Report cards for the British Grand Prix

Tactical race, that of Silverstone, almost a game of Poker. In the end the highest point comes from Mark Webber, who at the last minute mocks the Ferrari of an excellent Fernando Alonso. Massa also did well, fourth, immediately behind world champion Vettel. McLaren and Mercedes were non-existent on a weekend where the long-awaited rain only occurred during testing. Enjoy the reading!

Sebastian Vettel: 6,5st – With the best car of the lot he cannot be satisfied with what he has collected, and he knows it well. He can't because third is nice but not beautiful, he can't because he gets them from Alonso but above all because he also gets them from Webber, the so-called «Number Two Driver» good for all seasons but not for the summer, when points are scored. He loses the race on Saturday, when he falls behind - relatively, of course, he doesn't qualify 24th! - And at the start, when instead of recovering he loses a further position to the revived Massa. The early pit stop allows him to gain the position over Massa and Schumacher and in the end the final third place is almost logical. But nothing more. He remains the top driver at Red Bull, let's clarify this to avoid any misunderstandings. And Webber's renewal is, paradoxically, reaffirming this. But, but, but. Opaque.

Mark Webber: 10 – Like a beautiful game of Poker. Cinema has given us memorable scenes, around the green table, among chips, bluffs, champions and chickens to pluck. And his race really reminds us of a poker game. Played with calm, tranquility, but above all the steady hand of someone who knows they have a royal flush in their hands. Of hearts, or rather of Bulls, Rossi, with wings. He dutifully stays behind Alonso for 95% of the race, starting with the soft tires and staying there with the hard ones, placing a few sharp ones here and there to make it clear that yes, he's still there, watch out. Then on the last hand he places you a all in scary, he invites you into his game and then raises with everything he has. With the certainty, we reiterate, of having a royal flush. At that point you can only go and see, and remain in your underwear. Oh God, not in his underwear, for Fernando to arrive second given the conditions - and the situation of two months ago - is still half a miracle. But the stakes in this last hand are taken by the Australian. By now you will have understood that the person writing to you has a soft spot for Mark, there is no point in denying or reiterating it. But if on the one hand he makes us exalt him when he runs well, on the other he often makes us punish him excessively when he makes mistakes. And so the postcard from Silverstone is this: him coming in behind Alonso, thinking about it for a moment then overtaking him and at the same time setting the fastest lap up to that moment. Banquo wins, gentlemen. And whose turn it is below. Ace.

Jenson Button: 5,5nd – We said in the last races that he is practically not understanding anything. So, power of team play, what does the team do? He finally puts a mediocre car in his hands. So, to give him back his confidence, to tell him "Come on, this time let's make a draw". He is so excited at the idea that he initially misses out on Q2, in conditions - it must be said - that are limitless, so he offers a sleepy, rear-guard race, in which however the best positioning is on the last lap, tenth. Which makes him grab a very small point which certainly doesn't help the standings and maybe not even morale, but which is still worth something. Not much, of course, but the silver arrow seen at Silverstone appears not only blunt but also crooked. Without speed, without grip, without consistency. Paradoxically his best race in the last two months. And I said it all. Ramshackle.

Lewis Hamilton: 6,5 – Years pass, times change, but in the end the great existential questions always remain the same. Who we are? Where do we come from? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Does onion go into amatriciana? In modern motoring, is the car or the driver worth more? And as with all these questions, the answer to the last question is also a matter of debate and in progress. The introductory bulletin wants to make you reflect on this aspect. At the start of the season, McLaren had a sensational advantage over ALL the competition. At Silverstone the silver pair finished eighth -LH- and tenth -JB- and it is difficult to immediately assign specific blame to the drivers. But in the non-immediate? Let me explain. If last year when Renault took the step of the shrimp we took it out on Senna and Petrov, why should we now be soft on Lewis and Jenson? Because an F1 car cannot be made with Meccano, you might say, and therefore it is simplistic to blame only those behind the wheel. And you're right. But only partially, perhaps. However, to cut it short, Lewis simply didn't have more at Silverstone. More than an eighth place. This would earn him a good mark, also because he doesn't make any mistakes - we curiously see him pass Rosberg's Mercedes three times - and collects the maximum. But this whole story doesn't fully convince us. And that's why we fly low. Disappointing practically everyone. But that's our business. Confused.

