Tyres on offer today, hard compounds and mediums.
Interview with Mark Webber: "I've been very lucky to race at the British GP quite a few times, managed to win it a few times. Amazing crowd here, some of the best memories I've had here. Try to add to that again today, we've got a good chance... This will be the last time this category, probably be back here again next year in something different, but concentrate on now.
The last few races we've been getting better starts, we need to do that again today... we've got to put pressure on them immediately."
Interview with Daniel Ricciardo: "The whole weekend's been pretty good up until now, we've done the right thing. I'll push hard for the race... The strategy is to push the car and try and see what we can get out of it. We're not going to conserve anything, our best approach from here is to go and hope for the best.
"I think it's how well we use the tyres, obviously over one lap we were quick yesterday. If we can manage the tyres and keep that pace, we should be okay."
Free Practice 1 | D Ricciardo | 1:54.249 |
Free Practice 2 | N Rosberg | 1:32.248 |
Free Practice 3 | N Rosberg | 1:31.487 |
Qualifying | L Hamilton | 1:29.607 |
Tweet from @alanbaldwinf1: Di Resta starts in 21st place, Van der Garde 22nd because of a gearbox change.
Pos | Driver | Total |
---|---|---|
1 | S Vettel | 3 |
2 | F Alonso | 2 |
3 | K Räikkönen | 1 |
4 | N Rosberg | 1 |
"Here he goes - @EstebanGtz jumps in his #C32 to rock #Silverstone." @OfficialSF1Team
The BBC's technical expert Gary Anderson reckons the choice will be between two and three stops. Two stops will be five seconds slower and three will be thirteen seconds, but with the latter you can push harder.
1 | L Hamilton | Mercedes |
2 | N Rosberg | Mercedes |
3 | S Vettel | Red Bull |
4 | M Webber | Red Bull |
5 | D Ricciardo | Toro Rosso |
6 | A Sutil | Force India |
7 | R Grosjean | Lotus |
8 | K Räikkönen | Lotus |
9 | F Alonso | Ferrari |
10 | J Button | McLaren |
The flags are flapping about in the breeze nicely at Silverstone, the wind is picking up but otherwise conditions look very good!
Two DRS zones in action this weekend, the Wellington and Hangar straight should see some overtaking action today.
21°C
Track | 31°C |
Humidity | 55% |
Wind speed | 7.4mps |
The tyre warmers come off, the mechanics clear the grid and that rumbling of engines turns into more of a roar.
Hamilton leads the pack away on the formation lap, he sweeps around the first corner leaving his teammate slowly following behind.
The top nine are on medium tyres, with Button starting on the harder compound. Then it's all mixed up, Massa on mediums as well as both Williams, both Marussia and Pérez. The rest on hards.
Team radio to Hamilton: "You need to remember to back the grid up, they're stringing out quite a lot."
They're back on the grid, the final few cars lining up and now we're waiting for the lights.
Race started!
It's a boggy start for the Mercedes pair, but Hamilton gets away cleanly. Rosberg is overtaken by Vettel almost off the line.
Räikkönen has moved up to sixth place, but he's been passed by Massa who has jumped up to fifth.
Webber has dropped all the way down to 15th, he went nowhere going into the first corner.
Crossing the line for the second lap, Hamilton leads Vettel and Rosberg with Sutil up to sixth.
Webber has a damaged front wing, looks like there was a collision at the front turn as there was fighting between two Ferraris and a Lotus.
Fernando Alonso has passed Grosjean for eighth place, as Webber is told his damage is very similar to that in Canada - where he continued running without fixing it.
Webber's first corner sees him separating from the pack with carbon fibre flying.
Di Resta is up to 17th already, he's dispatched those three backmarkers and has Bottas in front of him now.
Webber is also faced with moving back through the field, he overtakes Pastor Maldonado for 14th place an has two Saubers next ahead of him.
Replays show Grosjean is pushed over by Button, the Lotus than bashing into the side of Webber, causing the damage we've seen.
Pos | Driver | |
---|---|---|
1 | 0 | L Hamilton |
2 | 1 | S Vettel |
3 | -1 | N Rosberg |
4 | 2 | A Sutil |
5 | 6 | F Massa |
Di Resta is up another place, overtaking Maldonado for 16th. He's got Vergne in front of him. Webber has passed both the Sauber drivers and is now 12th.
D Ricciardo | vs. | F Alonso |
7th | +0.316s | 8th |
Ricciardo puts on his best defensive moves to keep the Ferrari behind him, but Alonso is charging to close the gap. Behind, Grosjean is staying with them both.
