Mark Webber was the winner of the British race today. After a great start that put him on the lead, he made a perfect race, controlling his follower, Lewis Hamilton during the whole grand prix.
Right after the start, Vettel spinned and lost his place to his teammate. Alonso also had a terrible start and lost a few places as a result. Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton pulled off and looked as if they are in a different race. No one managed to threaten those two and all interest moved behind them, in the battle for the remaining, point awarding places.
Alonso had a hard time passing Kubica and right after he managed to do so, by cutting a chicane as he had no space to turn, he was handed a drive through penalty. The safety car was deployed right before he pits so he had to wait a full lap, then pit for the drive through. This dropped him way back far away from any chance of gaining any points for this race. His teammate also has been dropped far behind due to a tyre puncture in lap one. Looks like that Ferrari has the speed, but they lack "luck" during the races. Of course when something happens all the time it can't be a coincidence. We believe that the team should have to work hard on the strategy/communication/race planning part. Alonso also has to be more competitive as he seems to have a big problem when he tries to overtake a car.
Button had another quiet race, he made no mistakes, he took full advantage of the race conditions and incidents and managed to finish fourth, a huge achievement if we consider that he started the race from the 14th place.
The third place has been captured by an incredible Nico Rosberg, who has also been quick, and managed to keep Button behind him during the final laps, when the Briton was stuck behind him, trying to pass him all the time.
Barichello brought his Williams in fifth place. Sir Frank should be very happy this weekend as he saw both his cars finishing within the points awarding zone, (Nico Hulkenberg finished 10th).
After this race we have reached the half of the season. What we can see is that Mark Webber will fight with Lewis Hamilton for the title. Sebastian Vettel has the speed but he seems to attract enough trouble to cause him to lose any chances for the title. Alonso also is fast at times but he consumes more of his time trying to avoid mistakes and strategy misunderstandings, than trying to be more competitive.
We hope to be wrong as we all want a competitive second half of the season, with as many drivers as possible fighting for the crown. We will get a taste during the German Grand Prix in two weeks time.
The race results are as follows :
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h24:38.200
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1.360
3. Rosberg Mercedes + 21.307
4. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 21.986
5. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 31.456
6. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 32.171
7. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 36.734
8. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 40.932
9. Schumacher Mercedes + 41.599
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 42.012
11. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 42.459
12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 47.627
13. Petrov Renault + 59.374
14. Alonso Ferrari + 1:02.385
15. Massa Ferrari + 1:07.489
16. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 1 lap
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap
19. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 45 lap
De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 30 lap
Kubica Renault 20 lap
Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 10 lap
