British Grand Prix 2012

As it is, everyone knows who won and who lost. What we don’t know for sure is why the Ferrari team once again failed in the closing laps. Tire degradation? Or a lack of speed in addition to the tires? Or bad tire management? (meaning someone on high guessed wrong).

We asked around about this issue. Philippe Defechereux thought it might be tires but he also referred me to the respectable Planet F1 for a well-rounded point of view. So I did and below is their take on the matter:
“With Webber starting on the faster soft compound, the critical advantage which ought to have worked in Alonso’s favour is that not only would the softs be faster at the end of the race rather than the start due to the track ‘rubbering in’ and therefore causing less graining, but Webber would have been compromised by the removal of DRS for the opening laps and Alonso thus able to block his way despite being slower. And, of course, Ferrari would have all bases covered by the halfway stage if rain began to fall.”

Yet they still lost. Why? The explanation is surely a straightforward matter of speed..”

I’ll let that stand while we ask Roberto Motta, our Italian editor, what the Italians thought about this opera of errors. “A few Italian newspapers thought there was a error in the strategy, and the soft tires were not in working as well as they should,” said Motta. “But they also conceded that there was too much difference in speed between Webber and Alonso, making it difficult for Alonso to stay with Webber in any case. Alonso also thinks the F2012 will be ok on the faster tracks and he thinks the team can win more races.”

The Race
Alonso started the race in pole position with the harder compound tires. Next to him was Webber on the softer of the two. Behind them were Schumacher (surprise) and Vettel. Massa and Räikkönen were on row three. French hopeful Grosjean started from the fifth row and three laps into the race pitted to change a front wing apparently set up for a wet race instead dry. It would be another tough race for Grosjean who eventually finished 6th.

Threats of rain held off for the entire event, but kept the crews and drivers guessing about wet/intermediate/dry soft/dry hard strategy. On lap 11 the pit stops began and Vettel came in for the harder compound. Alonso, having taken the lead immediately, made good time with the harder compound tires and led until Lap 17 when he pitted for new tires and stayed on the harder compound, which unless it rained, would force him to make one more stop to change to the softer compound.

But it was not to be Hamilton’s day either. The home crowd was thrilled to see Hamilton dice with Alonso for several laps, passing and repassing each other for the lead. By lap 20 the battle went to Alonso as Hamilton’s tires went off and he pitted to change to the soft compounds. He would be pitting again and drop to 12th place, no longer in contention for the lead. Teammate Button wasn’t even on the radar. While the Italians might have bemoaned Alonso’s loss, Britons had to watch another McLaren fiasco. That on top of Wimbledon results made for an unhappy weekend, saved only by Aussie Webber’s victory.

At the halfway point it was Alonso, Webber, Vettel, Massa, Räikkönen; Schumacher was again running with his nemesis Kobayashi in 6th and 7th places. By lap 38 Alonso was running so well on the second set of intermediates that when he stopped for his final pit stop for the compulsory change to the soft compound tires, he didn’t even lose the lead to Webber.

A near tragedy took place on lap 39 when Kobayashi made a pit stop. Apparently coming in too fast, he overshot the mark and slid to the right, knocking down at least four members of his pit crew. Most of the crew were ok but it really shook Koby up. While today’s pit performances are fantastic….2.8 seconds to change all four tires, the increased pressure on the team to do miracles and the increased number of pit stops adds to the ever present dangers.

Alonso continued to dominate the race, even on the softer compounds. But they were not to last. With only eight laps to go, Webber, now on the harder compound, began to move up on Alonso; Vettel still right behind Webber and the rest of the field began to jockey for the points. Here is where the fingernails started to degrade. On lap 48, with less than ten laps to go, Webber passed Alonso for the lead. “No Question it is tire degradation!” said SpeedTV’s Steve Matchett. Now the only question was whether or not Vettel would pass Alonso as well. But he didn’t; Alonso retained both second place and the lead in the Word Championship. Thank goodness.

Race Results

1	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	1h25m11.288s
2	ALONSO	Ferraru	+ 3.0s
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 4.8s
4	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 9.5s
5	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	+ 10.3s
6	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 17.1s
7	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 29.1s
8	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 36.4s
9	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 43.3s
10	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 44.4s
11	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 45.3s
12	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 47.8s
13	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 51.2s
14	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 53.3s
15	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 57.3s
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
22	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 41 laps, accident
23	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 50 laps, retired
DNS	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	DNS, engine
Fastest Lap	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1m34.661s

Note – Kobayashi and Vergne dropped 5 and 10 grid spots respectively for causing collisions at previous round. Hulkenberg and Pic dropped 5 for gearbox changes. Pic failed to make 107% mark – raced at stewards’ discretion.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	ALONSO	Ferrari	129 Points
2	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	116 Points
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	100 Points
4	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	92 Points
5	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	83 Points
6	ROSBERG	Mercedes	75 Points
7	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	61 Points
8	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	50 Points
9	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	39 Points
10	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	29 Points
11	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	27 Points
12	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	23 Points
13	MASSA	Ferrari	23 Points
14	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	21 Points
15	SENNA	Williams-Renault	18 Points
16	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	17 Points
17	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	4 Points
18	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	2 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	216 Points
2	FERRARI	152 Points
3	LOTUS-RENAULT	144 Points
4	McLAREN-MERCEDES	142 Points
5	MERCEDES	98 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	60 Points
7	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	47 Points
8	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	44 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	6 Points