Great Britain – Race: Webber Wins the Battle of England

It is under a gray-blue sky and on a dry track, heated to 30°C, that the drivers launch for the warm-up lap. Since the qualifications took place in the rain, the drivers had the choice of tires for the start, and Alonso, Hamilton, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, Button, Kobayashi, Glock, De la Rosa, and Karthikeyan started on hard tires, presumably anticipating a possible rain interruption. But even before the drivers took their positions on the starting grid, the race already had a dropout in the person of Vitaly Petrov (Caterham), who suffered an engine failure during one of his laps to the grid.

At the extinguishing of the red lights, Fernando Alonso firmly shuts the door on Mark Webber, who then switches lines as all the drivers navigate the first corner without incident. However, this is not the case as the pack becomes lively in the second and third corners, with Paul di Resta suffering a puncture while Jenson Button is already in 12th place.

After one lap, Alonso is 6 tenths ahead of Webber, followed by Schumacher, Massa, Vettel, Maldonado, Räikkönen, Hamilton, and Senna. The drivers are not giving any gifts, and Maldonado is not at all impressed by Kimi Räikkönen, while Romain Grosjean is already heading to the pits after being overtaken by Kamui Kobayashi. The Frenchman puts on Soft tires but loses time due to a front wing change, likely damaged in contact with Paul di Resta.

At the front of the race, Felipe Massa attempts an overtaking maneuver on Michael Schumacher as they approach Copse, but the German shuts the door on his former teammate. The Brazilian then becomes prey to Sebastian Vettel, to whom he resists.

In the pits, Paul di Resta returns to retire, his Force India likely having suffered damage following his puncture. The Scot had a chance to play his card as he had opted for dry track settings, a gamble that could have paid off.

At the front of the race, Fernando Alonso, on Hard tires, isn’t pulling away, and the Top 10 is within less than ten seconds. However, the Spaniard remains out of reach of the DRS with a 1″3 lead over the Australian on the seventh lap.

Behind them, Felipe Massa takes advantage of the DRS zone to once again attempt to strike a blow at Michael Schumacher, who, the old fox that he is, shuts the door in his face. A slow-motion replay shows that Sebastian Vettel, for his part, lost a small part of his front wing in a contact with the Brazilian’s Ferrari.

But after 11 laps, Fernando Alonso widens the gap and holds a three-second lead over Mark Webber while Sebastian Vettel makes his first stop to switch to hard tires. The double reigning world champion comes out in 15th position, while Felipe Massa finally finds a way to overtake Michael Schumacher on the inside at Stowe.

Fresh out of the pits, Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Pérez collide. Furious, the Mexican is forced to retire while the Venezuelan limps his Williams back to the pits and manages to continue: the incident will be reviewed by the stewards after the race. Located in the DRS zone, the yellow flag prompts the race direction to temporarily ban the use of DRS until all danger is cleared.

Meanwhile, the waltz of pit stops continues for drivers who started on Soft tires, with Schumacher, Massa, and Webber switching to Hard tires. Fernando Alonso then leads the race ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Kamui Kobayashi, and Nico Hülkenberg. However, the Spaniard pits on lap 16 to switch to Hard tires, relinquishing the lead to Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel catches Jenson Button at the braking point of the final chicane, with the Brit offering little resistance, a few corners later, to Felipe Massa, who is on fresher tires.

On the 17th lap, the 2009 World Champion pits to switch to Soft tires. The Brit exits ahead of Nico Rosberg, but the latter overtakes him: Button immediately sits in his slipstream without finding a way through. At the front, Fernando Alonso is closing the gap on Lewis Hamilton, whose race engineer reminds him that they are not on the same strategy. However, the native of Stevenage puts up a strong defense. Alonso passes him in turn 3, but the Brit immediately regains the advantage thanks to DRS, though his MP4-27 slides, allowing the Spaniard to skillfully weave his Ferrari through and logically reclaim the lead.

On lap 20, Alonso (1 stop, Hard) leads by 1.2 seconds over Hamilton (0 stops, Hard) and 4.7 seconds over Webber (1 stop, Hard). Following them are Vettel, Massa, Schumacher, Räikkönen, Grosjean, Kobayashi, and Hülkenberg, all on Hard tires and having made one stop. Slower than the pack, the 2008 world champion enters the pit lane to switch to Soft tires during a flawless stop: he comes out in 7th position behind Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher.

