 The first half of the season ended in
dramatic style at Silverstone, as the rain played a significant effect
on the outcome of the race. The British Grand Prix was won with panache
by Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren-Mercedes, but for Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro it was not the best of days, with Kimi Raikkonen salvaging
fourth place and Felipe Massa down in thirteenth spot, both men
suffering lack of grip in the slippery conditions. Proving how close
this season's racing has been the Drivers' Championship now sees a three
way tie at the top of the table between the two Ferrari men and Lewis
Hamilton. The Scuderia continues to top the Constructors' table,
fourteen points ahead of BMW.
Inevitably the rain arrived on race morning and the track was wet for
the start, although it was drying as the cars formed up on the grid,
with Kimi Raikkonen in third spot and his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
team-mate, Felipe Massa ninth. There were 19 cars on the grid, all of
them on the normal Bridgestone intermediate rain tyre, with Nico Rosberg
starting from pit lane in the Williams.
At the start, Hamilton came through from fourth to lead for a moment but
from pole, McLaren team-mate Kovalainen regained the advantage, with
Kimi third. From second place, Mark Webber got a poor start and then
spun, as did Massa, struggling with a lack of grip, but he continued, at
the back with Webber. Vettel and Coulthard spun off together into the
gravel. The order as they started lap 3 was Kovalainen and Hamilton in
the McLarens, Raikkonen, Heidfeld (BMW) Alonso and Piquet (Renault)
Trulli (Toyota,) Kubica (BMW,) Glock (Toyota) Barrichello and Button
(Honda) Sutil (Force India,) Bourdais (Toro Rosso,) Nakajima (Williams)
Fisichella (Force India,) Rosberg (Williams,) Webber (Red Bull Racing)
and Massa nineteenth and last.
On lap 5, Hamilton went past his team-mate to take the lead. On lap 6,
the gap between Kovalainen and fellow countryman Raikkonen was 1.5
seconds and in eighteenth place, Massa was 48 seconds off the leader.
Lap 8 and the gap between the Finns had grown to 1.9. Kimi inherited
second when Kovalainen spun on lap 9, while most of the overtaking at
this point came courtesy of front row starter Webber, who after his spin
to the back of the field had moved up to 12th on lap 9 of the sixty lap
race. By lap 18, Kimi was 2.3 seconds behind the English McLaren man,
with a comfortable 11.7 second cushion to Kovalainen. The pit stops
began on lap 18, with Webber coming in from tenth, followed by
Kovalainen. Alonso was in from third on lap 20, by which time Kimi was
under a second behind Hamilton. Then the two leaders came in together on
21, Kimi stopped for 7.5 and Hamilton 8 seconds, with no change in
position as they rejoined. However, like some other teams, the Scuderia
had opted to keep its drivers on the same sets of tyres, making no
changes and only refuelling. Massa came in next time round for an 8.1
stop, with Heidfeld pitting from third. Piquet had moved up to fourth
before refuelling. Raikkonen having opted to stay on the same set of
tyres was suffering and lapping at least two seconds slower than
Hamilton and was 15.1 seconds down as the rain got much heavier. The gap
on 26 was now 21.8. As they began lap 27, Kovalainen was lining up to
pass Kimi, but they were both surprised by Heidfeld who took both of
them in a daring move to go second behind Hamilton.
 At half distance, (lap 30) the order was Hamilton, Heidfeld, Kovalainen,
Raikkonen, Piquet, Kubica, Barrichello, Glock, Trulli, Alonso in tenth,
Button, Rosberg, Nakajima, Massa, fourteenth, Webber and Bourdais
(sixteenth and last.) Kimi pitted for again at this point, taking on
fresh intermediates. On lap 35, with Kimi in 10th, the rain intensified
and the intermediate tyres were struggling to clear the water. Piquet
was one of the first casualties to spin followed by Hamilton and Kubica
on lap 37. The lap times had generally dropped by 14 seconds. Massa
aquaplaned off on the straight. Raikkonen also spun off but continued.
Hamilton pitted on lap 38 for a second time, the team fitting
intermediates again. Second placed Heidfeld then came in also fitting
intermediates.
