We all can't deny that the British Grand Prix yesterday was gruelling, heart-stopping and intense, in stark contrast with the Valencia Grand Prix 2 weeks ago, which was relatively monotonous. This one, however, proved to be a "Silverstone Classic" as they call it, with all the narrow overtaking manoeuvres, the crash-outs and the pit stop blunders.
The start of every race never fails to cause someone to grip their seat with anticipation and nervousness as the 5 red lights illuminate. This one was no exception. A spectacular overtake by Sebastian Vettel on Mark Webber the moment the race officially began, and he was well past Webber even before the pack of cars made it to turn 1. Fernando Alonso also attempted to jump Webber and go into P2 by going on the outside of Webber, but this wasn't enough and he had to settle for P3 for the moment. Jenson Button momentarily overtook Felipe Massa, but Massa was quick to regain it. Lewis Hamilton jumped from 10th on the grid to 5th, overtaking both compatriots Button and Paul di Resta.
In lap 9, a collision between Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Michael Schumacher was the start of the end to Kobayashi's race, and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher seemed to perform a repeat of what happened 2 weeks ago in Valencia (I think) - the need for a nose cone replacement. The collsion caused Kobayashi to spin on track, but fortunately other collisions which could have happened simultaneously were avoided. Schumacher had to make an early pit stop to replace his front wing, and this pushed him all the way down from 10th to 17th.
But Kobayashi's series of unfortunate incidents had only just begun. In lap 13 after diving into the pits, his pit crew let him off a tad too early, and the Japanese driver ended up driving side-by-side with Pastor Maldonado, who was about to pit. Kobayashi's car became entangled with another team's wires/ropes/pipes/tubes and this gave him a stop/go penalty for an unsafe exit out of the pits.
Lap 17 was when Michael Schumacher was sent to the "naughty boy's corner", also known as the stop/go penalty he too received for causing a collision with Kobayashi which was probably, entirely his fault.
Lap 28 saw the end of Force India rookie Paul di Resta's ride to glory after a messed up pit stop where his pit crew apparently brought out the wrong set of tyres! What's more, in his frenzy to regain track position, he collided with Sebastien Buemi and damaged his own front wing as well as Buemi's front tyre, forcing the latter to retire from the race and having to dive back into the pits to replace his front wing.
This lap also saw the crucial turning point of the track positions of the front-runners, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton in particular. Then race leader Sebastian Vettel pitted at the same time as Fernando Alonso who was P2, but disaster struck when Vettel was held back for a much longer time than he should have, letting Alonso cruise his way to the pit exit and claim P1. Vettel then exited the pit lane and fell behind Lewis Hamilton in P3.
Lap 41 saw the end of Jenson Button's home race in Silverstone. He pitted and exited, but without one of the screws which had not been fastened on his right front tyre! He slowly made his way out of the pits and stopped at the exit, then getting out of his car in defeat and disappointment as his dream of winning at Silverstone this year was no longer a reality.
During lap 47, Lewis Hamilton, who was in P3 then, was told by his engineer that he needed to save fuel in order to finish the race. Mark Webber took this opportunity and overtook not long after, making his way into P3 and slowly catching up with teammate Sebastian Vettel.
Last lap, lap 52. Fernando Alonso races to the chequered flag and wins the Silverstone GP, a good 20-odd seconds before Vettel and Webber come charging in in P2 and P3. However, just as they were about to make their way to the finish line, it seemed that Webber was looking to overtake Vettel hot on his heels before his team told him on the radio to "maintain the gap". Team orders? Hmmm.
The most spectacular moment was probably the fierce battle between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton who came in P5 and P4 respectively. Felipe Massa was right on the tail of Hamilton's McLaren and looked like he was about to overtake, and both drivers were so aggressive that they even made contact and pieces of Hamilton's car was seen flying off behind him. But Hamilton defended and Massa was still stuck behind him. On the straight to the finish line there was another opportunity for overtaking, but Massa fumbled and skidded way beyond the track and onto the green, and had to be content with his P5 result.
With Ferrari becoming more and more competitive in every race and having a significant improvement in results every time, it seems like their dreams of clinching the Constructor's title may not be dashed after all. Red Bull and McLaren should think twice about ruling Ferrari out as a big threat to them during races, because as far as I can see, Ferrari are making a rapid and steady climb back up to the ranks of becoming one of Formula One's strongest teams once again.
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