After two days of pouring rain who would have thought that we were going to see a dry race, I mean a race without one single drop coming down from the sky?? But as the British GP was about to get underway, the sun came out and it actually looked like a typical Finnish summer day at Silverstone :)
The tyre choices for the race were interesting. Alonso on pole and Hamilton in P8 had opted to start to the race with hard tyres on whilst all the other drivers in top 10 had decided to put the soft tyres on. No surprises at the start: both Alonso and Webber were able to keep their positions. Massa starting from P5 managed to gain a position on Vettel jumping to 4th. Vettel had breathtaking wheel-to-wheel battle with Kimi on the opening lap and the flying Finn was almost able to overtake the German Red Bull driver but ended up losing a position to Maldonado. Kimi, however, snatched the position back from the Venezuelan only a moment later. Kimi´s driving was utterly a pleasure to watch! The Iceman made a stunning overtaking move on Schumacher as well some laps later...
During the first pit stops Vettel managed to get past Massa. On lap 12 we saw a not so surprising collision between Maldonado and Perez who are both known of their hot-blooded temper. Perez was trying to overtake Maldonado but the Venezuelan ended up crashing to Perez´ Sauber. So the Mexican was out of the race and Maldonado´s race was practically spoiled though he managed to continue the race after the pit stop (he had a puncture due to the crash). Perez has already described Maldonado as "a stupid driver" who doesn´t respect other drivers. Last year it was Hamilton in the lime-light of these conversations and this year it seems to be Maldonado!
The performance of both McLaren drivers was absolutely miserable today. At the beginning of the race Hamilton managed to take the lead for a moment as he had started the race with the hard tyres and had a longer first stint but after his first pit stop he dropped far back in the standings! The McLaren drivers finished the race 8th (Hamilton) and 10th (Button) which must have been a huge disappointment to the home crowd.
On the closing laps it was Alonso who was still in the lead. But the Spaniard had soft tyres on in his final stint whilst Webber following him had the hard tyres on. Webber was catching Alonso metre by metre and second by second and managed to overtake the Ferrari driver just 5 laps before the chequered flag! I was very happy to see Webber winning, I wouldn´t have wanted to see Alonso take his 3rd win of the season! Vettel in P3 managed to decrease the gap to Alonso on the final laps but he didn´t get close enough to be able to try any overtaking move on Alonso. Massa was finally able to put up a strong race and finished 4th right ahead of Kimi in his E20. Kimi´s team-mate Grosjean was 6th so very good points for the Lotus drivers today! The Iceman also claimed the fastest lap of the race today.
Red Bull has a dominant lead over their rivals in the constructors´ championship. Lotus is seriously challenging Ferrari and McLaren for the second place in the standings! Alonso is still leading the drivers´ championship and has a 13-point gap to Webber who is second. Vettel in the third place has 16 points less than his team-mate... The halfway point of the season is approaching quickly but the championship is excitingly wide open!
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