Button reports all four of his tyres feel like they are overheating.
Talking of the McLaren team, Pérez has passed Button for 10th place. Jenson is dropping back into the clutches of Webber now.
It's easy for Webber to get past Button, despite the missing front wing endplate he's flying forwards.
Lewis Hamilton has a puncture!
He's still circling, with tyre rubber flying, but it's a long way back to the pit lane.
Replays show the Mercedes rounding onto the Wellington Straight and the tyre just gives up, a slow puncture finally exploding.
Hamilton has made it back to the pit lane, the mechanics take a quick look, change the tyres and send him back out again. There could be damage to the floor but he's on his way once more, last unfortunately.
Yellow flag as Massa spins off track. He has a puncture too!
Track is clear. Massa spins it round and back on to track. Another car having to crawl back to the pit lane.
Replays show Massa rounding the same corner as Hamilton, on to the Wellington Straight. He hits the kerbs a little but the tyre gives up before he gets to the kerb and throws him off track.
Alonso and Webber both pit.
Vettel is busy concentrating on his rear tyres as he navigates the circuit. Worries over the rubber all round!
Vettel leads with Rosberg and Sutil behind him. Massa just makes it back to the pit lane, fresh rubber going on the Ferrari but it's a slow stop that sees him last as well.
In all the excitement, I missed that Webber took the pain of a 9 second stop to change the front wing. Meanwhile, Räikkönen, Ricciardo and Button all come in for their first stops of the afternoon.
Rosberg and Sutil pit from second and third, Vettel remains out in the lead having not yet stopped.
There's a huge battle for sixth as Vergne leads a train of Grosjean and Räikkönen. Kimi pulls alongside his teammate but has to back off again.
Vettel pits from the lead.
Driver | S Vettel |
Team | Red Bull |
Pit lane | 21.7s |
Stopped | 2.5s |
Vettel returns to the track comfortably in the lead, as Rosberg tucks back into second place.
Grosjean and Kimi close up on Vergne again, but the Toro Rosso keeps him behind for now.
Team radio to Grosjean: "Kimi is faster than you."
Another tyre blowout!
Vergne's left rear tyre exploded down Hangar Straight, right in front of the Lotus pair trying to pass.
It wasn't THIS bad when Michelin advised everyone not to run!
A brave marshal jogs out on track to recover some of the rubber debris left behind. Vergne dives back into the pit lane.
Third tyre failure of the day.
Safety Car deployed.
Some more pitting takes place, so that all drivers have now visited the pit lane once - whether on schedule or forced to do so!
Pos | Driver | Stops | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | S Vettel | 1 |
2 | 0 | N Rosberg | 1 |
3 | 3 | A Sutil | 1 |
4 | 5 | F Alonso | 1 |
5 | 3 | K Räikkönen | 1 |
6 | 1 | R Grosjean | 1 |
7 | -2 | D Ricciardo | 1 |
8 | 5 | S Pérez | 1 |
9 | -5 | M Webber | 1 |
10 | 0 | J Button | 1 |
Webber asks on the radio what happened to Vettel, it turns out the race leader had "cuts to the tyres at the pit stop" so they are worrying about what may happen. Adrian Newey on the pit wall has his head in hands.
Marshals dashing around the circuit, a bustle of brilliant orange gathering up the remaining debris.
Paul di Resta has so far made good progress, he's up to 11th place now.
Handwritten notes in front of Adrian Newey say "Stay off kerbs. Pressure up 2 psi."
Interview with Jonathan Neale: "It's interesting that so far, all the failures have been rear left, just like Sergio had [in FP3]. There's a lot of debris out there and we're telling our drivers to be cautious on the kerbs. We haven't heard anything from Pirelli... it is very concerning, an instantaneous deflation like that. The drivers have done a great job."
Newey's notebook.
Safety Car in this lap.
Racing back underway, Vettel guides the pack over the line to resume his lead.
Webber goes round the outside of Pérez to move up to eighth place.
A Sutil | vs. | F Alonso |
3rd | +0.378s | 4th |
DRS is disabled at the moment, of course, but Alonso is hustling up towards the Force India to move up to a podium position.
Hamilton dives down the inside of Gutiérrez, and they are inches apart before Esteban jinks away, and manages to keep his place.
DRS enabled.
Webber's next target is Ricciardo, one of the drivers that is being touted to replace him. Six tenths between the two.
This time Hamilton makes the overtake on Gutiérrez through Copse. That's 13th place for the recovering Mercedes.