Fernando Alonso: 10th – He plays his poker game very well, at his best. Also because she doesn't have a pair of sevens in her hand, like the McLaren duo, but a nice poker of aces. Or rather, on Friday you have a miserable pair of aces, but you change three cards and on Saturday you find yourself with this splendid poker. Mix of skill, timing, and even a bit of luck, there's no denying it. She plays the game on Sunday well, she leads the dance from the start, gradually everyone gets up from the table, well plucked. And when in the end there are two of them left, him and a tall Australian with a big jaw, for a moment he thinks that his poker is also enough to make him take home the house. But it doesn't take much for him, once there are two of them, to understand that on the other side the point holds, it holds true. The Spaniard is a splendid player, and as a champion he still tries to lure his opponent into his net, muddying the waters. But on the last hand he is forced to call, and Bulls' royal flush [red and with aces, we reiterate] beats his excellent poker of Aces. He played it well, but nothing can be done against a royal flush. However, he still has the satisfaction of getting up from the table with more money than he beat him to, at least for now. And in a championship - a World Series, one might say - this counts almost more than a temporary defeat. Wise.

Felipe Massa: 7,5 – Do you know what pleases us most? Being able to talk about him again as a real pilot. Not as a strictly negative comparison, but as a pilot. That is, using the same yardstick that you use with 90% of your colleagues. And we especially like this if, from these ordinary gauntlets, a good performance emerges. Feisty, tough, for once even without mistakes. Good at not losing his head in qualifying, excellent at the start to overtake Vettel - who overtook him at the pit stop -, spirited in overtaking Schumacher, despite having a tire crisis. Of course, if we take it for granted that RB and Ferrari were the best cars at Silverstone, he remains the last of the Top Cars to reach the finish line. But if we then analyze in detail we realize that yes Fernando was superlative but that he also performed well. And therefore he deserves every vote. Also for the good resistance put up against Räikkönen's return. At this point he could even be reconfirmed, we venture. What do you say? Welcome back.

Michael Schumacher: 7,5 – In the hypothetical poker game above he would be the classic pain in the ass player. What he always goes to see, on all his trips. That he slows down the game with raises of a few pennies only to complicate things and to snatch nickels away from hands that have little or nothing to say. And that, invariably, he consumes almost all of the nest egg in the first half of the match only to then have to stand by and watch, even with good points in hand, in the second half due to lack of cheap raw material. And it's not clear why they make him play this part often. Bah. After a splendid qualifying, this time too they place him as train conductor and he obeys, disciplined, blocking the large group behind him as much as he can and ruining - legitimately, for goodness' sake - the races of Massa, Vettel and Räikkönen. But anyway, evidently Mercedes can't come up with anything better. In the end, however, he manages to come out and the momentum - all tires - with which Hamilton passes for the final seventh place is worth the vote we give him. Also because it's another slap at Rosberg. Think people think…

Nico Rosberg: 4,5th – Half a vote less because to make his mediocre result worse there was also a pit stop - pass the joke - McLaren model. Or 80s Williams. But there is really nothing to save from his weekend. Impalpable, slow, evanescent, he manages the unlikely feat of being passed three times [!!!] by Hamilton's McLaren, which as you will remember was not going very fast. And in all this he suffers, heavily, the cumbersome shadow of his teammate who, unlike him, fights, elbows his way, shows himself and all in all collects. A bad weekend can happen, especially if the car is more inconstant and imprecise. But he must wake up, immediately, so as not to fall into a downward spiral as happened, say, to a certain JB. Not received.

Kimi Räikkönen: 5,5th – This too is a provocation. But with a meaning. If it is true, as it seems, that his car is the best of the lot at race pace, it is absolutely unacceptable that he is still without a victory. It's not because his blanket is always too short, something is always missing. Whether it's qualifying, the start, the pit stop, peeing during the break, pooping at the end of qualifying, and so on. Then another thing is also true, let's be clear, in his defense. If Lotus goes fast in the race because it's kind to the tyres, it can't help but struggle to get them up to temperature in qualifying. This ça va sans dire. But this time too he puts in his effort, missing the hole at the start and remaining a lifetime behind the little train led by Schumacher. In the final with a clear track he goes like a train but by now it is too late, and in fact Massa misses out on overtaking with an error in the last km which relegates him to fifth position. Something is always missing, we said. This time he sufficed. We are bad and we realize it. But this is the moment of the leap in quality. They are throwing away too many points. Lazy.

Romain Grosjean: 5th – And speaking of provocations or mockery, Romain is another of those who make our hands itch when we talk about it. How much goodness wasted, really. If the races started from the second lap he would be leading the world championship. Unfortunately, instead we start from the start, then there is the first corner, the second, the third, and so on until the finish line of the first lap. And emerging unscathed is always an achievement for the Frenchman. In this case it is not clear who is responsible - if it exists - for his contact with di Resta [even though he seemed to be behind him], the fact is that he loses the front wing and has to stop in the pits. His comeback is furious, gritty and impeccable, and leads him to finish immediately behind his teammate. A sign that the speed was there, that the potential was evident and that the handle is not lacking. But then, we say, why the same story every time? All things considered, it doesn't even make much sense to sit here and think about the responsibilities of the contact. The fact is one: when there is an accident at the start he is ALWAYS involved. Something wrong. Between him and his teammate - we reiterate - they are throwing away a lot of points. Hasty.

