British Grand Prix

But, this Sunday fans saw plenty of the wet stuff.  Lewis Hamilton managed to keep it together for the race and win his first home grand prix, making the sodden home crowd feel that staying outside was worth the wait.  He wasn’t challenged once the race really got going, and when all was said and done, he was all alone at the front of the pack. 

Nick Heidfeld also managed to keep his spins to a minimum, securing the second step on the podium.  But, the surprise in front of the crowd was that Burinoh was back on the podium, a spot he hasn’t been in since he left Ferrari.  Ross Brawn still has some tricks left and managed to get Rubens Barrichello to his first podium finish with the team by putting him on full wets in the middle of the race.  None of the other top teams took the hint, and the Brazilian was duly rewarded.  Lest anyone forget, Brawn was on the pit wall during all of the late 90’s when the Ferrari faithful prayed for rain to help Schumacher in a chassis that wasn’t always up to the task.

Ferrari basically had one of their worst race weekends at Silverstone.  Kimi Raikkonen could do no better than fourth, and I honestly lost track of how many times he spun his car.  Massa finished with the also-rans two laps back in thirteenth, dead last.  I know it rains in Brazil.  I’ve driven in a downpour in Sao Paulo before (inserts jokes about me not driving fast enough in Brazil to spin the car, here).  I think the powers that be in Maranello need to consider turning on the sprinkler system at Fiorano more often to help their pilota.

The stereotype of Finnish drivers being able to drive on ice better than anyone else may be true, but the other Finn in the race didn’t do much worse than Kimi in the rain.  Kovalainen finished in fifth place but also seemed to be struggling in the wet as badly as the rest of the field.  There were glimmers of hope that Fernando Alonso would live up to his world championship ability and actually do something mid race, but alas, he didn’t.  One has to start thinking that maybe he’s taking cues from Flavio — just look good and take the pay check.  Neither has done much since the Spaniard returned to the ex-Benetton squad.

Jarno Trulli thought he was doing well by finishing in seventh place for Toyota and getting two points.  Then someone on the squad broke the news that Rubens was on the podium.  Just think, if Honda wins an F1 race Toyota might just pull out of the series, especially if their performance doesn’t get any better than this.

The last point of the race went to Nakajima-san in the Williams.  How far that team has fallen since they lost their Renault engines?  At least both cars finished, as well as receiving more TV coverage than usual.  The latter came from the fact they were also spinning  more than usual.

Once the scores were added up, Hamilton, Massa, and Raikkonen all have 48 points each, with Kubica just 2 points behind.  Translation:  anyone can still win this thing now that we’re half way through the season.  Ferrari has the slight edge in the constructor’s championship over BMW.  But, to maintain that lead they need to ensure that both drivers finish in the points for the rest of the season.  That one is still too close to call, although I would imagine that most people think it will be their favorite team at this point.

The circus crosses the channel and heads to the Fatherland for a race at Hockenehim for the German Grand Prix in two weeks.  Expect tremendous pressure for both BMW and Mercedes to do well in front of their home home crowd.

Race Results

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1h39m09.440s
2	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	+ 68.5s
3	BARRICHELLO	Honda	+ 82.2s
4	RÄIKKÖNENÂ	Ferrari	+ 1 lap
5	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
6	ALONSO	Renault	+ 1 lap
7	TRULLI	Toyota	+ 1 lap
8	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	+ 1 lap
9	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	+ 1 lap
10	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	+ 1 lap
11	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
12	GLOCK	Toyota	+ 1 lap
13	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 2 laps
14	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	+ 21 laps, spin
15	BUTTON	Honda	+ 22 laps, spin
16	PIQUET	Renault	+25 laps, spin
17	FISICHELLA	Force India-Ferrari	+ 34 laps, spin
18	SUTIL	Force India-Ferrari	+ 50 laps, spin
19	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	+ 60 laps, spin
20	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	+ 60 laps, spin
Fastest Lap	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	1hr32.150s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	48 Points
2	MASSA	Ferrari	48 Points
3	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	48 Points
4	KUBICA	BMW-Sauber	46 Points
5	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	36 Points
6	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	24 Points
7	TRULLI	Toyota	20 Points
8	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	18 Points
9	ALONSO	Renault	13 Points
10	BARRICHELLO	Honda	11 Points
11	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	8 Points
12	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	8 Points
13	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	6 Points
14	GLOCK	Toyota	5 Points
15	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	5 Points
16	BUTTON	Honda	3 Points
17	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	2 Points
18	PIQUET	Renault	2 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	FERRARI	96 Points
2	BMW SAUBER	82 Points
3	MCLAREN-MERCEDES	72 Points
4	TOYOTA	25 Points
5	RED BULL-RENAULT	24 Points
6	WILLIAMS-TOYOTA	16 Points
7	RENAULT	15 Points
8	HONDA	14 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	7 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.