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| Webber races to victory around historic Silverstone |
A last minute dash to the finish saw Mark Webber zip past Fernando Alonso to win his second British Grand Prix in three years. The story of the race was Red Bull vs. Ferrari, with Lotus not far off and Mclaren well off the pace.
Mark Webber has been a fairly quiet achiever in 2012; a consistent start to the year followed by wins in Monaco, and now Britain, has put him in the picture for this year's title. On better terms with the RB8, the 2012 Pirelli's and driven to again show his worth, Webber has been calm, cool and understated so far this year. Something of a dark horse, Mark kept Alonso in sight for most of the race and didn't push too hard in the first two stints. When Alonso ran the less favourable soft tyres in the final stint, Webber made his move and made the pass around the outside of Brooklands. It was an impressive display of confidence for the Australian who will no doubt now grow in confidence as the year goes on.
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| Mclaren's hopes are teetering on the brink. |
Likewise, Alonso has a lot of positives to take from Britain. Derided at the start of the year, Ferrari are now on par with Red Bull and fully capable of giving Alonso another shot at the title. Had the rain come down, or Ferrari chosen a similar tyre strategy to Red Bull, Alonso would most likely have won three races in 2012 now. Yet, he is still top of the standings and in command of a team focused solely on him. His team-mate, Felipe Massa, finished in fourth, his best result of the year.
In contrast to Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button suffered a torrid race at Silverstone. On the back foot after qualifying, Lewis had to run a different strategy to earn positions in the race. As it turns out, this was a mistake and instead he was confined to covering off those behind, like Grosjean, than attacking those in front. In the space of two races Hamilton has gone from outright favourite to rank outsider.
Jenson meanwhile barely featured and trundled home a disappointing 10th. Mclaren is a team renowned for being able to develop a poor car into a race winner; take 2009 and 2011 as examples, and they need to show that ability again now in 2012 if they have any chance at winning the title this year.
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| Grosjean and Hamilton duel on track. |
Another big talking point was an incident involving Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez. Heading into Brooklands, the Mexican made a move around the outside of Pastor, only for the Venezuelan to clatter into the side of him and send them both into a spin. It was a crash that put Sergio out of the race and the blame firmly on Pastor. Maldonado's post-race fine, in my opinion was overly lenient and a grid penalty in Hockenheim would have suited better.
After a manic opening few months, F1 2012 is starting to slow down and establish a story. Red Bull are the pacesetters, Ferrari the challengers, Lotus the nearly-men and Mclaren the (recent) outsiders. Onward then to Germany in two weeks for Round 10 of 20.
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