British Grand Prix – Race

Looks like it’ll be a dry race, just like it was for Qualifying yesterday.

Provisional grid: HAM, ROS, VET, WEB, DIR, RIC, SUT, GRO, RAI, ALO; BUT, MAS, VER, PER, HUL, MAL; BOT, GUT, PIC, BIA, VDG, CHI

The FIA announced “Paul di Resta has been excluded from Saturday’s qualifying results after his Force India was found to be underweight in post-session checks at Silverstone.” So DIR has dropped from P5 to P22.

However, BBC reports “Giedo van der Garde starts at the very back after a grearbox change, moving Paul Di Resta up to 21st”.

So the revised grid is: HAM, ROS, VET, WEB, RIC, SUT, GRO, RAI, ALO, BUT, MAS, VER, PER, HUL, MAL, BOT, GUT, PIC, BIA, CHI, DIR*, VDG* (*see penalties above)

Air temperature 21°C; track 31°C; wind 7.4m/s; dry
Tyre choices this weekend are the hard (orange) prime tyre and the medium (white) option compound.

Cars are on the grid; tyres still in warming blankets, but we know the top 9 will be on the same tyres on which they set their qualifying times
BUT qualified P11 but moved up to P10 by DIR’s penalty, so BUT and everyone behind him have a choice of their starting tyres

HAM leads everyone away on the formation lap
Everyone appears to be on the option (medium) tyres except BUT, VER, HUL, GUT, PIC, VDG & DIR
Radio for HAM reminding him to back the grid up so he’s not sitting still (without any cooling) for too long
Long wait for the back markers to take their place

01/52: Poor start for ROS
VET to P2 before Turn 1
Contact in Turn 1 – was that WEB involved?
MAS up from P11 to P5

02: HAM, VET, ROS, SUT, MAS, RAI, RIC, GRO, ALO, BUT
Damage to WEB’s front wing – he’s down in P14
ALO takes P8 from GRO
Radio for WEB confirming front wing damage “like Canada”

03: DRS enabled
HAM fastest lap 1:38.760
DIR up to P17

04: HAM f/lap 1:38.384
Replay of the start shows GRO tag WEB into Turn 1

05/52: HAM, VET, ROS, SUT, MAS, RAI, RIC, ALO, GRO, BUT
HAM f/lap 1:38.249
ALO attacking RIC

06: HAM f/lap 1:38.194
PER has passed his teammate, relegating BUT to P11

07: Replay shows an easy DRS-assisted pass for PER as he blasted past BUT on Hangar Straight

08: HAM f/lap 1:38.170
VET f/lap 1:38.105
WEB takes P11 from BUT
Left-rear tyre failure for HAM!
HAM limping back to the pits

09: VET inherits P1
HAM finally back to the pits – quick check for damage and the Mercedes mechanics send him out – he’s dropped to dead last

10/62: GRO pits, as does DIR
MAS off – puncture

11: ALO & WEB pit
New front wing for WEB
Are teams changing tyres sooner as a result of the two punctures?
Slow trip back to the pits for MAS

12: RAI, RIC pit; BUT too
GRO f/lap 1:37.960
GRO passes his teammate RAI
ALO past RAI too

13: ROS, SUT pit; HUL too
WEB f/lap 1:37.376
RAI attacking GRO but has to back out

14: VET pits – rejoins P1 still ahead of ROS
WEB f/lap 1:37.165
PER pits; only VER, MAL, BOT & PIC yet to stop

15/52: VET, ROS, SUT, ALO, RAI, GRO, RIC, PER, WEB, BUT
ROS f/lap 1:36.743
VER left-rear failure – that’s three

16: VET f/lap 1:36.698
Safety Car deployed
MAL, BOT, PIC all pit
Radio for VET warning him to stay off the kerbs

17[SC]: Not clear why the SC was deployed; no accidents; is it so the marshals can clean up debris?
MAS pits

18[SC]: Red Bull say they found cuts in VET’s left-rear tyre at previous stop
Marshals busy cleaning the track; sweeper on at Turn 15

19[SC]: Radio for ROS warning him of the kerb at Turn 4

20/52[SC]: VET, ROS, SUT, ALO, RAI, GRO, RIC, PER, WEB, BUT; HAM=P14; MAS=P22; no retirements
Sweepers still on track

21[SC]: SC in at the end of this lap
SC pulls off and VET wastes no time picking up the pace

22: WEB all over PER … and takes P8

23: Drivers are still using the kerbs, despite the engineers telling them to stay off them
HAM down the inside of GUT but has to back off

