The Silverstone Formula 1 GP certainly didn't disappoint with so much more drama than in Valencia two weeks ago. Vettel took the lead from the start as Webber was a little slow in maintaining track position. Button managed to get himself up to fourth and Hamilton sixth after starting fifth and tenth respectively. The track was half wet and half dry which left the drivers starting the race on intermediates but the mixed conditions helped build the drama. The second lap was the beginning of the end for Button as both Massa and Hamilton were able to overtake him. Kovalainen became the first retirement in two races a lap later due to a gearbox failure.
The conditions were proving difficult for some drivers and Hamilton quickly found himself going into a run off area whilst battling with Massa, but the McLaren was able to carry on. Sauber's Kobayashi arguably had the most eventful race and it all started on lap nine when when Schumacher collided into him, the Sauber span but was able to carry on while the Mercedes lost his front wing and was issued a stop/go penalty five laps later for causing an avoidable collision. Lap thirteen saw Kobayashi move slowly away from his pit release and nearly collided into Maldonado but did end up taking a Force India wheel gun out of the cable. Kobayashi was also handed a stop/go penalty on lap twenty for an unsafe pit release.
Lap thirteen saw Hamilton overtake Massa into fourth while Trulli was forced to retire for an unknown reason. A lap later Button also overtook Massa and went into fifth place. The McLarens were flying at this point and Hamilton was able to overtake Alonso on lap fifteen to take third place. But this only lasted nine laps before Alonso regained the podium position.
Kobayashi's race finished on lap twenty-five when his stop/go penalty caused his engine to overheat and subsequently fail. There was another pit lane cock-up on lap twenty-six as Force India's Di Resta came in to pit but the team has Sutil's tyres out and quickly had to change them, pretty much ending Di Resta's fine race. Di Resta then caused contact with Toro Rosso's Buemi a lap later, causing Buemi to suffer a left rear puncture and retired from the race. The penultimate pit-stop mix-up was arguably the most indicative for the race as Vettel and second placed Alonso pitted together. But Vettel's rear tyre wouldn't fasten quickly enough and Alonso took the lead with Hamilton now suddenly in second place.
It took ten laps before Vettel could re-overtake Hamilton by pitting a lap earlier to gain a lap's worth of pace. The final pit-lane mix-up occurred on lap forty when Button's front right tyre wasn't fastened at all, causing Button to park on the outside of the pit lane before the tyre would come clean off and the McLaren had to therefore retire. It got worse for McLaren as Hamilton had to go into fuel saving mode which allowed Webber to take full advantage and regain third place. The final lap saw Webber battle Vettel for second before the Red Bull garage intervened on the final corners. But Hamilton's fuel saving mode allowed Massa to battle for fourth and Hamilton collided into the Ferrari on the final corner to ensure his fourth place ahead of Massa, but surely a steward's enquiry will be made. Race results:
1.Alonso (Ferrari), 2.Vettel (Red Bull), 3.Webber (Red Bull), 4.Hamilton (McLaren), 5.Massa (Ferrari), 6.Rosberg (Mercedes), 7.Perez (Sauber), 8.Heidfeld (Renault), 9.Schumacher (Mercedes), 10.Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 11.Sutil (Force India), 12.Petrov (Renault), 13.Barrichello (Williams), 14.Maldonado (Williams), 15.Di Resta (Force India), 16.Glock (Virgin), 17.D'Ambrosio (Virgin), 18.Liuzzi (Hispania), 19.Ricciardo (Hispania) DNF: Kovalainen (Lotus), Trulli (Lotus), Kobayashi (Sauber), Beumi (Toro Rosso), Button (McLaren)
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