Red Bull’s Mark Webber Wins Formula One British Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Mark Webber showed superior speed in the closing laps of the Formula One British Grand Prix, running down Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and overtaking the championship leader with three laps to go. Webber now trails the Ferrari driver by only seven points.

After a dramatic start where Alonso cut sharply across the track twice to keep the Red Bull driver behind him, the two-time World Champion stayed comfortably ahead of the field until his last pit stop on lap 38.

The Ferrari seemed to thrive on the harder Prime tires. Alonso could possibly have stretched his tires a few more laps, but a combination of having a long gap ahead of the competition and apparently impending rain caused Ferrari to call its driver in for a set of softer Options.

The Ferrari F2012 chassis seemed to eat up the softer tires; after half-a-dozen laps Webber was on his tail. The red Bull driver had to force a bit to get through, even using DRS, but once in front Webber opened a gap of three seconds.

“I think it was a very interesting race. I thought at the start Fernando had very good pace. A bit of strategy here and there. Obviously, Fernando started on different tires. But I never gave up, kept pushing and it didn’t really work out for Fernando at the end. It was very, very close for him so we were there to capitalize,” Webber told the post-race press conference, according to Formula1.com.

The win meant a lot to red Bull, as their shops are just down the road from the track. “It’s a very, very special victory for the team, just down the road, a local team, so thanks to all the guys. It’s incredible for them. And for Renault another victory for them in the UK. So I’m very proud today,” he said.

For Ferrari, even second looks good after the car seemed a disaster in the earliest races. “It was quite close today the victory. At the end in the last stint Mark was much quicker than us, and he deserved the win, so I congratulate him and congratulate the Red Bull team,” Alonso told the press conference. “I’m very proud of the Ferrari recovery in the last few weeks—now we are fighting for the victory in the last three or four Grands Prix. So we’re heading in the right direction.”

Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull finished third, 1.7 seconds behind Alonso. Felipe Massa, who needed a good result to secure his ride with Ferrari for next year, drove an excellent race to finish fourth.

Lotus showed that it will soon be atop the podium, with Kimi Räikkonen and Roman Grosjean finishing fifth and sixth. Grosjean’s result was exceptional considering he spun on the first lap and had to pit for a new front wing, rejoining in last place.

Räikkonen ended up with the fastest race lap, he and Grosjean took turns going faster as the race ran down.

Lewis Hamilton brought his McLaren home seventh, while his teammate Jenson Button finished tenth; neither could seem to get their cars working late in the race, though Hamilton lead three laps in the first third. At least McLaren didn’t lose any time in the pits; all its pit stops were executed swiftly and cleanly.

“It wasn’t a great race for me – I just wish we could have done more for the fans today. We tried as hard as we could, but we simply didn’t have the pace this afternoon.” Hamilton said in a team press release.

Two drivers were fined after the race for driving infractions. Williams driver Pastor Maldonado picked up a €25,000 fine for colliding with Sauber’s Sergio Perez on lap 12. Perez had to park after the collision.

Sauber’s other driver, Kamui Kobayashi, overshot his pit stall and bowled over four of his pit crew. None were injured, amazingly, but the Sauber driver did earn a €10,000 fine.