Webber Secures Silverstone Victory

Mark Webber won the the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone after taking the lead from the start. Webber and his Pole position teammate Sebastian Vettel battled for the lead during the first couple of turns, Vettel pushed Webber out to the inside before Webber retorted and pushed Vettel onto the grass verge. It was there where Webber took the lead and unfortunately for Vettel he suffered a puncture. He wasn't the only one as Felipe Massa also suffered a rear tyre puncture during the first encounters. Both drivers were forced to pit and therefore end up at the rear of the grid and would have to battle their through if they were to get anything out of this race. Fernando Alonso was the biggest loser of the opening corners as he fell from 3rd to 6th as Hamilton was gifted second place. From there the race was over in terms of who was going to win as Webber just kept firing quickest laps throughout the race.

The main significant event was Pedro De La Rosa's rear wing breaking off, it forced his retirement and enforced the Safety Car. This was a great help to Vettel as he surged through the pack after the Safety Car pitted because the group was tight again he managed to get to eighth before Adrian Sutil made a gallant effort to stop his fellow countryman, but Vettel's persistence paid off as he overtook Sutil on the penultimate lap and he managed to finish in an unlikely seventh place. Alonso's race worsened as he and Robert Kubica battled for position before Kubica forced Alonso off the track, Alonso had no option but to cut the the corner which resulted in him overtaking the Renault. A few laps later Kubica retired due to a mechanical failure but the stewards still made Alonso take a drive-through penalty for not allowing Kubica back through after the 'illegal overtaking manoeuvre'. This was issued before the Safety Car was deployed and he had to take the penalty soon after it pitted which resulted in him falling down the pack. He looked to battle his way back to 11th but after contacting Liuzzi he suffered a puncture of his own and had to pit again resulting in him finishing in 14th. The big winners were Jensen Button who managed to climb to fourth after starting 14th, Barrichello and Kobayashi drove steady races and managed a somewhat surprisingly fifth and sixth respectively. The result is as follows:

1. Webber (Red Bull), 2. Hamilton (McLaren), 3. Rosberg (Mercedes), 4. Button (McLaren), 5. Barrichello (Williams), 6. Kobayashi (Sauber), 7. Vettel (Red Bull), 8. Sutil (Force India), 9. Schumacher (Mercedes), 10. Hulkenburg (Williams), 11. Liuzzi (Force India), 12. Buemi (Toro Rosso), 13. Petrov (Renault), 14. Alonso (Ferrari), 15. Massa (Ferrari), 16. Trulli (Lotus), 17. Kovalainen (Lotus), 18. Glock (Virgin), 19. Chandhok (Hispania), 20. Yamamoto (Hispania) Retired: Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), De La Rosa (Sauber), Kubica (Renault) and Di Grassi (Virgin)

This leaves Lewis Hamilton just 24 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who is in fourth place, with 145. Fellow Brit and McLaren teammate Button is currently second with 133 and after his win Webber is third on 128. Next stop on the Formula One calendar is Germany and with all four drivers still in contention it should be a nail-biting race in 11 days time.