Paul di Resta: sv – Ready-go and in the space of an amen he immediately finds himself on three wheels. The Lotus's front wing is too pointy for its Pirellis, evidently. He goes to the pits, changes tires, starts again, but the damage to the floor is too great and he has to retire. Sin. All in all unjustifiable, also because - apparently - he was hit from behind. So much for homophobia. Kaputt.

Nico Hulkenberg: 5,5 – He goes for broke in qualifying by choosing a very aerodynamically loaded set-up which actually makes him fly on Saturday - keep in mind that he had to pay a penalty for replacing the gearbox - but which in the race, in dry conditions, slows him down. Literally. Despite this, it holds up well in a more than dignified manner, sailing steadily into the points. In the end, however, the team made a mistake and in the final laps was practically without tyres. He tries to resist as best he can, to defend his position, but first he gives in to Senna then he makes a mistake that causes him to lose his position both from Button - and let's not add anything else... - and from Kobayashi. In the end he will be twelfth. It's true that he started fourteenth, but it's also true that he doesn't do the Incredible Hülkenberg race that qualifying would have suggested. Sufficiency therefore eludes him, but only slightly. Ordinary.

Kamui Kobayashi: 4,5 – Provocation for provocation: provocation squared, you might say. No, that's not the point. The provocation is this: in our opinion the Sauber is a title car. Yes sir. At least that of these last 2-3 races. The problem is and remains the pilots. Not so much because they're not smart, but because there's no occasion when they don't pull off one of the big ones. And what's more, the Japanese, specifically, seems like a distant relative of the one admired until last year. I don't know, it seems more clouded, less clear and effective. In flashes, in short. And what's more, he also carried the burden of the grid penalty. Maybe he feels the pressure from Pérez, who knows. The fact is that at Silverstone he starts well but then retreats and even knocks out three mechanics in the garage. And no, that's not good, in short. The eleventh place finish is the least significant result of his entire race, paradoxically. Confused.

Sergio Perez: 7 – The same considerations made for Kobayashi apply, those regarding the value of the car and the handicap represented by the drivers. Although in reality - qualification aside - this time the good Checo has little to blame himself for. A fairytale start, which took him from 15th to ninth place in the space of one lap. And then an attacking conduct until he crosses paths with Maldonado. No responsibility, in the opinion of the writer [who is the one in charge here, among other things] for the Mexican, but yet another missed opportunity to bring home important points. Then from here it takes a long time to invoke the death penalty for Pastor. And in this, a bath of humility for Sergio - who among other things knows well what it means to go beyond the lines... - would be good. But there isn't much to reproach him for at Silverstone. Of course, with two top drivers, who knows where Sauber could go. But this is also the beauty of it, that is to see that the pilot is still useful for something, for better or for worse. Fiery.

Daniel Ricciardo: 5,5rd – He made a horrible start which wasted a lot of time. And the rest of the first lap isn't that great either. His race from then on is all in all anonymous, he is framed a couple of times at the start of the race while fighting with Button and little else. In the end he finished ahead of his teammate - who was also serving a retroactive penalty on the grid - without particular infamy and without praise. It's difficult to ask for more from him, by his boss Franz Tost's own admission. What is certain is that starting better perhaps would have helped. But it makes us smile a little when we think that Alguersuari and Buemi were eliminated because they "lack the potential to become stars". One wonders if it was the right choice at this point. Or if Ascanelli's priority rather than the drivers, Tost&co shouldn't have been the car. But now what's done is done. He only missed the mark for the first lap. Asleep.

Jean-Éric Vergne: 6 – Even in this case it is hard to invent something. Because the car is what it is, because the dry doesn't give the [often false] hopes that a wet race hands down to everyone, and because, moreover, starting penalized by five positions on the grid in similar conditions is not exactly like make thirteen in the football pools. Having said this, and despite all the distinctions, the Frenchman brings home the maximum possible regarding the potential of himself and the car he drives. This passes the convent, alas, and this is what to be satisfied with, alas. And he himself admits it when at the end of the race he says "these are certainly not the results to rejoice about". While waiting for the aerodynamic updates for his car, we give him a pass because all in all - despite finishing behind Ricciardo - his handicap weekend was free from errors. But no more than six. It has to be enough for him. Stretched.