Massa is up to 18th, with the four backmarkers behind him. Ahead is the Williams of Bottas, with Jean-Éric Vergne (a fellow puncture-sufferer) just ahead.
Bottas passes Vergne to put the Toro Rosso back in front of Ferrari, and it doesn't take long for Massa to sweep past. There could be damage on that Toro Rosso car.
The gap between Sutil and Alonso has extended now, with the Ferrari dropping into the clutches of Räikkönen.
Meanwhile, Hülkenberg and Vergne pit. The Sauber returns to the track whilst it's a longer stop for Vergne before he also heads back out again.
Toro Rosso have confirmed Vergne does have a damaged floor, which would explain him losing positions as though he's standing still.
Pos | Driver | Gap |
---|---|---|
1st | VET | 1:36.345 |
2nd | ROS | +2.931 |
3rd | SUT | +8.350 |
4th | ALO | +9.467 |
5th | RAI | +10.421 |
Tweet from @OfficialSF1Team: slow puncture for #Hulk. a set of new mediums are ready at the garage for #Hulk. we assume that everybody is on a 3 stopper.
A less explosive puncture for Hülkenberg then.
We're halfway through the race, and despite all the problems, all 22 cars are still running.
Hamilton is up to 12th, sitting behind Paul di Resta. Massa is behind them, sitting in 14th.
Daniel Ricciardo moves past Romain Grosjean to claim 6th place, splitting the Lotus drivers.
There's more debris on the track, Alonso runs wide to avoid it as Sutil runs over some of it.
Yellow flags.
Webber has passed Grosjean to move up to 7th, but Grosjean is sticking with the Red Bull for now.
Track is clear.
Räikkönen pits from third place.
Gutiérrez is in the pit lane, we think it is he who caused the debris but the only replay we've seen is a car off-screen shooting debris all over the place. It's a new front wing for the Sauber, although the old one doesn't look too badly damaged.
Grosjean and Alonso both dive into the pit lane for their second stops.
Alonso returns to the track behind Räikkönen, so it looks like he's lost out in that round of stops. Are they going to the end of the race on this set of rubber though?
Replays show Alonso was released just as Grosjean was coming in to the pit lane, it was close to an unsafe release there.
Webber comes in to the pits for his second stop of the day.
Meanwhile, on track, Hamilton is closing up to Paul di Resta, less than half a second between them.
Hamilton continues to harrass Di Resta, the pair getting dangerously close into Luffield. The Mercedes is clearly the faster car, but finding a way past is tricky.
Ricciardo and Button disappear into the pit lane together, and drop out of the top ten as they do so.
The top six drivers have only stopped once so far.
Yellow flags and DRS disabled.
Hamilton's battling with the Force India allows Kimi and Alonso to close up, and they both sweep past - Räikkönen into Copse and Alonso in the next corner.
Track is clear and DRS enabled again.
Di Resta dives into the pit lane, as Alonso jinks around behind Räikkönen desperate to get past.
Force India actually do a double stop, with Sutil just leaving as Di Resta arrives. Adrian has lost out big-time, though. He was ahead of Alonso and Räikkönen previously but has now dropped back behind Hamilton.
Nico Rosberg pits from second place, and he keeps that position as he returns to the track. Vettel is about half a lap ahead but has only stopped once so far.
Vettel pits from the lead.
Yellow flags AGAIN.
Webber moves past Alonso for fourth place, the battle with Kimi is off for the Ferrari driver for now.
Replays show contact between Hülkenberg and Sutil, the Sauber being lapped.
The yellow flags were for the debris scattering from that collision but the track is now clear again.
Button is past Massa for 11th place, but Massa is into the pit lane now anyway. Hamilton also pits.
Jean-Éric Vergne has returned to the pitlane but the Toro Rosso is pushed back into the garage, it could be race over for him after that floor damage.
Hamilton and Di Resta tussle for position and Paul gets the position with relative ease... before Hamilton pulls alongside and gets his place back. Two breaths later, and the Force India is back in front. For now!
They're close into the corner, with Hamilton dipping left and then right to try and get past. Di Resta runs wide out of Club, as Lewis sets himself up for some DRS action.
Hamilton makes the move and passes Di Resta, and now pulls away to keep the position.
Vergne is now on the pit wall, looking up at the screens and chatting with his engineers, disappointed.
