The F1 Reader

GB Analysis: Webber in the hunt for world title

The sun finally shone on Silverstone on Sunday, as Mark Webber made all the right moves. The Australian hunted down and passed polesitter Fernando Alonso in the closing laps, narrowing the gap between them at the top of the driver standings to just 13 points, as the season nears its halfway point. 

Red Bull

Mark Webber, P1
Sebastian Vettel, P3
Webber drove a great race, starting on the option Pirelli, then running two sets of primes. On the second set he was able to haul in Alonso before passing him easily with five laps left. Vettel damaged a front-wing endplate slightly early on in his fight with Massa, but a great strategic call of an early first pit stop put him ahead of Schumacher and Massa and set him on the road to a solid podium finish. Their performance confirmed the step forward they made in Valencia, even if relative to their rivals that step wasn’t as big as some had feared.


Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P2
Felipe Massa, P4
Alonso drove superbly on the prime tyres initially and looked a certain winner, but the Ferrari lacked pace on the options in its final stint and eventually he could not contain Webber. Nevertheless, it was another great race for Ferrari as he kept his championship lead, and Massa took a strong fourth after a great opening battle with Schumacher and Vettel.


Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen, P5
Romain Grosjean, P6
Yet again Lotus were fastest at the end of a race, but Raikkonen couldn’t quite catch Massa for fourth. Grosjean hit Di Resta on the opening lap, but fought back superbly to take sixth. As a result, Lotus move to third overall ahead of McLaren.


Mercedes
Michael Schumacher, P7
Nico Rosberg, P15
Schumacher made a great start and was a tough proposition for Massa, but after Vettel jumped them both in the first pit stop he gradually faded before managing to repass Hamilton for seventh towards the end. Rosberg was a lower points contender until his second stop, when problems with the left front wheel delayed him and dropped him to 15th.


Williams
Bruno Senna, P9
Pastor Maldonado, P16
Senna was the points scorer today, after Maldonado blotted his copybook again by colliding with Perez. He was later reprimanded and fined 10,000 euros.


McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, P8
Jenson Button, P10
McLaren had a horrible time. Both drivers said their cars felt fine but they lacked grip. Hamilton led briefly after Alonso’s stop and a 21-lap opening stint on the prime tyre, but later dropped away when his final set of primes did not perform to the same level. Button said both Sauber and Williams were faster. They fell from second to fourth overall in the constructors’ stakes.


Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi, P11
Sergio Perez, Retired lap 12, collision with Maldonado
Perez was flying and a contender for decent points, but was taken out by Maldonado on the 12th lap when they collided and both spun. Kobayashi was also very quick, faster than the McLarens, but a late braking pit stop knocked three team members off their feet and the delay cost him a points finish. Thankfully nobody was hurt, but he was fined 25,000 euros.


Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, P12
Paul di Resta, Retired lap 3, accident damage
Di Resta’s race was over at the start when he got hit by Grosjean and suffered a punctured right rear tyre. That caused a spin and a lot of autocrossing which damaged the floor too much for him to complete more than one lap after a resultant pit stop. Hulkenberg seemed set for ninth under pressure from Senna and Button, but slid off trying to repass the Brazilian for the position and ended up 12th.


Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo, P13
Jean-Eric Vergne, P14
Both drivers raced the wheels of their cars, with Ricciardo just coming out on top after a race-long duel. Encouragingly for the team, the Australian was eighth in the fastest lap rankings and the Frenchman tenth.


Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen, P17
Vitaly Petrov, Did not start, engine
Caterham’s race got off to a frustrating start as Petrov’s Renault engine ate itself on the grid formation lap and the Russian was thus unable to start. Kovalainen said things went reasonably well as he drove his CT01 as hard as he could, but the team believe there is more to come from their latest updates.


Marussia
Timo Glock, P18
Charles Pic, P19
A tough race ended a tough week for the Banbury team, after Maria De Villota’s accident. The positives were a healthy two-car finish and boss John Booth’s conviction that they are gradually pulling away from HRT and closing on Caterham.


HRT
Pedro de la Rosa, P20
Narain Karthikeyan, P21
No real problems for either driver as their races went pretty much to plan, though Karthikeyan said his rear tyres wore out faster than expected.