British Grand Prix Review

It was quite possibly Silverstone’s last Grand Prix ever and I want to wax lyrical about how it was a classic etc, etc. However it wasn’t the most exciting race of the season and wasn’t certainly a classic.

Jenson Button lost the race on Friday. Throughout practice he was struggling to set the car up and couldn’t get any pace out of it. This followed onto Saturday’s qualifying and he was unable to get a decent grid slot. He got boxed in at the start and pushed down even further. Then only a good final stint saw him elevate himself to his final position of 6th. Even though he was quite possibly the second or third quickest man at times Jenson simply didn’t have the consistency in the race to make it stick. I wonder if after he struggled so much on Friday if the Brawn team gave him Barrichello’s setup as they have done in previous races or if Ruben’s has now got wise to that and left Jenson to flounder. No doubt Ruben’s enjoyed beating Jenson on his home turf. Even if it was only 3rd Vs 6th and not a win.

Vettel seemed in a class of his own for the majority of the weekend and after Webber got caught up behind Rubens in the first stint Vettel was able to force home his advantage. Leaving Webber too far behind to launch a proper attack on the lead later on. However if Webber had not been held up in qualifying he may well of got pole and the outcome of the grand prix could have been quite different and more interesting. The Red Bull’s developments have made the car more competitive. There is no doubt about that. If they can consistently beat the Brawns awaits to be seen. But ultimately I don’t think they will be able to consistently beat the Brawns and for that matter Button. But most importantly there isn’t anyone else good enough to rob Button of points so he will be able to minimise any points loss when he has an off day and is 2nd or at worse 3rd. I still think the championship is Jenson’s to lose.

Massa qualified badly but was outside the top ten so was able to fuel up and do a one stop stint. He executed it as well as possible and he had good pace for a one stopper through the duration of the race so his strategy paid off. He didn’t get caught behind anyone slower as he was one stopping anyway and was fast enough to keep people behind him. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen on the other hand suffered. He qualified in the top ten and had to run the fuel he had meaning he had to have a two stop strategy. Even though he made an amazing start and gained 4 places it was still not enough. After his first stop he got stuck behind the slower Toyota of Glock and his race was done. He couldn’t get past and he couldn’t make the strategy work. He thus lost loads of time to the drivers he was racing around him and lost out. If he hadn’t got stuck behind he would have been 4th and possibly pushing Barrichello for a podium. Ferrari must be buoyed by their performance and Massa has gone on record as saying such. But ultimately Kimi must be kicking himself for not making more of it all.

The Toyota’s of Glock and Trulli, as always had a pretty uneventful race. Toyota seem to be able to churn out the also run points paying places with such a lack of panache it almost doesn’t seem possible. I suppose that’s how a formula one team should operate; getting the most from the car in a controlled manner. But I cannot recall one dice or dramatic moment for either of the Toyota cars.

Williams converted their practice pace and did pretty well for themselves. Rosberg must feel that his hard work got paid off – at least partly with 5th. Nakajima looked like he was in the running for a good points haul but his poor second stint scuppered him and I was disappointed to see him end up languishing in 11th. Williams must be happy with their upturn in performance at Silverstone but as it’s their home track I don’t think they will continue the form they found. However look out for Rosberg nicking a few points here and there throughout the rest of the season.

Another noticeable thing happened… Piquet ended up in front of Alonso at the end of the race… What?! I hear you cry Piquet finished in front of his team mate Alonso! That must be some mistake alas it isn’t. It simply proves (as happened at Ferrari) that having your one stop strategy was the way to go and if you want to be higher than 10th off the grid you have to have a two stopper. Also Alonso had a real ding dong battle with Hamilton for part of the race and Piquet got involved at one point. It provided much of the good racing after the initial couple of laps. It was great to see the two world champions still going for it even though they were fighting over places at the back of the pack.

The only retirements were from an accident between Bourdais and Kovalainen. Which was a cock-up from both of them really. It was 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. The incompetence of the pair of them contributing to the accident. Both of them must be under threat of being asked to leave their respective teams as both of them simply aren’t delivering and for once Piquet wasn’t there to make them look good.

There is a small break now between Silverstone and the German grand prix of three weeks. In this time Ferrari will be hoping to claw back more of their gap as will McLaren who are still desperately uncompetitive. Vettel will be desperate to make the most of his new Red Bull at his home grand prix. Webber will be looking for his maiden victory and to quieten his critics and start to launch his own championship campaign before Vettel gets too far in front. Button will no doubt want to get back on top.

In the mean time we’ll see how the FOTA Vs FIA fight goes between now and Germany…