24: DRS enabled again
VET f/lap 1:36.634
This time HAM makes the move stick and takes P13 from GUT

25/52: VET, ROS, SUT, ALO, RAI, GRO, RIC, WEB, PER, BUT
VET f/lap 1:36.273
BOT and VER fighting over P15 and MAS looking to pass them both
MAS squeezes past VER … and then takes P15 from BOT

26 = half distance: HUL and VER pit – HUL has slow puncture

27: Radio for HAM telling him (off because) he’s overlapping brake & throttle use

28: Radio for BUT about graining

29: WEB inside GRO for P7

30/52: RAI pits from P3; rejoins P12
VET, ROS, SUT, ALO, RIC, WEB, GRO, PER, BUT, DIR
GUT pits – new nose – that’s his third stop

31: ALO pits, followed by GRO
Unsafe release of ALO?

32: WEB pits
HAM attacking DIR

33: Radio for BUT – box this lap
RIC & BUT pit
ALO f/lap 1:36.204
HAM still trying to pass DIR
RAI catches HAM napping … and ALO passes the Mercedes too

34: SUT, PER, DIR all pit
WEB f/lap 1:35.418
WEB past HAM too – surely HAM should pit now
Radio for ROS – box

35/52: VET, ROS, RAI, ALO, WEB, HAM, SUT, RIC, MAS, PER
ROS pits – rejoins still in P2

36: VET pits – rejoins still P1
WEB takes P4 from ALO
DIR damages his front wing on the rear tyre of HUL

37: ROS f/lap 1:34.371
VER pushed into the garage
HAM & MAS pit
Great side-by-side racing between DIR and HAM

38: DIR keeping the Force India in front of HAM’s Mercedes
MAL and HUL pit – unsafe release?
It took more than a lap but HAM finally passes DIR and pulls ahead

40/52: VET, ROS, RAI, WEB, ALO, SUT, RIC, PER, BUT, GRO; retirements: VER
RIC attacking SUT
SUT making a strong defence

41: HAM sneaks past GRO for P10
GUT pits again – stop #4
VET slowing – ROS blasts past

42: VET coasting – no gears
ALO pits
Safety Car deployed – VET stopped in a dangerous place

43[SC]: ROS pits from P1 – precautionary tyre change?
WEB pits too
GRO, DIR, MAS all pit

44[SC]: Radio for ROS saying they see a blister – hopefully they mean in the tyres they’ve just taken off his car
Race control – lapped cars may now overtake – cars 23 (CHI) and 21 (VDG) can pass the SC

45/52[SC]: ROS, RAI, SUT, RIC, WEB, PER, BUT, ALO, HAM, GRO; retirements: VER, VET
Radio for WEB saying he’s on new options so no need to conserve tyres
No mention of any incidents under investigation, so the two “close calls” in the pit lane must have been OK
SC in at the end of this lap; DRS still disabled for 2 laps

46: ROS tries to make a break for it
WEB inside RIC for P4
ALO all over the rear of BUT – takes P7
PER has a tyre let go – more debris on the track

47: PER pits
WEB past SUT for P3
ALO past RIC … and HAM follows through
PER pushed back into the garage

48: WEB lines up RAI but the Finn hangs on to P2
Very close but WEB takes P2 into Copse
ALO looking for a way past SUT

49: DRS enabled
WEB 1.5sec behind ROS
HAM takes P5 from SUT
ROS picking up the pace; purple in Sectors 1 and 2
MAS catching SUT and ALO catching RAI

50/52: ROS f/lap 1:33.738 but lead over WEB down to 1.3 sec
ROS, WEB, RAI, ALO, HAM, SUT, MAS, RIC, DIR, GRO; retirements: VER, VET, PER
ALO uses DRS to take P3

51: ROS f/lap 1:33.531
WEB f/lap 1:33.426 but not closing the gap fast enough
HAM closing on RAI
DIR runs wide at Turn 5
HAM uses DRS and steals P4 from RAI

52 = final lap: WEB 1.1sec behind ROS
MAS past SUT for P6
GRO pits – pushed into the garage

ROS takes the chequered flag
WEB f/lap 1:33.401 – he was 0.7sec behind ROS
ALO takes third
HAM only 0.6sec behind ALO

Provisional result: ROS, WEB, ALO, HAM, RAI, MAS, SUT, RIC, DIR, HUL; MAL, BOT, BUT, GUT, PIC, BIA, CHI, VDG.
DNF: VER, VET, PER, GRO.