On the 27th lap, Romain Grosjean makes a second pit stop: the Frenchman puts Hard tires on the Lotus E20 and, barring any race incidents, should be able to go until the checkered flag. The Genevan drops from seventh to thirteenth place but immediately sets the fastest time in sectors 2 and 3.

To everyone’s surprise, Lewis Hamilton enters the pits on the 29th lap to fit Hard tires: the Englishman has only done 7 laps with his Soft tires, but the stop seemed planned. The native of Stevenage returns in 12th place, slotting in between Nico Rosberg and Romain Grosjean. After watching Lewis Hamilton pass the Mercedes W03 at Copse, the Lotus driver mirrors his McLaren counterpart at Maggotts-Beckets-Chapel. One lap later, the 32nd, the Briton and the Frenchman make the same move on Jenson Button while Sebastian Vettel returns to the pits to put on Hard tires, followed by Button at McLaren.

For the gain of 9th place, Romain Grosjean is getting threatening behind Lewis Hamilton, while at the front, Fernando Alonso is untroubled by Mark Webber, on whom he has a lead of 5.5 seconds. As feared by its drivers, the McLaren is not as effective on a dry track as it might have been in slightly more mixed conditions, and Hamilton already seems to be struggling with his tires compared to Grosjean.

At the 34th lap, Mark Webber goes through the pit lane to switch to Hard tires: the Australian comes out behind Massa and Räikkönen but ahead of Vettel. On the track, a fierce battle ensues between Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi: the Japanese driver does not get the chance to overtake the German, who dives into the pit lane, right after Kimi Räikkönen, both emerging on Hard tires.

Clearly struggling with his tires, Lewis Hamilton cannot resist Romain Grosjean’s attack at the end of the DRS zone. Massa, 2nd, and Hülkenberg, 6th, also pit on lap 37: the Brazilian comes out in 4th position on Hard tires while Nico Hülkenberg comes out in 11th place on Soft tires.

At the 38th lap, Fernando Alonso finally makes his second stop to fit Soft tires, as Mark Webber was becoming increasingly threatening on track. The Australian then closed to within less than 3 seconds of the Spaniard.

In the pits, Kamui Kobayashi arrives with his Sauber with all wheels locked at his spot, and the C31 then transforms into a bowling ball, knocking several mechanics to the ground. The Japanese driver will have to visit the stewards after the race, and his mechanics will require attention from the medical staff. One of them is taken to the hospital, likely for a broken ankle.

Ten laps from the checkered flag, Alonso leads Webber but the gap between the two men is narrowing. They are followed by Vettel, Massa, Räikkönen, Hamilton, Schumacher, Hülkenberg, and Senna. Romain Grosjean is currently the fastest on the track and is less than 4 seconds behind his world champion teammate.

At the front of the race, the gap between Alonso and Webber is melting like snow in the sun, with the Australian gaining up to a second per lap, while the battle rages for tenth place between Senna and Button, with the Brazilian, rumored to be under threat at Williams, desperately clinging to the single point for tenth place.

With five laps remaining before the end of the race, Fernando Alonso, within DRS range, seems increasingly struggling with his Soft tires, while Lewis Hamilton, also struggling, loses seventh place to Michael Schumacher.

On the 48th lap, Fernando Alonso cannot resist Mark Webber at the end of the DRS zone, even though the Spaniard is ready to take advantage of any mistake by his friend and nevertheless Australian rival. The Spaniard must now preserve his second place as Sebastian Vettel catches up with the Ferrari: the 2005 and 2006 World Champion seems, however, to find performance, enough at least to resist the Red Bull driver who is three seconds behind with two laps to go. Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, Michael Schumacher, Nico Hülkenberg, and Bruno Senna complete the Top 10.

Attracted by the scent of fourth place points, in the exhaust of Felipe Massa, Kimi Räikkönen misses the braking at the second corner while Bruno Senna gains the upper hand over Nico Hülkenberg. Attempting to regain his position, the Force India driver makes a mistake in Copse, allowing Jenson Button to enter the Top 10.

Under the checkered flag, Mark Webber clinches his ninth Grand Prix victory, the second this season. The Australian thus solidifies his second place in the overall standings by surpassing Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. After a hectic start to the race, Romain Grosjean finishes in sixth position, while on dry track, the McLaren drivers struggled, which doesn’t stop Lewis Hamilton from entertaining his fans with a few donuts. Vergne and Pic finish behind their teammates, in 14th and 19th position respectively, with Vergne facing an attack from his teammate on the final lap.

Ranking of the 2012 British Grand Prix race: