Great Britain analysis - Webber fights back with flair 12 Jul 2010
Red Bull’s Mark Webber turned the frustration following his team’s decision to hand over the upgraded wing from his RB6 to team mate Sebastian Vettel into sheer unadulterated pace at Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Beating pole-sitter Vettel into the first corner was just the start of Webber’s all-conquering performance, as he led McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg to the Silverstone finish line. We take a team-by-team look at events…
Red Bull
Mark Webber, P1
Sebastian Vettel, P7
Webber was absolutely determined to beat Vettel after the Red Bull front wing controversy in qualifying, and won the start despite the inside line on the grid supposedly being dirty and therefore less grippy. Once he was ahead he was never headed, and even after the intervention of the safety car between Laps 28 and 30 he calmly opened up the gap again over Hamilton. Vettel, by contrast, sustained a punctured left rear tyre after being swiped by Hamilton’s front wing in Copse at the start, and was thrown a lifeline by the safety car which enabled him to tiger his way back to an aggressive seventh place and minimise the damage to his championship campaign.
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, P2
Jenson Button, P4
Like Webber, Hamilton made an excellent start from the dirty side of the grid and took maximum advantage when Vettel had to open the door for Webber. They touched lightly, but the McLaren driver got away unscathed and was the only man able to offer the slightest opposition to Webber. He kept him honest, to extend his world championship lead. Button also made a good start, making up sixth places from 14th on the grid, and after a long stint on the option tyres was up to third when he switched to primes. He lost one place, but making up 10 overall likewise maintained his points position and helped McLaren to stay on top in the constructors’. As damage limitation weekends go, it was almost perfect.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg, P3
Michael Schumacher, P9
Rosberg was very happy to take a podium slot, praising the turnaround that Mercedes had wrought since Valencia, and a bit of good strategising. Schumacher said he was not proud of his race (again), that he was stuck in traffic for most of it, and that he made an error after his pit stop and went off track trying to beat Williams’ Rubens Barrichello.
Williams
Rubens Barrichello, P5
Nico Hulkenberg, P10
Williams’ recent promise paid off in spades, with Barrichello taking a very well deserved fifth and Hulkenberg 10th to garner 11 points to add to the 12 from Valencia. Barrichello made up places at the start, and only lost one, to Button, later on. Hulkenberg did a great early stint on the option tyres and looked set for higher than 10th, but let Petrov past and couldn’t get by Schumacher. Nevertheless, overall it was an encouraging day for Williams.
BMW Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi, P6
Pedro de la Rosa, retired Lap 29, rear-wing damage
Kobayashi made a fantastic start and was always in the hunt for points in a BMW Sauber in which he has a great deal more confidence of late. De la Rosa had hoped for much more, but first he got pushed wide at Copse by Barrichello, and later a territorial dispute on the pit straight with Sutil saw the Force India hitting the BMW Sauber’s rear wing, which spread the debris that triggered the safety car, and resulted in the wing delaminating on the Hangar Straight.
Force India
Adrian Sutil, P8
Vitantonio Liuzzi, P11
Sutil was again in the hunt for points. He survived a bump with De la Rosa, and later did an excellent job to keep Vettel at bay for many laps, until his compatriot barged by in a move that did not endear him. Liuzzi had the anti-stall trigger itself on the grid, so made a terrible getaway, then his first set of prime tyres had a problem which resulted in massive understeer. Switching during the safety car period to the options which had not worked so well in practice transformed the VJM03, however, and he was able to catch cars ahead and fend off Alonso for many laps. He believed he would have scored points had he started from 15th on the grid, rather than the 20th place to which a penalty for impeding Hulkenberg dropped him.
Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi, P12
Jaime Alguersuari, retired Lap 44, brakes
Buemi said Toro Rosso’s strategy didn’t work out as he found himself behind Liuzzi, who had not stopped, after his own tyre change. Following the Force India used up his front tyres, especially the front left which grained badly. By the time he’d cleaned that up there was nobody left to challenge. Alguersuari had a promising long first stint which took him as high as sixth by his tyre stop, but later flew off the road at Luffield due to a brake problem.
Renault
Vitaly Petrov, P13
Robert Kubica, retired Lap 19, driveshaft
Renault looked good as Kubica took an early third behind Webber and Hamilton and ahead of Rosberg and Alonso after a dream first lap, but then the Spaniard forced by at Club. Just as Alonso was on the verge of handing the place back the R30 broke a driveshaft. Petrov thought points were a possibility after a strong opening stint, but then he picked up a puncture after the safety car which lost him a chunk of time.
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P14
Felipe Massa, P15
For the first time this season Ferrari went home without any points, yet Alonso could have been third. The Spaniard collided with team mate Massa on the opening lap, sending the Brazilian pitwards for fresh tyres. Then he passed Kubica on the 17th lap after putting all four wheels off the track and cutting a corner at Club. Just as Ferrari instructed him to let the Pole by, Alonso overtook Alguersuari, making that task more difficult, and at that moment Kubica also retired with a broken driveshaft. The stewards were left with no option but to give him a drive-through penalty. Compounding Ferrari’s woes that coincided with deployment of the safety car, so just as in Valencia he slid down a snake and out of contention. Just like Massa already had. The two fastest race laps were no consolation, after each made late-race stops for fresh tyres.
Lotus
Jarno Trulli, P16
Heikki Kovalainen, P17
Lotus were again the leading new team, but this time Timo Glock gave them a hard time. Trulli had the upper hand in the green camp as the Virgin driver held off Kovalainen for much of the race. The Italian was delighted to enjoy a trouble-free run at last, while the Finn rued losing a place on the opening lap, but the double finish eventually made up for that.
Virgin
Timo Glock, P18
Lucas di Grassi, retired Lap 9, hydraulics
Glock made a poor start and fought oversteer for a time, but was able to carry the fight to the Lotus thanks to Virgin’s new aero package. A good pit stop put him ahead of Kovalainen, but later he lost the position after running wide. Di Grassi was also challenging the green cars until his hydraulic power pack malfunctioned after 10 laps.
HRT
Karun Chandhok P19
Sakon Yamamoto, P20
Both HRTs finished again, though after his pit stop Chandhok ran over some debris which damaged a bargeboard and a sidepod, robbing him of some downforce. Yamamoto worked away steadily at learning more about the F110 in race trim.
