British GP: Webber wins by mocking Alonso in the final, Vettel 3rd

Mark Webber wins the British GP, overtaking Fernando Alonso at the end who was in the lead until six laps from the end.

The Australian from Red Bull took advantage of the best strategy with the tyres, switching on the Hard tires towards the end which proved to be better than the Ferrari Softs. Alonso closes at 3": third place instead for Sebastian Vettel, who in turn tried to mock the Ferrari driver, while an excellent fourth place for Felipe Massa, who with the other Ferrari defended himself from a stratospheric Kimi Raikkonen with his Lotus at the end. Lotus took sixth place with Romain Grosjean, who beat Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, the big disappointment at Silverstone. Bruno Senna harpoons a ninth place with Williams which suffered an accident with its star Pastor Maldonado, 16th, while the Top Ten is completed by Jenson Button with the second McLaren. Of note are the 11th place of Kamui Kobayashi with Sauber and the 12th of Nico Hulkenbgerg with Force India, who left the track while he was ninth, while Nico Rosberg fared badly, 15th with Mercedes.

The sun is shining at Silverstone and the drivers are having to face unprecedented conditions this weekend. Missing from the lineup is Vitaly Petrov's Caterham, which had engine problems while lining up on the starting grid and will not start. Conversely, Charles Pic of Marussia will start, readmitted to the race despite not having qualified yesterday. Since the drivers used wet tires yesterday, the choice of compounds with which to start the race was left free: Alonso surprisingly chose the Hard tyres, while all the leaders adopt the Soft tyres, only Hamilton among the Top Ten uses the hard tyres, like Spanish.
At the start Alonso starts well and defends himself on the right from Webber, who avoids him by trying to pass him to the outside without success. Behind a fantastic start by Massa who beats Vettel and is fourth behind Schumacher, while the German from Red Bull himself has to fight against Raikkonen, maintaining fifth place. On the third lap Alonso has a six-tenths advantage over the Australian, while Massa attacks Schumacher without hesitation who closes him at the Cox curve: the Brazilian loses contact and is attacked by Vettel, who twice tries to pass the Ferrari. The Paulista, however, is in the day and maintains fourth place. Grosjean is forced to go to the pits to replace the nose cone while Paul Di Resta, who was rear-ended by the Frenchman from Lotus, is forced to retire: it is the first stop for the Force India driver of the season.

On lap Alonso has a 1"9 lead over Webber and 6"1 over Schumacher: Massa follows his former teammate but even using the DRS he is unable to get close to the Mercedes. Behind them Vettel is threatened by Raikkonen, followed half a second by Maldonado and Hamilton. Sergio Perez and Bruno Senna, authors of an excellent start to the race, close the Top 10. At the back, 13th place for Rosberg, ahead of Button, while Grosjean is 18th. On lap 11 Vettel changes tactics: he enters the pits and mounts Hard tires, returning to 15th place. The following lap Massa uses the DRS and finally passes Schumacher on the inside: he is now third, while Maldonado and Perez also stop for the pitstop. The two South Americans go out together, there is a great fight between them with the Mexican from Sauber attacking the Venezuelan on the outside, the Williams driver swerves and hits the Swiss car in full force. The two cars go off the track, Perez is forced to retire, while Maldonado is forced to return to the pits with his right rear tire destroyed. The tire battle begins: Schumacher, Massa and Webber pit and Vettel's strategy is fully successful, as the Ferrari driver comes out behind the German. On lap 16 it's Alonso's turn: the Ferrari driver remains on the Hard. Hamilton is now in command, but he has to stop: the Englishman doesn't stop and the Spaniard is forced to attack the McLaren, he passes it but the battle doesn't end there. In fact, Hamilton uses DRS and counter-overtakes the Ferrari, before Alonso closes the matter by definitively passing the Briton. Hamilton's prank cost the Asturian seven tenths: he now has 4 seconds on Webber.

Finally the McLaren also makes the stop: the Briton returns in seventh position, using the Soft tyres. ahead of him it's a battle between Raikkonen and Schumacher, with the Finn passing the German's Mercedes on lap 24. Hamilton also passes the former Ferrari driver, who seems to be suffering from the Stuttgart car, which is in trouble with its tyres. At mid-race Alonso is in the lead with a 5"6 advantage over Webber and 9"3 over Vettel; Massa 4th precedes Raikkonen, Hamilton, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Hulkenberg and Senna. On lap 32 Vettel in the pits puts on Hard tires: 20 laps to go, we need to see Ferrari's tactics, which could go for the two stops. On lap 34 Webber returns, mounting the Hards, followed the next lap by Raikkonen's Lotus: same strategy for the Finn. Red Bull hopes that the choice is the right one: there are 16 laps to go and in the meantime Massa stops and mounts the Hard tires again. What will Alonso do? The Spaniard is always substantially performing, lapping in a time of 1'36"5: Webber gains several tenths, dropping below the 1'35" mark. The Prancing Horse mechanics mobilize, Alonso returns to the pit lane: it's the 38th lap, he mounts the Softs and maintains first place, but there are 14 laps left until the checkered flag and the Ferrari driver has a 3" advantage over the Australian. In the meantime, Kobayashi in the pits overwhelms four mechanics by coming wide while braking: a dangerous and potentially dramatic situation, but only one of them suffers a slight injury to his leg.

Alonso flies on the Softs and takes the lead over Webber to 4"4, but Red Bull soon makes the best of the tires count and the Australian moves to 3"3 with ten laps to go. On lap 44 the "cans" attack: Webber gains 1"2 in just one lap, now the Ferrari driver only has a 2"2 advantage. Ferrari seems to be in agony, the tire choice seems to be wrong and with seven laps to go the contact between the two is now a done deal. At this point, second place is also at risk for the Spaniard: Webber is half a second away on lap 46, Vettel is 6"4, everything is in the hands of Fernando, who fights strenuously, defending first place and significantly slowing down the driver of Red Bull. But Webber doesn't give up and manages to get through Turn 4 to take the lead. The Australian is in the lead but Alonso now has to defend himself from Vettel, who is 4"3 down with three laps to go. The Reds are hot on their heels: Massa also has Raikkonen in his exhaust, who is attacking the Brazilian and who only relieves the pressure on the F2012 thanks to a long shot. Alonso, on the other hand, manages to reduce the damage and holds Vettel to 3"1: Webber extends the lead over Ferrari to 2"5 and on the last lap crosses the finish line solo, winning his ninth career race, the 30th for Red Bull . Alonso manages to save his position, he is still in command of the World Championship, with 129 points, 13 ahead of Webber; Vettel is third on 100 points. In the Constructors' category, Red Bull leads on 216 points, while Ferrari is second on 152.

Lorena Bianchi

Here are the results of the race:

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h25:11.288 2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.060 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 4.836 4. Massa Ferrari + 9.519 5. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 10.314 6. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 17.101 7. Schumacher Mercedes + 29.153 8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 36.400 9. Senna Williams-Renault + 43.300 10. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 44.400 11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 45.300 12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 47.800 13. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 51.200 14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 53.300 15. Rosberg Mercedes + 57.300 16. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap 17. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 18. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap 19 Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap 20. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps 21. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:34.661