Great Britain – Racing: Strategy Summary

Red Bull driver Mark Webber secured his second victory of the season at the British Grand Prix, after an intense battle with Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in the final laps of a race animated by tire strategy. Webber is now closing in on Alonso in the title race, which remains the closest in history. The Australian also joins the Spaniard by recording two wins this season.

Alonso qualified in pole position and started on hard tires, while Webber, second on the grid, decided to start on soft tires. Webber completed one stint on soft tires and then two on hard tires, taking advantage of the latter’s durability to catch up to and pass Alonso four laps from the finish. After two initial stints on hard tires, Alonso completed the final stint on soft tires.

With very little time spent on a dry track before the start of the race, the teams had extremely limited information on the behavior of the Hard and Soft tires at Silverstone. These had only been briefly used during the last Free Practice session on Saturday. The race began with track temperatures of 31°C, compared to the 15°C that characterized Friday and Saturday. However, the bad weather allowed everyone to have their full allocation of slicks before the start of the 52-lap race. Only Webber chose to use the hard tires for his last stint.

The Top 10 on the grid started with Soft tires, except for Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren. Webber and Alonso were the first to pit, switching to hard tires on the 14th and 15th laps, respectively. Alonso’s early race advantage allowed him to make his two stops without losing his leading position, but Webber managed to turn things around, delivering an exciting finish in the final kilometers of the Grand Prix.

Paul Hembery, Director of Pirelli Motorsport: After a previously wet weekend, it was fantastic to see the sun shining again for the start of the British Grand Prix, providing a completely dry race. This represented a real challenge for the teams who had little information to establish their tire strategies. With no rubber laid down on the track on Friday and Saturday, it quickly evolved during the race. Everyone had their own idea to get ahead, resulting in a great variety in tire choices at the start. Most drivers had a wide range of unused slick tires. Mark Webber and Red Bull chose a tactic that paid off brilliantly. Like everyone else, we were very impressed by the involvement and loyalty of the fans this weekend, who endured extremely difficult conditions but were ultimately rewarded with a superb race.

From the official statement released by Pirelli

To better understand this graph, you can use the lap-by-lap synthesis from the FIA by clicking here.

Summary of the pit stops of the 2012 British Grand Prix: