British Grand Prix

Alonso’s race went from good to bad to worse. He was swallowed at the start, and spent his race in heavy and competitive traffic. On lap 26 a hard driving Renault mounted Kubica basically pushed Alonso off line, forcing him to take a short cut through two corners, which in turn allowed Alonso to get ahead of Kubica.

True to the letter of the law, the stewards gave Alonso a drive through penalty. Immediately there was a yellow flag, and of course we all thought Alonso could go in during the yellow. Nope. It was tersely—and that is a mild verb here—stated that he would have to make his drive through penalty after the safety car was off the track and a full green was issued. We did not hear Alonso’s response, but we could hear the howls all the way from Maranello. To make matters worse, Kubica retired, so he no longer could benefit from Alonso’s penalty. Another puncture on lap 50 forced Alonso into the pits, and again the team was not ready for the new tire, further putting the Spaniard to the rear. Alonso dropped to 13th and then eventually finished 12th, out of the points.

But the race was also another near debacle between the two top Red Bull contenders. Remember we said in Spain that despite too many trackside altercations, that guy Webber could drive, particularly when he had a torch to his backside. Apparently miffed at having his more advanced front wing given to Vettel in practice, Webber used the emotion to drive swiftly, surely, and without placing one wheel wrong to win his third race of the season. Of course, he had dispatched his close rival in the first lap, forcing Vettel (who was just as aggressive and not blameless) off the track. A puncture (the race had a LOT of tire punctures) caused Vettel to pit and return to the race in last position. He spent the rest of the race catching up, eventually finishing a credible 7th, in the points, despite tires which were obviously aging rapidly. Hamilton was second in another start to finish effort, and significantly, never posed a threat to Webber. The Red Bull chassis must be simply outstanding.

Vettel caught his hero Schumacher, going by with both speed and bravado. I’m not sure what to think about Michael’s performance. Or Lance Armstrong’s, either. Given the speed and third place finish of his teammate Rosberg, it does not look good for the seven time world champion. Both he and the Mercedes should be up to speed by now; but let’s not rule him out yet. I think that by the end of the season both Schumacher and his fans (which include us) will be able to better assess his abilities.

In our Spanish F1 report, we also note the good performance of the Japanese driver Kobayashi, who finished 7th in the Sauber. Again in Britain, Kobayashi placed the virtually uncompetitive Sauber in 8th place, working his way up from twelve position, passing Schumacher and not letting Vettel past in the final laps. Give this guy a good ride and Japan may have its first seriously competitive grand prix driver.

Jenson Button turned in a good solid race finishing in fourth after Rosberg, as did Barrichello who chased Button to the flag. There were some great drives for points in the first ten and the reality of singular championships have made every position in the top ten one to be fought over to the last corner.

Silverstone itself has been redesigned, and is a work still in progress. It was a postcard perfect day, with temps in the 70s (F) and mostly clear skies. Looks like F1 racing in the UK has found a happy home. When will we be able to say the same about the U.S.?

And how about this? Last week we reminded our readers that VeloceToday, and primarily Erik Nielsen and his wife Karen, have been providing excellent F1 coverage now since 2002. Below are the urls for every British Grand Prix report since 2002. Only two of the previous winners since then are no longer racing in F1. Can you name the the two without looking? Well then, look.

2009 Red Bull’s second, June 24, 2009
2008 Wet & Wild at Silverstone, July 9, 2008
2007 Räikkönen, The Spoiler, July 11, 2007
2006 Alsonso Again, June 14, 2006
2005 The Return of the Michael and Kimi Show, July 13, 2005
2004 The Return of the Michael and Kimi Show, July 14, 2004
2003 The Best Race of the Season, July 20, 2003
2002 Wet and Wild Race, July 11, 2002

Race Results

1	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	1h24m38.200s
2	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 1.3s
3	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	+ 21.3s
4	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 21.9s
5	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	+ 31.4s
6	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 32.1s
7	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 36.7s
8	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 40.9s
9	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	+ 41.5s
10	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	+ 42.0s
11	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	+ 42.4s
12	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 47.6s
13	PETROV	Renault	+ 59.3s
14	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 62.3s
15	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 67.4s
16	TRULLI	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
17	KOVALAINEN	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
18	GLOCK	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
19	CHANDHOK	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
20	YAMAMOTO	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
21	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	+ 8 laps, brakes
22	DE LA ROSA	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 23 laps, accident damage
23	KUBICA	Renault	+ 33 laps, driveshaft
24	DI GRASSI	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 43 laps, hydraulics
Fastest Lap	ALONSO	Ferrari	1m30.874s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	145 Points
2	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	133 Points
3	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	128 Points
4	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	121 Points
5	ALSONSO	Ferrari	98 Points
6	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	90 Points
7	KUBICA	Renault	83 Points
8	MASSA	Ferrari	67 Points
9	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	36 Points
10	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	35 Points
11	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	29 Points
12	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	15 Points
13	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	12 Points
14	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	7 Points
15	PETROV	Renault	6 Points
16	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	3 Points
17	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	2 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	McLAREN-MERCEDES	278 Points
2	RBR-RENAULT	249 Points
3	FERRARI	165 Points
4	MERCEDES GP	126 Points
5	RENAULT	89 Points
6	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	47 Points
7	WILLIAMS-COSWORTH	31 Points
8	BMW SAUBER-FERRARI	15 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	10 Points