Sector 1 | M Chilton | 309kph |
Sector 2 | M Webber | 253kph |
Sector 3 | S Vettel | 246kph |
Speed trap | F Massa | 310kph |
Another Force India appears on our screens as Daniel Ricciardo closes up behind Adrian Sutil, fighting for sixth place.
Driver | A Sutil |
Team | Force India |
Position | 6 |
Started | 6 |
Stops | 2 |
Last lap | 1:36.608 |
Best lap | 1:35.961 |
Pos | Driver | Stops | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | S Vettel | 2 |
2 | 0 | N Rosberg | 2 |
3 | 5 | K Räikkönen | 2 |
4 | 0 | M Webber | 2 |
5 | 4 | F Alonso | 2 |
6 | 0 | A Sutil | 2 |
7 | -2 | D Ricciardo | 2 |
8 | 5 | S Pérez | 2 |
9 | 1 | J Button | 2 |
10 | -9 | L Hamilton | 2 |
Vettel slows down with a problem!!
Team radio from Vettel: "Lost drive, lost the gearbox."
Rosberg moves into the lead.
Safety Car, as Vettel is stopped on the start line, right in the way.
Slightly embarrassing, Vettel stumbles as he climbs from the car and rounds the front wing. He climbs the wall and the marshals let him through the fence for the short walk back to the pit lane.
Alonso, Webber, Grosjean and Di Resta all pit. Massa as well.
Räikkönen asks his team why they didn't call him into the pits. He's told "I don't know, it's too late now, so just stick to the plan."
Vettel looks really very sad as he visits the pit wall for a hug from Newey, Horner and more. The crowd sort of cheer/jeer as he passes.
Interview with Jean-Éric Vergne: "It just happened suddenly, as if I had a bump on the rear of my car. I couldn't feel it coming, it just happened suddenly. I saw Lewis, I saw Massa as well. It's not the first time that happened to me, I think they said they were going to do some change... they really need to do something becuase someday there could be a really big accident."
The lapped cars are now allowed to overtake, as Nico Rosberg holds on to his lead behind the Safety Car.
Safety Car in this lap.
They're off racing again, Rosberg doesn't scamper away, as Räikkönen remains with him into the first few corners.
Nico Hülkenberg is passed by Paul di Resta, the Force India up to 12th.
Webber easily gets past Ricciardo, so he's up to 4th now. Sutil ahead of him. Alonso is looking at Button, and he passes ahead of Copse corner.
Sergio Pérez has a tyre failure, rubber flying everywhere again!
Pérez makes it back to the pit lane, not too far for him to travel.
Hamilton has made it up to seventh, taking the opportunity of confusion as Pérez dropped back. Button is also dropping back through the order.
Webber passed Sutil to move up to third now, a podium position for the Australian. Räikkönen stands in his way for second place now.
Side by side action between Webber and Kimi, as neither want to back off. Eventually it goes to Webber, and second place is his.
Alonso passes Sutil, so he now has Räikkönen to chase down. Hamilton also moves past the Force India driver.
Replays show Pérez's delamination was right in the face of Alonso who had to sweep to the right. The Mexican is now out of the car in the garage, explaining what happened to the mechanics.
Three laps to go. Rosberg leads then, with Webber behind. Räikkönen has the last podium position for now, but Alonso has fresher tyres and a fierce determination!
On board with Alonso as another tyre gives up.
Hamilton has done a very impressive job to sit in fifth place for now, having visited both P1 and P22 along the way.
Fernando Alonso sweeps past Kimi, there's barely any fight between the two as the Ferrari creates a gap almost immediately.
The decision not to pit was a bad move for Räikkönen, as Hamilton now makes a passing move. It's fourth for Hamilton, a great recovery.
Final lap, as Rosberg is under pressure for the lead, but he should be able to hang on to the line.
Hamilton is also having a go at Alonso, plenty of action on the final lap!
Nico Rosberg wins the British Grand Prix!!
In the end, the positions didn't change. Webber crosses the line 0.7 down. Alonso third, with Hamilton 0.6 behind the Ferrari.
Driver | Nico Rosberg |
Team | Mercedes |
Race time | 1:32:59.456 |
Race distance | 306.198km |
Average speed | 197.566km/h |
Webber sets the fastest lap of the race on that final round, 1:33.401.
Pos | Driver | Stops | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | N Rosberg | 3 |
2 | 2 | M Webber | 3 |
3 | 6 | F Alonso | 3 |
4 | -3 | L Hamilton | 2 |
5 | 3 | K Räikkönen | 2 |
6 | 5 | F Massa | 4 |
7 | -1 | A Sutil | 2 |
8 | -3 | D Ricciardo | 2 |
9 | 12 | P Di Resta | 3 |
10 | 4 | N Hülkenberg | 3 |
Nico Rosberg is out of the car, with hugs for plenty of the mechanics who are all ecstatic. Hamilton thanks his team, rueful of the puncture, but says they have done a great job.
