7th fastest time.
Fellow Brit Paul Di Resta finished 11th, with Williams driver Bruno Senna finishing 17th. The Brazilian brought out a Red Flag with around 30 minute left in the session after crashing at the Beckett exit.
A number of over drivers including Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso struggled on the track. Meanwhile Webber, Ricciardo and Grosjean did not complete a timed lap and De La Rosa did not even emerge from the garage.
FP3
The wet weather front avoided Silverstone for the final 60 minutes of Free Practice, with drivers getting their first dry running of the weekend.
Further back Mclaren driver Lewis Hamilton finished the session 6th, behind 2010 and 2011 world champion Sebastian Vettel and 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen. Sauber's Sergio Perez finished 8th after a bumpy ride across the grass at Becketts, dislodging his front wing, while at the same time team mate Kobayashi spun at the final corner. The Japanese racer finished the session 1 tenth off his team mate in 9th.
Paul Di Resta put his Force India 12th in the standings, 1 place ahead of Mark Webber. Both Mercedes had disappointing sessions, Schumacher finishing 14th and Rosberg 17th after an oil leak halted his running. Charles Pic also experienced 2 problems, slowing on track on both occasions.
Dark clouds loomed ahead throughout the session but only spots of rain arrived. However the slippery kerbs caught out many including session topper Alonso who spun at the final corner.
Qualifying
Q1
Rain returned for the first qualifying session of the British GP, with not much luck being given to the British drivers.
Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen could not capitalise on the trick conditions and had to settle for 19th and 20th. Glock, who brought out the final yellow flag, finished the session 21st ahead of De La Rosa and Karthikeyan.
Charles Pic struggled and was outside the 107% lap time set by Q1 topping Vettel. The German was followed by fellow countryman Nico Hulkenberg, with Maldonado, Perez and Alonso following close behind.
Lewis Hamilton was the top Brit in 14th, ahead of Di Resta in 15th. Rosberg narrowly made it though to Q2 in 17th.
Q2
The rain intensified for the second qualifying session, meaning the wet tyre was the best bet.
Perez and Hamilton set competitive benchmark times and stayed there for the duration of the session. The rain intensified and brought out the red flag with 6 minutes 19 seconds left on the clock due to the vast amount of aquaplaning.
Alonso and Massa both experienced lairy moments on track, with the former narrowly missing the barrier. Schumacher also spun at Becketts, while Hamilton expressed on the radio the poor visibility, claiming "I almost crashed into a Sauber" due to the spray.
The provisional top 10 at the red flag point were Perez from Hamilton, Rosberg, Vergne, Hulkenberg, Kobayashi, Raikkonen and Webber rounding out the top 8. Ricciardo and Vettel finished the top 10.
The session restarted over an hour later, with the sun emerging from behind heavy clouds. Coming out in track seemed to be the best choice, with drivers improving time after time. Rosberg went off briefly but conditions improved.
The order changed immensly by the time the chequered flag came out. Hamilton was fastest from Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Webber and Grosjean. Massa made it though to Q3, as did Alonso in 9th. Raikkonen and Maldonado also progress.
Out in Q2 were home favourite Di Resta, Kobayashi who made a poor choice to go on Intermediates and made a late change, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Senna, Vergne and Perez who also started on the Intermediate and did not change for the wets.
Q3
After hours of waiting the wet Silverstone crowd were treated to Qualifying 3.
The track had dried slightly and the field were mixed, some going for Intermediate tyres while others kept with the wets. After a few tricky laps it seemed the former tyre choice was the better option.
Cars came in to change from wet to Intermediate tyres ,including Hamilton and Raikkonen. Grosjean failed to set a time in the session after beaching his Lotus in the gravel at the end of Q2.
As the chequered flag came out it was Alonso who emerged from the spray to get pole position. Mark Webber finished 0.50seconds further back to take 2nd. Michael Schumacher showed his pace in the wet with 3rd position, Vettel in 4th. Massa got his best qualifying for a while in 5th. Raikkonen showed Lotus has pace in the E20 in 6th, Maldonado 7th and home favourite Hamilton in 8th. It would of been better for the Mclaren driver but he almost spun at the last turn and lost time recovering.
Nico Hulkenberg finished the session in 9th while Grosjean did not set a time.
