Flying Fernando Stunning At Silverstone

Text Size: Smaller - Bigger

Home » F1 Blog » July 12 2011 at 9:34 | posted by Stuart McCann | What do you think? Add a comment here
Photo: Flying Fernando Stunning At Silverstone

Flying Fernando Stunning At Silverstone

After the mediocrity of the Valencian race, the world of Formula One moved to the home of British motor racing, Silverstone. The circuit has undergone extensive renovation in the last few years with a modified track layout and new pit and paddock complex. The circuit has certainly moved on from the rustic World War Two airfield it started out as. Unlike the track in Valencia, Silverstone nearly always produces some great racing and this year was no different, with a smattering of rain just before the start adding extra drama.

The Red Bulls locked out the front row in qualifying although it was Webber and not Vettel who was the quicker of the two with the Ferraris in surprisingly close company given their form so far this year – the pre-race change to the blown diffuser regulations seemingly helping the Italian squad's form. Button found himself in fifth on the grid alongside Di Resta who put in a superb performance in qualifying, Hamilton was not quite so impressive and lined up tenth.

At the start, Vettel made the better start of the Red Bulls and led Webber into the first corner. He began to pull out a lead and it started to look as though he'd stay there to the end. Further back, Button overtook Massa around the outside of the first corner but the man who made the most progress over the first few laps was Hamilton, climbing to sixth place by the end of the first lap. By halfway round the second lap, he was up to fifth, slicing past his struggling team mate who lost a spot to Massa as well.

Further down the field, Schumacher was looking quite handy, climbing from thirteenth to ninth. Unfortunately, on lap nine he broke off his front wing on the back of Kobayashi's car and chose to switch onto slicks whilst he was having his front wing replaced. Schumacher was then given a 10 second stop and go penalty for his efforts. Both Ferraris were in the thick of the action, Alonso closing massively on Webber for second place and Massa struggling to keep Hamilton behind, the Englishman leaving the track a couple of times while trying to pass the Ferrari.

Button became the first of the frontrunners to pit for slick tyres and made great use of his extra lap or two of experience, passing Massa brilliantly after the Brazilian came out on slicks and struggled for grip initially. The McLarens were both flying at this point of the race, the two British drivers both revelling in the slightly slippery conditions on the slick tyres, Hamilton pulling off a great pass on Alonso at a soaking Copse Corner on his slicks. Alonso later retook the position as Hamilton seemed to run out of grip. With Hamilton out of his way, Alonso bounded after Webber, passing him as the Australian pitted on lap 27.

The turning point of the race came at the next round of pitstops. Vettel and Alonso pitted together but Vettel had a slow stop with a problem at the left rear. Alonso therefore took the lead, successfully holding off Hamilton and was brilliant at the front, staying there through to the end of the race and pulling away easily from his pursuers. The racing wasn't finished elsewhere though, Vettel closed rapidly up to the back of Hamilton with Webber keeping a watching brief and surviving a pretty hairy moment at the fearsome Becketts complex. Button by this stage was still in the mix in fifth place and gradually catching the cars in front of him. Vettel took second place by pitting one lap before Hamilton and then making use of his fresh rubber to get ahead.

Button pitted just after and although he left the pits with four wheels and tyres, he only had three wheel nuts and came to a stop at the end of the pitlane, ending his hopes of a maiden British Grand Prix podium once again.

It was around this time that Hamilton was told to conserve fuel. This meant he had nothing available to fight off Webber who easily took third place from him. Webber set off after his team mate and was told to maintain the gap to Vettel several times, but he was clearly not on the mood to finish behind him again. He didn't have a lot of choice in the matter in the end, Vettel doing just enough to stay in front of Webber finishing 0.4 seconds in ahead of him. Meanwhile, Massa had caught up with the economical driving Hamilton and sent his Ferrari down the inside at the penultimate corner. Hamilton was not about to give up his fourth place that easily and switched back to the inside for the next right-hander, taking his place back by 0.024 seconds at the finish line.

So it was drama from start to finish at Silverstone, Alonso driving brilliantly with Vettel extending his lead again at the head of the table. A home win for Vettel in Germany at the next round would go down very nicely indeed. He'll have to contend with a rejuvenated Ferrari though, which is never going to be the easiest of tasks especially with Alonso in rampant form. It should be a cracker!

Stuart McCann is from IntentsGP.com:  For Silverstone or Spa, make your F1 Weekend Hassle Free - Camp with intentsGP!

IntentsGP

Recent comments on this article:

Please post a new comment:

Your name*

Your email*

Comment*

Are you human? * We hate spam! Please enter the following number into the box below: 34

* Please complete all 4 fields to send a comment.
From James Wilson, the owner of enterF1.com:
EnterF1 Flag

"Thanks for visiting our website, enterF1.com. Have you got a suggestion? A potential improvement? Or if you would just like to get in touch with us then please do!"

"We listen to all our website fans and love to hear from you, so please leave some feedback or feel free to tweet me @enterF1."