GB Analysis: Webber in the hunt for world title

The sun finally shone on Silverstone on Sunday, as Mark Webber made all the right moves. The Australian hunted down and passed polesitter Fernando Alonso in the closing laps, narrowing the gap between them at the top of the driver standings to just 13 points, as the season nears its halfway point. 

Red Bull

Mark Webber, P1
Sebastian Vettel, P3
Webber drove a great race, starting on the option Pirelli, then running two sets of primes. On the second set he was able to haul in Alonso before passing him easily with five laps left. Vettel damaged a front-wing endplate slightly early on in his fight with Massa, but a great strategic call of an early first pit stop put him ahead of Schumacher and Massa and set him on the road to a solid podium finish. Their performance confirmed the step forward they made in Valencia, even if relative to their rivals that step wasn’t as big as some had feared.


Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P2
Felipe Massa, P4
Alonso drove superbly on the prime tyres initially and looked a certain winner, but the Ferrari lacked pace on the options in its final stint and eventually he could not contain Webber. Nevertheless, it was another great race for Ferrari as he kept his championship lead, and Massa took a strong fourth after a great opening battle with Schumacher and Vettel.


Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen, P5
Romain Grosjean, P6
Yet again Lotus were fastest at the end of a race, but Raikkonen couldn’t quite catch Massa for fourth. Grosjean hit Di Resta on the opening lap, but fought back superbly to take sixth. As a result, Lotus move to third overall ahead of McLaren.


Mercedes
Michael Schumacher, P7
Nico Rosberg, P15
Schumacher made a great start and was a tough proposition for Massa, but after Vettel jumped them both in the first pit stop he gradually faded before managing to repass Hamilton for seventh towards the end. Rosberg was a lower points contender until his second stop, when problems with the left front wheel delayed him and dropped him to 15th.


Williams
Bruno Senna, P9
Pastor Maldonado, P16
Senna was the points scorer today, after Maldonado blotted his copybook again by colliding with Perez. He was later reprimanded and fined 10,000 euros.


McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, P8
Jenson Button, P10
McLaren had a horrible time. Both drivers said their cars felt fine but they lacked grip. Hamilton led briefly after Alonso’s stop and a 21-lap opening stint on the prime tyre, but later dropped away when his final set of primes did not perform to the same level. Button said both Sauber and Williams were faster. They fell from second to fourth overall in the constructors’ stakes.


Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi, P11
Sergio Perez, Retired lap 12, collision with Maldonado
Perez was flying and a contender for decent points, but was taken out by Maldonado on the 12th lap when they collided and both spun. Kobayashi was also very quick, faster than the McLarens, but a late braking pit stop knocked three team members off their feet and the delay cost him a points finish. Thankfully nobody was hurt, but he was fined 25,000 euros.


Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, P12
Paul di Resta, Retired lap 3, accident damage
Di Resta’s race was over at the start when he got hit by Grosjean and suffered a punctured right rear tyre. That caused a spin and a lot of autocrossing which damaged the floor too much for him to complete more than one lap after a resultant pit stop. Hulkenberg seemed set for ninth under pressure from Senna and Button, but slid off trying to repass the Brazilian for the position and ended up 12th.


Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo, P13
Jean-Eric Vergne, P14
Both drivers raced the wheels of their cars, with Ricciardo just coming out on top after a race-long duel. Encouragingly for the team, the Australian was eighth in the fastest lap rankings and the Frenchman tenth.


Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen, P17
Vitaly Petrov, Did not start, engine
Caterham’s race got off to a frustrating start as Petrov’s Renault engine ate itself on the grid formation lap and the Russian was thus unable to start. Kovalainen said things went reasonably well as he drove his CT01 as hard as he could, but the team believe there is more to come from their latest updates.


Marussia
Timo Glock, P18
Charles Pic, P19
A tough race ended a tough week for the Banbury team, after Maria De Villota’s accident. The positives were a healthy two-car finish and boss John Booth’s conviction that they are gradually pulling away from HRT and closing on Caterham.


HRT
Pedro de la Rosa, P20
Narain Karthikeyan, P21
No real problems for either driver as their races went pretty much to plan, though Karthikeyan said his rear tyres wore out faster than expected.

Mark Webber beats Alonso to Silverstone victory

Red Bull's Mark Webber trimmed Fernando Alonso's Formula 1 championship lead to 13 points by hunting down and passing the Ferrari in a dramatic conclusion to a totally dry British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Sebastian Vettel completed the podium and almost managed to make it a Red Bull one-two as he gained on Alonso's tyre-troubled car at the end.