It was one of the widest timed grids of the season due to the difficult conditions, typical British summer. The gap to P9 was over 2.5 seconds.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m51.746s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m51.793s + 0.047
3. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m52.020s + 0.274
4. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m52.199s + 0.453
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m53.065s + 1.319
6. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m53.290s + 1.544
7. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m53.539s + 1.793
8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m53.543s + 1.797
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m54.382s + 2.636 *
10. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m56.931s Gap **
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m57.009s + 2.112
12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m57.071s + 2.174*
13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m57.108s + 2.211
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.132s + 2.235
15. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m57.426s + 2.529
16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m57.719s + 2.822*
17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m57.895s + 2.998
Q1 cut-off time: 1m47.105s Gap *
18. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m48.044s + 1.765
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m49.027s + 2.748
20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m49.477s + 3.198
21. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m51.618s + 5.339
22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m52.742s + 6.463
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m53.040s + 6.761
24. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m54.143s + 7.864
*Penalty
The Race
Silverstone, the home of motor racing and host to the British Grand Prix, was bathed in sunshine for the Grand Prix.
With the 3 British favourites lined up 8th, 10th and 16th it did not look good, but they tried their best to put on a show for the fans.
The cars lined up for the start, 23 rather than 24 due to an engine problem for Vitaly Petrov. The lights went out and both Mclaren's advanced. Raikkonen moved up the order, as did Senna. However going in to turn 5 Di Resta suddenly veered off with a puncture, ending his race.
The first stints ended with Alonso in a clear lead. Webber and Vettel followed after an early stop by Vettel, while Massa was a surprise in 4th. Raikkonen moved up to 5th shortly after the first stops as he and Hamilton, who made a late stop, moved ahead of Schumacher. Jenson Button had moved up to 12th after his first stint.
Hamilton opened the 2nd stops early, with 23 laps to do on the hard tyres. Vettel followed soon after, with Button pitting on the same lap. Race front runner Webber pitted on lap 34 to cover off his team mate. Race leader Alonso went for his 2nd stop a little later than most, on lap 38. Kobayashi pitted on the same lap as Alonso and accidentally hit some of his pit crew, being too far to the right on approach to his pit box.
As the final lap closed in, small battles emerged around the track. Alonso was being caught by Webber at the front, with Massa closing in on Vettel and bringing Raikkonen and Grosjean with him. Further back Schumacher was closing on Hamilton and Button was involved in a battle with Hulkenberg and Senna.
On lap 48 Mark Webber took the lead into Brooklands, with a little help from DRS. He has been closing in lap by lap and this time exiting turn 5 he got the best drive off the corner. A few laps prior to this overtake 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher passed Hamilton for 7th.
Mark Webber wins the 2012 British Grand Prix
Mark Webber won his 2nd British Grand Prix under sunny Silverstone skies. He took the win to claim 2 wins in 3 British GP's. Webber regards this race as a home race, as he lives around 15 miles away from the track. It was a good alternative to a British winner after the UK boys faded. Webber edged closer to Alonso in the championship. |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
Fernando Alonso 48 laps but could not hold the Aussie off. His last run on the soft tyres did not work out to plan. Sebastian Vettel closed in on Alonso by the flag and finished just 1.7 seconds back. Felipe Massa held off Raikkonen in 4th to claim his best result in some time. Both Lotus drivers finished in the points, with Grosjean coming home 6th behind Kimi after an early pit stop to change his nose cone. Michael Schumacher moved into 7th place late on and took valuable points.
Home favourite Lewis Hamilton failed to progress from his grid slot. After starting on the hard tyre his long first stint did not pay off. However he delighted the crowd after finishing 8th by doing some donuts. Bruno Senna gave classic F1 team Williams more points, coming out of the shadow of his team mate after Maldonado faltered. Jenson Button, another home favourite, managed to pick up 1 point. The Brit progressed from 16th on the grid, his Hard, Soft, Hard tyre strategy not paying off.
Kobayashi recovered from his pit stop blunder to finish 11th, just 1 second off a points score. Nico Hulkenberg made a penultimate lap error and dropped to 12th after running wide at Copse. Ricciardo and Vergne had quiet runs to 13th and 14th, with Rosberg dropping to 15th after a slow pit stop.
Maldonado, Kovalainen, Glock and Pic finished the race a lap down. The former managed to come out of the incident with Perez unscathed, but being called "stupid" in the process by the Mexican racer. De La Rosa and Karthikeyan were both 2 laps down at the finish.
Perez and Di Resta were the only retirements. After contact with Maldonado, Perez retired with a damaged car. Di Resta had contact in the first few corners and retired with damage to his car after a puncture.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h25:11.288
2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.060
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 4.836
4. Massa Ferrari + 9.519
5. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 10.314
6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 17.101
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 29.153
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 36.400
9. Senna Williams-Renault + 43.300
10. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 44.400
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 45.300
12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 47.800
13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 51.200
14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 53.300
15. Rosberg Mercedes + 57.300
16. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap
18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:34.661
Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 14
Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 3
Petrov Caterham-Renault 1
If you want to book tickets for the 2013 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, check out this guide at EnterF1 http://www.enterf1.com/f1-tickets/british-grand-prix-tickets.asp
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