COOPER: British GP Team-by-Team

Formula 1

COOPER: British GP Team-by-Team

An interesting mix of strategies in the British GP...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted July 09, 2012 London (GBR)

Race winner Mark Webber (Right) of Australia and Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium with second placed Fernando Alonso (Left) of Spain and Ferrari following the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit. (Photo: Getty Images)

Against all the odds the British GP turned out to be a dry race after two days of heavy rain had made life difficult for drivers, teams and of course the Silverstone spectators.

With the grid determined in the wet, all drivers had a free choice of new tires for the start. The only dry running on Saturday morning had told the teams that the soft tire had a limited lifespan and thus was to be used up either at the start or finish with most of the race run on the hard – and thus we saw an interesting mix of strategies. Here’s how things played out up and down the field.

Red Bull Racing
The Red Bulls didn’t figure strongly in Friday’s rain but come qualifying everything fell into place as Mark Webber took second and Sebastian Vettel fourth. Webber couldn’t beat pole man Alonso off the line and sat behind him for the first two stints of the race, having used up his soft tires in the first. For the last stint his hards proved a better choice than Alonso’s softs and he passed the Spaniard to score his second win of the season. Vettel lost a spot to Massa at the start but an early first stop ensured that he got it back later. He finished third, only 1.7s behind Alonso, after an untroubled race.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton was fastest on the wet Friday and Jenson Button was second in the dry FP3, but qualifying didn’t work out for McLaren. Hamilton took eighth while Button failed to progress from Q1 in 18th, although he gained two places from penalties. On hard tires Hamilton ran eighth in the early laps and progress to the lead as the last man to stop. However he simply didn’t have the pace to fight those around him and after a short middle stint on softs finished eighth. Button gained ground on the first lap and earned a point with 10th.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso had a crash in Friday’s rain and survived a big spin in Q2 to earn pole position. Felipe Massa showed improved form as he took fifth spot. Alonso chose to use the hard tire for the first two stints, and he held a handy 5s lead over Mark Webber when he came in for the less favored softs on lap 37. He had a 15 lap run to the flag but it proved to be too long as Webber caught him and demoted him to second. Massa started in the soft tire.

Mercedes' German driver Michael Schumacher drives during the qualifying session at the Silverstone circuit on July 7, 2012 ahead of the British Formula One Grand Prix. (Photo: Getty Images)

He passed Vettel at the start and spent the early laps behind Schumacher. Vettel got ahead at the stops but Massa passed Michael and then had a steady run to fourth and his best result of the season so far.

Mercedes
Michael Schumacher reminded everyone of his wet weather skills by being third both in FP2 and again when it counted in qualifying. Rosberg had been fast on Friday and was third when Q2 was stopped, but he struggled after the restart and could not better 13th although penalties gifted him two spots. Schumacher ran third from the off but it was clear that he didn’t have pace as a queue built up behind him. He eventually finished seventh. Rosberg made a bad start and appeared to struggle throughout, losing time at his second stop and finishing a lowly 15th.

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