With 20 laps remaining, the order was now Hamilton, 36 seconds ahead of
Heidfeld, followed by Trulli, Alonso, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Kubica,
Raikkonen, Glock, with Rosberg rounding off the top ten. Massa was
fifteenth. Barrichello, on extreme wets was the quickest man on track.
On lap 42 he dispensed with Heidfeld to go second. Round lap 45, Kimi
was closing on Kovalainen in sixth. As the track began to dry again,
Barrichello pitted again from second to switch to intermediates. Massa's
bad day did not improve and he survived yet another spin on lap 48 and
then again one lap later. As Kovalainen spun, Alonso and Kimi both got
past so that the Ferrari man was now fifth with ten laps to go. Kimi
then began closing on the Renault man on lap 51, as Massa made a final
pit stop. However, race leader Hamilton lapped Kimi on lap 51 which saw
the gap between the Renault and Ferrari grow a bit. Kimi quickly made up
the gap and even got alongside Alonso for a moment and eventually got
past to move up to fourth. With three laps remaining, pole man
Kovalainen also dispensed with the Spaniard to go fifth.
 The result at the flag was therefore, Hamilton the winner after an
impressive drive, with Heidfeld second, Barrichello giving Honda their
first podium of the year, Kimi fourth, Kovalainen fifth, Alonso sixth,
Trulli seventh and Nakajima eighth. Felipe crossed the line in
thirteenth place.
Stefano Domenicali: "A Sunday to forget as
quickly as possible in terms of the result, although we must remember
certain elements of this weekend, as there were mistakes made that we
cannot afford to repeat. We could have won this race with Kimi but we
made a key mistake at the first pit stop, choosing to stay on the same
set of tyres. The rain did not ease off and lasted longer and our
drivers - Felipe had also gone for the same choice - found themselves in
difficulty. With hindsight it's easy to say we should have changed
tyres, but Formula 1 is not an exact science: sometimes strategic
choices pay off and sometimes they don't. All the same, we have to admit
that, this weekend, we did not operate to our usual standard. We made
mistakes at every level and even our performance did not match our
expectations and now we have to work out why, but calmly without
panicking. We have reached the mid-point of the season: both our drivers
are on equal points in the lead with one other driver in the Drivers'
classification and we head the Constructors' Championship. We have lost
a few opportunities to pick up a greater number of points, but we always
knew this would be a very closely contested championship. Now we will
concentrate on the coming rounds and will try and do better."
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am disappointed, but I am equally aware that
things could have been much worse. We had the possibility to win the
race but we made a mistake at the first pit stop, keeping the same set
of tyres, because we expected the track conditions to improve. It was a
joint decision: we are a team and we win or lose together. Things are
not going too well for me at the moment, given all that happened in the
last few races, but I am leading the championship, even if it is on
equal terms with Felipe and Lewis. We know we have a great potential,
but we have to put everything in place to get the most out of it."
Felipe Massa: "This Silverstone weekend is one to be wiped out.
On Friday I had an accident, yesterday there was the problem in
qualifying and today a series of mistakes at all levels. We have to look
ahead, because there is still a very long way to go in the championship
and once again, we've seen that it only takes one result to turn the
situation around. After nine races I am in the lead in the
classification and I have every chance to fight for the title all the
way to the end. Today, I could hardly keep the car in a straight line
and it was always very difficult to drive. Only after the last pit stop
did things improve a bit, but by then I was a long way back. We have to
do a good job in the forthcoming Hockenheim test to be as well prepared
as possible for the German Grand Prix that takes place on the same
track."
Luca Baldisserri: "We are very disappointed with the way things
went today. Kimi was having a great race and he had every chance of
fighting for the win, but we made a wrong choice at the first stop. We
had banked on the weather getting better and it didn't and in fact the
rain actually intensified for a while, which put our drivers in great
difficulty. Clearly, looking back, one could say we should not have made
this decision, but it was not just a shot in the dark, as seen from the
fact that we were not the only ones to make this choice out of all the
drivers who stopped around this time. Felipe was struggling right from
the start because of a lack of grip and his race was immediately
compromised, and then it is very difficult to drive in these conditions
in the middle of the pack. We are all very disappointed because once
again, we have lost valuable points. Now we have to stay concentrated
and must work even harder to improver our performance and to make sure
we don't make any more of these mistakes."
Source - Ferrari Media |