Pastor Maldonado: 4 – «An idiot, if ever there was one. Because only if you're an idiot, with a capital C, do you invent a trick like the one given to Pérez during free practice." This is how we wrote in Munich. And it's not as if things have improved much since then. It's going strong, it's undeniable. But he has a propensity for frankly embarrassing silliness. Halfway between recklessness, impetuosity or simple imprudence. Perhaps the temperament also has something to do with it, both indomitable and restless. Now, we wouldn't be the ones calling for punishments for what is and remains a racing accident. But he screwed up, and it's right that he gets a bad grade on his report card. Without rancor but with firmness. There are really too many points wasted now. How far away it is, Barcelona… Nervous.

Bruno Senna: 7 – The strength of the relaxed nerves. In terms of pure performance, his teammate is probably not worth it. And he often took them this year. But at Silverstone he was the author of a wise, shrewd, almost far-sighted race. He was at the back for a good part of the race, until the final stages, when with a correct strategy he found himself in a position to recover and climbed up to ninth place. We see him practically only at the end, but tactical behavior like this is welcome if he brings home the loaf in the end. The qualifying issue remains - but here the conformation of the car also has something to do with it, which on Saturday is on average always less efficient than on Sunday - and the consistency issue: on certain days it is there, see Silverstone, on other days it tends to to fall asleep too much. But he is still growing and learning. And from the perspective of evaluating the performance, the former RAF airfield deserves a good rating. Placid.

Heikki Kovalainen: 6,5 – For once he doesn't perform his most popular routine, the cannonball start. Indeed, he even collides with another car, even losing ground. Very rare case. Just as emotions are very rare during his race. Caterham is faster than HRT and Marussia and slower than all the others. So usually the only reasons of interest in races with a linear progression like Sunday's are the duels - real or presumed - with the teammate. This time, however, he says goodbye to the company even before leaving. So much so that he didn't fall asleep halfway through the race. Although we're willing to bet that he pulled a couple of yawns, yes sir. Maybe between one game and another with the Angry Bird. One eye on the road and another on the smartphone. Power of modernity. Delirium [ours, forgive us]. Bored.

Vitaly Petrov: sv – It doesn't even start. His engine becomes the Unmoved Mover of Aristotelian memory. Good engine for philosophy but not for racing. Sin? We say yes, but we're not convinced either. In the sense that he will have been less bored in the pits, given how things went. Philosopher.

Pedro de la Rosa: 6,5 – He crosses the finish line, and this is already - as usual - an achievement. He even takes the luxury of risking an alternative strategy to mock Marussia. Obviously it doesn't work out, but the mere fact of having tried is commendable. It means that we are slowly moving from the logic of survival to that of living. Of course, running is another thing, but step by step it doesn't mean that you can't get closer to that step too. In any case, he is always there. He is not a phenomenon but he is worth much more than the car he drives, just as his motivation is much higher than what you would expect from someone of his age behind the wheel of a single-seater like the HRT. May God preserve him, we also need people like him. Stoic.

Narain Karthikeyan: 6 – We also get some good laps in front of Pic's Marussia. Which - incidentally - had lapped above 107% of the time limit in official practice and was only admitted to the Grand Prix by way of exception to the regulations. But this means nothing: credit to merit and credit to Narain for those very few rounds. Then the rear tires run out, and the pace - which is already what it is in normal conditions - definitively collapses. It's once again endearing to see him almost throw himself off the track during dubbing. With a priceless reverence and education. Like a child who suddenly finds himself faced with his idols. Oops, maybe he means it. Excited.

Timo Glock: 6,5 – It's almost strange to hear him talk after the finish line without complaining about something. Perhaps - maliciously - one might say that what happened to De Villota made him understand that the real problems are elsewhere. Or, much more probably, because for once he has returned to wearing the stripes of undisputed team leader. Not because he doesn't have them, mind you. But because on more than one occasion Pic's performances have made some people turn up their noses as to his real motivation. But not him this time. Faster in qualifying, more effective in the race, he even keeps up with the Caterhams for a while before returning to the position that best suits him, that is, between Tony Fernandes' cars and the HRTs. Correct in dubbing, flawless in driving, calm in the face and optimistic at the end of the race. I would say that there is plenty of sufficiency. Found again.

Charles Pic: 5,5 – This time he struggles, starting from qualifying, where he fails the 107% limit and can only start by virtue of a special concession. In the race he remained behind the HRTs for several laps, too many, before freeing himself from them and leading a solitary race until the checkered flag. Of course, staying behind de la Rosa until the second pit stop doesn't speak too much in his favor. You suffer from the difficulties in qualifying - it's still a debt - but he could have put in a little more determination in the race. And it is for this reason, only for this reason, that we deny him sufficiency. We'll see if he can make up for it in Germany. As we have already written above, a bad day, especially if you drive a car like this, is a venial sin indeed. Acquitted.

Manuel Codignoni
www.f1grandprix.it