Fernando Alonso of Ferrari Wins Formula One British Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso got Ferrari its much-needed first win of the season, breaking the Red Bull stranglehold on the top step of the podium, at the Formula One British Grand Prix Sunday.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber brought their Red Bull RB7s home second and third with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth.

Jenson Button’s race was ended by McLaren pit stop error, giving British fans a mixture of joy and disappointment
Fernando Alonso said this was the first race of Ferrari’s new take-no-prisoners, go-for-broke strategy.

“From now it will always be the same thing. Every race we try to do like the final,” he said in the post-race press conference on Formula1.com.

“Championship hopes are very difficult because Sebastian keeps finishing all the races first and second, so the only thing we can do is try to win every race we go to and be very aggressive.

“Every race, every start, every strategy will be at the maximum.”

The win had historic implications: 60 years ago, Ferrari won the first race of the modern Formula One era, at Silverstone. “Every grand prix is special but winning in historic places on this fantastic circuit, Silverstone, with the tradition in England about Formula One, the culture about motorsport, it is even more special.,’ said the Ferrari driver.

Damp Track, Fast Start

The race started on a damp track, with some parts very wet and some drying. Everyone started on intermediates.

Sebastian Vettel made a near-perfect start, passing teammate Mark Webber to take the lead, while Fernando Alonso made brave but futile efforts to get by Webber into second.

Lewis Hamilton, who was starting tenth after a strategy error in qualifying (McLaren opted to send him out on used soft tires, which had already lost their grip,) made a maniacal start, taking sixth by the end of the first lap, then passing Jenson Button on lap two.

Hamilton stayed right on Massa’s wing, with Alonso glued to Webber, until the first round of pit stops on laps 12-14. After the stops Vettel and Webber led Hamilton and Alonso, with Button and Massa behind.

Button made a brilliant move on Massa on lap 14, passing with driving skill, not DRS, and a lap later, Hamilton made an equally courageous move to take third from Alonso, going inside into Turn One, right through the wettest part of the track, and maintaining control. The British fans got their money’s worth in just those four minutes.

Pit Errors

As the track dried, lap times tumbled, and Fernando Alonso set fastest lap and passed Lewis Hamilton on lap 24, moving back into third. Hamilton pitted on the next lap. While Alonso continued to reel off fast laps, Webber, Button and Massa pitted.

Vettel and Alonso came in on lap 27. The Red Bull crew had a hold-up because of a faulty left rear wheel gun, and Alonso exited the pits in the lead. Vettel came out in third, and immediately began attacking Hamilton in second. Unable to get by, Vettel pitted again on lap 36, getting fresh soft tires, and rejoined in sixth.

Hamilton came in on lap 38, Webber a lap later, the pair rejoining in fifth and sixth. Alonso and Button came in on lap 40. Alonso rejoined still in the lead, but Button’s left front wheel came off as he drove down pit lane. His race was done

“So much could have happened in my race today. Before my final stop I’d had great pace, and I’d caught Lewis, Sebastian and Mark,” Button told formula1.com. “But, as I turned out of the pit lane, my right-front wheel came off and I was forced to stop immediately.

“The guy on the front-right lost the wheel nut and turned to take another; as he turned, I think his hand moved and the guy on the front jack felt that that was the trigger to lower the car. Then the lollipop lifted.

“Hopefully, we won’t have that sort of issue again. It’s disappointing—especially in front of the home crowd—because I was really enjoying the race.”

Hamilton Blunted

Lewis Hamilton was determined to save British pride; he took advantage of a Felipe Massa bobble to take third on lap 41.

The McLaren driver got bad news on the next lap, though—his team told him to conserve fuel for the final ten laps. Webber took advantage passing Hamilton in the DRS zone on lap 46, then heading on to chase his teammate. Meanwhile Massa began hacking into the gap to Hamilton at a couple of seconds a lap.

“Before the end, I had to start saving fuel: you have to lift and coast, which means the brake temperatures drop,” The McLaren driver told formula1.com. “So I had no brakes, and that’s why I kept locking up. That allowed Mark to slip ahead of me and meant I was defending from Felipe in the closing laps.”

As the race entered the final five laps, Fernando Alonso had a 19-second lead, but behind him every position was in question.

Mark Webber got close to his teammate Vettel, and made a couple of spirited attempts before Red Bull management, remembering Turkey in 2010, gave him the message “Mark, maintain the gap.”

Felipe Massa was getting no such message. He caught Hamilton on the last lap, and fought right to the line, colliding with the McLaren coming around the last two corners. The Ferrari driver tried to go around the outside on both corners; Hamilton refused to yield.

Hamilton locked up his left front wheel on the final corner and slid into the Ferrari. Carbon fiber geysered up from the two cars, sparks flew and Massa slid wide, giving Hamilton fourth place by .0024 seconds.

“That last lap was as close as it’s ever going to get,” Hamilton told formula1.com. “In the final corner I stayed on the inside and braked as hard as I could. Fortunately, we both got around the corner in one piece and I just pipped him at the finish.”

Formula One racing heads to the historic Nürburgring for the Formula One German Grand Prix on July 24.

Tickets and travel arrangements are available on Formula1.com, the official Formula One website.

The race begins at 8 a.m. ET.