Month: July 2011

Fernando Alonso has celebrated the 60th anniversary of Ferrari’s first world championship race win in the best possible manner by taking out the 2011 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Starting from third on the grid the dual-world champion capitalised on an uncharacteristic pitlane mistake from Red Bull Racing to drive past Sebastian Vettel for the lead. Vettel, stuck in his pit box waiting for his right rear wheel to be secured, was powerless to stop Alonso. From there Alonso’s Ferrari seemed in a league of its own slowly building a race winning buffer.

Vettel had taken the lead of the race on the first lap. Red Bull teammate Mark Webber got a clean start from pole position but was unable to defend Vettel’s move into the first corner.

The race began in somewhat bizarre conditions with half of the track being very wet while the other was dry. Starting on intermediates the drivers were free to use the softer compound tyres for the rest of the race when conditions allowed. A three-stop strategy was the order of the day even if it cost Vettel a chance of victory.

McLaren also made an awful blunder that robbed Jenson Button of a tight tussle with Mark Webber. Button was released from the pits before his front right wheel was fastened and he had no choice but to pull to the side of the track on the pit exit.

In the closing stages Webber was closing in fast on Vettel and appeared to have the pace to fight for second position. On the last lap the radio instruction from Christian Horner came telling Mark to ‘maintain the gap.’ A comment which, in true F1 style, has created all sorts of controversy in response to the use of team orders. Webber himself has admitted he paid no attention to the order, which first came with four or five laps remaining, so we must assume that he tried but was unable to pass Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel maintains a stranglehold on the drivers’ champsionship table, 80 points clear of Webber who is now in outright second place. Alonso’s win moves him up into third. Red Bull Racing also enjoys a strong lead in the constructors’ title race.

It was a tough race for Daniel Ricciardo who was unable to make an impression on Hispania Racing teammamte Tonio Liuzzi. We’ll have more coverage from HRT later today.

The full transcript from the post-race transcript is available below, which includes plenty of questions from the press gallery about team orders.

Mark Webber claimed his eighth career pole position after posting the fastest time in qualifying at the British Grand Prix overnight. One Australian leads the field, while another is at the rear, with F1 debutant Daniel Ricciardo setting the slowest time in a weather-affected Q1.

Expectations at Hispania Racing are not so high, of course, and there will be greater things to follow for young Ricciardo.

Webber, on the other hand, will be expecting to win tonight’s race. Silverstone is clearly a place where Webber loves to race, following his famous win last year and at the 2008 British Grand Prix he found himself on the front row for the first time.

Despite hissy fits from Christian Horner and Martin Whitmarsh over changes to exhaust mapping, Red Bull again found a way to lockout the front row of the grid. Webber’s quickest time (1:30.399) was just three hundredths faster than runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel (1:30.431), who maintains his 2011 record of starting every race from the front row.

Fernando Alonso is the next best in his Ferrari (1:30.516) ahead of teammate Felipe Massa (1:31.124), Nico Rosberg (MercedesGP, 1:31.898) and Paul di Resta (Force India, 1:31.929).

Comments from the first three can be read after the break, along with words from Daniel Ricciardo and HRT.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images & Hispania Racing]