Alonso pulled out a five-second lead over Webber in the first stint and maintained it for the majority of the race. But while most of the field used soft tyres early then switched to hards, Alonso waited until his final stint to try the softs, and could not keep up his previous pace.

Webber caught up rapidly and was on the Ferrari's tail with seven laps to go, trying several moves before deploying his DRS on the run towards Brooklands on lap 48 out of 52. Alonso defended the inside as Webber swept around the outside, and after attempting to retaliate at Luffield, the Spaniard had to let Webber go and concentrate on staying clear of Vettel.

The world champion had run fifth in the opening stint before a slightly early first stop helped him jump to third, where he would finish, unable to catch Alonso in the end.

Felipe Massa spent the opening laps trying ever-more creative attempts to overtake Michael Schumacher's Mercedes for third, finally managing at Stowe on lap 11. The Ferrari lost out to Vettel in the following pit sequence, then resisted the fast-closing Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen to take fourth.

Lotus got two cars in the top six despite Romain Grosjean breaking his front wing in a brush with Paul di Resta on the first lap. The resulting puncture and associated damage ended the Force India's race, while Grosjean charged back from last to sixth.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button could only finish eighth and 10th in the McLarens. Hamilton spent a while in the lead and enjoyed a spirited dice with Alonso as he ran a very long first stint on hards, but then did just a handful of laps on softs before switching back to harder Pirellis. The Briton's pace then faded and he lost seventh place to Schumacher late on.

Although Button jumped to 12th at the start, his progress was less dramatic thereafter. In the closing laps he was in the thick of an epic dice for ninth with Bruno Senna and Nico Hulkenberg, won by the Williams. Hulkenberg (Force India) ran wide at Copse in the heat of battle and dropped out of the points.

The other major incident of the race involved Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez. Running seventh and ninth in the first stint, they pitted together on lap 11 but then collided at Brooklands on their out-laps. The furious Perez sustained terminal damage to his Sauber, while Maldonado dragged his Williams back to the pits for repairs and finished 16th.

Completing a bad day for Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi hit several mechanics at his final stop. Initial reports suggested there were no serious injuries and the Japanese driver continued to 11th ahead of Hulkenberg.

Nico Rosberg had a less dramatic bad pitstop during what was already a low-key midfield race, which ended with his Mercedes 15th.

Is Vettel ready to dominate the rest of this season?

Looking back at Red Bull's pace in Valencia, Vettel's performance might trigger the beginning of the end regarding 2012's wide-open season. Are Red Bull now ready to dominate?

Having comfortably taken pole position for the European Grand Prix, Vettel was dominant in the race as he opened up a 20-second lead before a safety car period. His alternator failed soon afterwards, however, and he was forced to retire as Fernando Alonso took victory.

When asked by if he thought the pace advantage could be maintained at Silverstone Vettel replied: "Well we hope so.

"I think Silverstone is a very different track in terms of speed range - Valencia is fairly low speed. Weather wise is going to be very different I think! I would be surprised if we have 30 degrees and sunshine in Silverstone, but why not? Maybe the English summer is treating us differently this year!

"I think it will be interesting, as I said it's a very different track all in all. It's important for us to ideally confirm the results or confirm the feeling we had in Valencia - but not the result!"

Christian Horner believes Fernando Alonso is Red Bull's "obvious" rival in the fight for the title, but is expecting challenges for race wins from several teams.

Alonso currently leads the drivers' championship but Sebastian Vettel could have been on top had an alternator problem not forced him to retire from the lead of the European Grand Prix. Red Bull had the fastest car in Valencia two weeks ago, but Alonso, in a car that is still off the pace in qualifying, took victory.

Asked if there was a single driver he saw as Red Bull's biggest threat this year, Horner told ESPNF1: "The driver, obviously, is Alonso. But there are so many drivers that are in contention and teams as well. I think Formula One has never been so open as it has been [this year], going in to grand prix weekends where there could be eight potential winners."

Red Bull brought a major upgrade to the rear of its car at the last race in Valencia to enhance the performance of its diffuser. Horner is wary that Silverstone will provide a different challenge at this weekend's British Grand Prix, but said another strong performance would bode well for the car's chances at all venues this year.

"In Valencia the car worked very well, but that was in high temperatures and with a different type of layout. Hopefully it will follow through in to the next grand prix at Silverstone - it's a completely different layout of circuit with fast sweeping corners, probably cooler temperatures and knowing the British summer maybe a bit of rain. Hopefully the car can be competitive and if we can be competitive at Valencia and Silverstone then the rest of the season looks promising."