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.