Webber gives a thumbs up as he jumps up the steps, Alonso plods more slowly up to the green room.
"That was crazy stuff," Rosberg says as he takes off his helmet and replaces it with a Pirelli caps.
The three stand in a circle as they swig from water bottles. For a change, it looks like the three podium finishers actually like each other!
Normally at this point I would bring you a gap analysis image, but it looks absolutely terrible. Rosberg and Webber practically sharing the same piece of tarmac, Alonso and Hamilton the same, then Räikkönen trailing behind.
The boys take to the podium for the national anthem.
Driver | Reason | Lap |
---|---|---|
JE Vergne | Floor damage | 37 |
S Vettel | Gearbox | 42 |
S Pérez | Puncture damage | 47 |
R Grosjean | Unknown | 52 |
Race winner on the podium.
Pos | Driver | Pts |
---|---|---|
1 | S Vettel | 132 |
2 | F Alonso | 111 |
3 | K Räikkönen | 98 |
4 | L Hamilton | 89 |
5 | M Webber | 87 |
Pos | Driver | Pts |
---|---|---|
1 | Red Bull | 219 |
2 | Mercedes | 171 |
3 | Ferrari | 168 |
4 | Lotus | 124 |
5 | Force India | 59 |
Podium interviews - Nico Rosberg: "Fantastic, it's a very special day. What makes it so special is our factory is so close and our team has done such a fantastic job. We have such a momentum going at the moment. Really quick in qualifying, getting faster and faster in the race. It's a special day for me. This goes out to everyone who is my team colleagues. This one goes out to you out there. Thank you very much.
"With Lewis, I feel sorry for all the British fans, it would have been a great race in front of his home crowd, it was disappointing but that's racing... When Sebastian stopped, I won't lie, I wasn't disappointed by that one. From then, it was just a great race from then."
Podium interviews - Mark Webber: "I didn't have a clue what happened off the line. We've had two or three good starts in the last few races, and then lights went out and back to our normal tactics, so we need to have a look at why they pop up every now and again. That was frustrating, then I had, I think it was Grosjean take the front wing in the corner. The first stint was compromised by that, the boys did a great job to put a fresh front wing on at the stop, then we started to get the race underway from there.
"There was a lot of people had issues with the tyres which helped a bit. We were lucky not to have any issues, it was a clean race, good strategy. I think that I would have liked a few more laps at Nico but he deserved the win, he was quick all day obviously, and a little bit of fortune but you've got to be there to capitalise. I'm happy with second, the team have done a good job."
Podium interviews - Fernando Alonso: "It was a good race for us. With the last safety car, we lost six positions because of the safety car but overall I think it has been a lucky race for us. Looking at the problems of the tyres of some of the drivers, the drivers that didn't have any problems we have to consider lucky, and then with Sebastian problems, as Nico touched before, we've been also lucky to recover some points. At the end it was a very good Sunday, we put on a good show for the very good fans... Thank you very much. "
Tweet from @alanbaldwinf1: May be overlooked with all the drama and tyre controversy, but Kimi set a record today. That's now 25 consecutive points finishes.
When the race first started, I thought it was going to be a dull one, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Some of it was for the wrong tyre-related reasons, but there was racing action until the very last, and that's what we want.
There were some incredible recovery drives on display today, from all those that fell down the order due to punctures, plus Webber's bad start and Di Resta's back of the field penalty.
It was a great result for Force India to have Sutil finish in the points, Massa also did well to finish sixth. Lotus will be very disappointed their strategy lost them so many places in the final few laps.
McLaren also had a disappointing weekend, with Button dropping out of the points towards the end of the race, and Pérez retiring after a puncture. Dreadful home race for them.
And, of course, Vettel's retirement means Alonso has managed to close the gap a little in the driver standings, and that means it's not a complete walkover... yet!
Not long to wait until the drivers are back on track, with the German Grand Prix in just seven days time. As ever, stay tuned to http://f1minute.com and https://sidepodcast.com for all the news and views in between, and I will see you back here in a week!
All content in the series Britain 2013
Filed under Lap by lap coverage
Previous post Starting grid - Britain 2013
Next post Race results - Britain 2013
365 F1 stories
Recent stories