F1 - THRILLER: Australian leaves it late to win in style

 DARI NST
9/7/2012

 

Mark Webber

SILVERSTONE: MARK Webber claimed the  ninth win of his career yesterday when he swept to a dramatic and  perfectly-judged victory in an incident-filled British Grand Prix.

In a race run in welcome, if rare, dry conditions, the 35-year-old Australian steered his Red Bull through 52 laps of complex tactical and strategic racing to overtake pole sitter and long time leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

It was Webber's second win this year, after triumphing at Monaco, and his second at Silverstone in three years.

"Great day for us and a great day for me," he said over the team radio.

Webber's Red Bull team-mate and defending double world champion Sebastian Vettel came home third to ensure the champions had two men on the podium.

Webber's win was watched by a capacity Silverstone crowd of 120,000 spectators who had braved torrential rain for most of the weekend.

Alonso's second place enabled him to stay on top of the drivers' title race with 129 points ahead of Webber on 116.

Felipe Massa finished fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of his former Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and his Lotus colleague Romain Grosjean.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Mercedes finished seventh ahead of home favourite Lewis Hamilton who produced some spectacular racing on his way to eighth for McLaren. Bruno Senna finished ninth for Williams and Jenson Button was 10th in the second McLaren.

Alonso made a near-perfect start in the rare dry conditions when the lights went out.

Briton Paul di Resta was the first victim of the conditions and the traffic when, on the opening lap, Grosjean collided with him.

Russian Vitaly Petrov had also been forced to retire before the start when his Renault engine failed in his Caterham.

Vettel was the first of the leading men to pit after 11 laps when he came in from fifth, rejoining 15th.

One lap later, Massa threw his Ferrari past Schumacher at Stowe in one of many close battles before the German pitted and Pastor Maldonado appeared to lose control of his car and crash into the Sauber of luckless Mexican Sergio Perez.

Both cars spun and the resultant damage left Perez forced out of the race while Maldonado, frequently involved in collisions with other drivers, steered his damaged Williams back to the pits. The stewards announced that the incident will be investigated after the race.

Perez was livid with his fellow Latin American and said: "He doesn't respect other drivers. I was already in front and he should have given space not to crash, but he tried to push me all the way.

"I don't understand why he drives like that and I hope the stewards do something.

"It is not first time he has damaged my weekend. This guy will never learn if they don't do something. He could hurt someone. Everybody has concerns about him."

Alonso pitted after 16 laps and rejoined ahead of Webber, but Hamilton stayed out on his hard tyres and inherited the lead which he fought to retain during a remarkable battle with the Spaniard on lap 19.

First, Alonso passed the Briton, then Hamilton responded and regained the lead only to be re-passed by the Spaniard again in thrilling fashion.

By lap 21, Alonso led Hamilton, who pitted to allow Webber back into third place.

Hamilton was fast again, but as the leading cars pitted again for fresh tyres amid a flurry of fluctuating strategic decisions which also saw Alonso dash in for his set of compulsory soft tyres, 14 laps from the finish, after 38 laps.

One lap later Japanese Kamui Kobayashi clattered into his own mechanics when he made a major error as he rushed into the pits.

Alonso, on fast-wearing tyres, was left to struggle to preserve them in the closing laps as the field closed up and Webber moved within reach of the Spaniard, finally diving past him to take the lead at Brooklands on lap 49.

That set up a thrilling finish with Webber pulling away ahead of Alonso in the final laps.

Results:-

 

BRITISH Grand Prix at the 5.141-km Silverstone Circuit — 51 laps:
1 Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull Racing)  1:25’ 11.288s,    2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari +3.060,    3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull  +4.836,    4 Felipe   Massa (Bra) Ferrari + 9.519,    5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus  +10.314,   6 Romain Grosjean (Fra Lotus   +17.101,    7 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes  +29.153,    8 Lewis Hamilton (Bri) McLaren  +36.463,    9 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams  +43.347,    10 Jenson Button (Bri) McLaren Mercedes  +44.444,    11 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber  +45.370,    12 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Force India +47.856,    13 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus)  Toro Rosso  +51.241,    14 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso  +53.313,    15 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes  +57.394,    16 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams   (50 lap)    17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham  (50),     18 Timo Glock (Ger Marussia (50), 19 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia (50),     20 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT (49),  21 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT (49).

 

Not Classified: Paul di Resta (Bri) Force India, Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber. 

Fastest Lap: Kimi Räikkönen  (Fin) Lotus 1:34.661s (lap 50).

 

Drivers’ Standings: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) 129pts, 2 Mark Webber (Aus) 116, 3 Sebastian  Vettel (Ger) 100, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Bri) 92, 5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) 83,  6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) 75, 7 Romain Grosjean (Fra) 61, 8 Jenson Button  (Bri) 50, 9 Sergio Perez (Mex) 39, 10 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) 29.

 

Constructors’ Championship:   1 Red Bull 216pts, 2 Ferrari 152, 3 Lotus 144, 4 McLaren 142, 5 Mercedes 98, 6 Sauber 60, 7 Williams 47,  8 Force India 44, 9 Toro Rosso 6.   AFP