Thursday, March 12, 2015
Mark Webber stands on his car to celebrate victory © Press Association
Mark Webber - 1st: After all the in-fighting at Red Bull on Saturday, Webber put together the perfect response on Sunday with a faultless drive. His start was sublime and then he monitored the gap to Hamilton with ease to take a comfortable victory. His - and much of the paddock's - thoughts were summed up perfectly after the race when he came over the radio saying: "Not bad for a No. 2 driver".
Lewis Hamilton - 2nd: It was a brilliant weekend in front of his home fans and he got the absolute maximum from a car that was clearly not at its best. He gave Webber something to think about on the opening lap, but from that point onwards the Red Bull had the upper hand and he had to resign himself to second.
Nico Rosberg - 3rd: The best possible result given the car he had and another weekend where he showed up team-mate Schumacher. A good start was vital but the team also nailed his strategy by allowing him to stay out on track on the soft tyres. He did well to keep Alonso at bay early on and then hold off Button towards the end.
Jenson Button - 4th: A brilliant drive to gain ten positions, as he made the most of others mistakes. On his opening lap he took six positions and then leapfrogged others in the pits by staying out on soft tyres. There was also a healthy dose of luck involved as Alonso and Kubica encountered problems, but it didn't take away from a fine performance. Now he has to remedy his qualifying problems to stand a chance of staying in the fight for the championship.
Rubens Barrichello - 5th: He made the most of his vast experience at Silverstone to stay out of trouble and score a brilliant result for the team at its home grand prix. The car was quick all weekend and things look promising for Williams as we enter the second half of the season.
Kamui Kobayashi - 6th: Another driver who benefitted from a good start and then kept out of trouble for the rest of the race. Just like in Valencia, he proved that he can lap quickly and consistently, and the result is yet another boost for the resurgent Sauber team.
Sebastian Vettel - 7th: Arguably the drive of the day; the only mistake he made was misjudging the clutch's biting point off the line. Unfortunately it cost him dear and robbed the fans of a fantastic and heated battle between the Red Bulls and Hamilton. However, he still provided plenty of entertainment by storming through the field, making the most of the Red Bull's advantage in Silverstone's fast corners.
Adrian Sutil - 8th: He was the one driver who gave Vettel a hard time and it was only with considerable force that the Red Bull managed to get past. It was a good result given the team's qualifying performance and an impressive sixth consecutive points-scoring finish.
Michael Schumacher - 9th: A mistake after his early pit-stop cost him two positions and ultimately put an end to his chances of getting a decent result. He never looked like making a passing move on the cars in front and lost position to Vettel a tad too easily given Rosberg's performance further up the field in an identical car.
Nico Hulkenberg - 10th: He ran as high as third but that was only because he was late making a pit stop. However, the unconventional strategy did pay off and gave him a chance to attack Schumacher. Unfortunately he never managed to get close enough for a proper attempt, but will be happy to pick up his second point of the season.
Tonio Liuzzi - 11th: His five-place grid penalty cost him dear and meant that he had to overtake the backmarkers before he could even think about making a challenge on the points-paying positions. Despite that, he did well and on the softer tyre held off the advances of Alonso and got within a second of Hulkenberg at the end of the race.
Sebastian Vettel limps back to the pits © Press Association Sebastien Buemi - 12th: He fell behind Liuzzi after his first pit stop, and despite looking like he had the potential to pass, couldn't make a move stick. With a bit more luck he could have challenged for the points but 12th was probably representative of his pace this weekend. Vitaly Petrov - 13th: Was able to capitalise on the first-lap mess and gained three places, but hopes of a points finish were scuppered by a puncture after the safety-car period
Fernando Alonso - 14th: Made a slow start from third, collided with Massa on the first corner, incurred a drive-through penalty later on when taking a short-cut to overtake Kubica, and the emergence of the safety car allowed the field to condense so when he returned he had no chance of points. He fumed for the rest of the race, even refusing to talk to his own pit crew
Felipe Massa - 15th: A wretched day which involved an first-lap puncture courtesy of Alonso and then a self-inflicted spin. Never up with the pace
Jarno Trulli - 16th: By his own admission a solid performance rather than anything more, but again was at the front of the newcomers
Heikki Kovalainen - 17th: A decent start but then a poor pit stop - so much so his team apologised to him - dropped him behind the Virgin. He clawed back that spot and with it ensured both Lotuses finished at the front of the new teams.
Timo Glock - 18th:Recovered from a poor start and but for a late error - oversteer - he would probably have beaten Kovalainen
Karun Chandhok - 19th: His two aims today were to finish and avoid being beaten by his new team-mate. He achieved both and would have been well ahead of Yamamoto had he not run over some debris late on
Sakon Yamamoto - 20th: Proved those who said his fitness after two years out would let him down wrong and did well to finish, but never looked likely to overtake anyone in what was a race within a race within a race
Jaime Alguersuari - DNF: Learning all the time but his lack of knowledge of tracks still causes problems. Nevertheless, he looked comfortable before suffering brake failure seven laps from the end
Pedro de la Rosa - DNF: An unlucky day. He was pushed wide in the first-corner melee and lost places, fought back but was then rear-ended by Adrian Sutil on the 26th lap which ended his afternoon
Robert Kubica - DNF: A good start but then struggled for grip and speed, was involved in the overtaking incident with Alonso and finally retired with driveshaft failure
Lucas di Grasse - DNF: Nine uneventful laps and then the all-too-familiar hydraulics problems ended his race
Laurence Edmondson is an assistant editor on ESPNF1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kara Scott
2nd World Rank
Final Table WSOP
World Series Of Poker
0 comments:
Post a Comment