Silverstone, as host of Formula One's inaugural race 60 years ago, has earned a special place in the hearts of motor racing aficionados. 12 months ago, the F1 fraternity thought the place had run its final British Grand Prix for the foreseeable future, but Donington Park's ambitious plans never came close to fruition. So here we were again, albeit with a revised section of the track that received a mixed response from the drivers. Red Bull was once more the class of the field, with 'number two' Mark Webber becoming the first driver this season to chalk up a third win. After his frustration over his newer-spec front wing being taken from him by the team in favour of teammate Sebastian Vettel, he responded in the best possible way with a flawless drive to victory.
The Milton-Keynes based team seized upon their speed advantage to lock out yet another front row in qualifying, with Vettel edging Webber for the pole slot. McLaren on the other hand were very much on the back foot after their blown diffuser upgrade caused the team's pace to regress, meaning Button could only manage a dismal 14th. Hamilton however was able to bag a spot on the second row in 4th just behind Alonso despite having the same issue. A revitalised Rosberg lined up next in 5th, joined by Kubica on row 3.
Opposite to convention, it was actually the 2nd-placed man who got the best getaway at the start of the race. This meant Webber catapulted into an early lead, despite Vettel's best efforts to keep the Australian at bay. Moments later though, the German's rear-right tyre was tagged by the front wing of the rapid starting Hamilton causing his Red Bull mount to career straight on at Maggotts with Vettel himself confirming over the radio that he had sustained a puncture. He dropped to 24th and last place, touring at a very leisurely pace before pitting at the end of that lap, at least getting his soft-tyre phase done and dusted.
Things were hardly going better for Ferrari either. Alonso made a terrible start, being swallowed by Hamilton, Kubica and Rosberg almost immediately. His Ferrari stablemate Massa then drew alongside the Spaniard through Maggotts, before contact between the pair gave the Brazilian a puncture too. It wasn't long before Webber started to ease away from Hamilton as the pair in turn routed from the rest of the field, being visibly held up by Kubica's Renault. Behind him, Rosberg was applying serious pressure to the Pole, who also had to soak up pressure from a speedy Alonso in 5th. Rubens Barrichello was running nicely in 6th for Williams, from former teammate Michael Schumacher, a fast-starting Button and an ever-impressive Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber.
With most of the top runners on soft compound tyres, the drivers soon came in to make their one and only stop of the race. Rosberg was the big winner here, passing Kubica for 3rd, whilst Button was able to leapfrog both Barrichello and Schumacher to emerge in 6th behind Alonso's Ferrari. With the former champion right behind and clearly far quicker than Kubica, the Ferrari de facto number one tried a bold move around the outside of Vale. Kubica rightfully held his line, but this forced Alonso to cut the second part of the corner. Nonetheless Alonso took the position and duly pulled away rapidly, incidentally the Renault would splutter to a halt just two laps later with differential problems. Now unable to hand the place back to Kubica, Alonso was handed a drive-through penalty by the stewards.
His troubles were compounded by the appearance of the Safety Car, which was brought out to allow the marshals to clear a piece of De La Rosa's rear wing which had gone AWOL after contact with Sutil. This meant when Alonso served his penalty, he was spat out in 15th place. When proceedings got underway once more, the order was Webber from Hamilton, Rosberg, Button who had benefitted massively by leaving his stop very late, Barrichello and Kobayashi. Having avoided falling a lap behind the leaders, Massa and Vettel set about grabbing hold of the opportunity to gain places, along with Alonso, fuming after his penalty, evident from his request for radio silence for the remainder of the race.
It was Vettel who was making the most decisive progress though, dispatching both Toro Rossos, Petrov's Renault after the Russian ran wide and fellow Germans Hulkenberg and Schumacher. Now in 8th place, he found Sutil more of a challenge to pass, being repeatedly denied through the new complex. With a lap to go however, he threw caution to the wind and barged the Force India out of the way to finally snatch the place. Alonso had at last cleared the other Force India of Liuzzi for 11th before having to pit courtesy of a puncture picked up from contact with the Italian driver. It was the final mishap in a thoroughly miserable and points-free day for Ferrari.
No such problems for Webber however, as the Australian brought the car home for his third win of the year, putting himself ahead of Red Bull's supposed favoured son Vettel in the standings. 2nd place kept Hamilton at the top of the championship, likewise 4th place for Button keeping his 2nd place secure for now. Rosberg gained considerable ground on the non-scoring Alonso for 5th in the table with a well-deserved podium, with Barrichello and Kobayashi giving welcome boosts to Williams and Sauber respectively for finishing in 5th and 6th places. The German quartet of Vettel, Sutil, Schumacher and Hulkenberg completed the top 10.
Considering the unusually good British weather and lasting tyres, Silverstone was able to provide the adoring crowd with an excellent race, due to the fact several big boys were forced to make their way through the pack. Perhaps there may be sense in introducing a random or reverse element to qualifying to make this happen more often in the future.
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