With left rear tyres blowing and rubber all around, Nico Rosberg drove in tune with the conditions to claim a perfect finish, winning his second race this season.
Lewis Hamilton started on pole for his home race much to the delight of the spectators. He got a good start off the line with his team mate Nico Rosberg behind him, followed by the two Red Bulls. The Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso were charging up the order after starting at the back of the top ten. By lap 5, they were up to 6th and 8th respectively. Vettel too has managed to get past Rosberg. After a good start, lap 8 saw Hamilton suffer a puncture to his left rear tyre, forcing him into the pits and dropping him down to 22nd and last. Sebastian Vettel now led the race, with Rosberg behind him in P2. Just 2 laps later, Massa suffered a left-rear tyre blowout and slipped off the track, limping back to the pits after managing to keep his car going. Adrian Sutil now had his Force India up in 3rd place. Rosberg came into the pits on lap 13, and came back out still in 2nd with Perez in 3rd, Sutil down to 4th and Alonso now up to 5th; a lap which saw three overtaking moves. On lap 15, the third left-rear tyre blew with Jean-Eric Vergne rolling his Toro Rosso into retirement. The British Grand Prix has always had a 50% chance of seeing the Safety Car in action, and this time was no different, as the tyre blowouts and debris on the track were reasons enough to bring it out.
Six laps later, the Safety Car finally came in and all the drivers were radioed to stay off the kerbs, or pretty much anything which didn’t have a black line on it. Come lap 26, all teams were advised to up their tyre pressures by 2 psi. Lap 30 saw the pit stops start with Raikkonen, Alonso, Sutil, Rosberg and Vettel coming in within the next 5 laps. On lap 42, Vettel slowed and came to a stand-still just after the entrance to the pit lane on the start-finish straight, which brought a roar from the grandstands. A gearbox issue meant that Vettel was out of the race. This also meant the reappearance of the Safety Car. Three laps later, the race resumed and Webber was on a charge, passing the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo on lap 46, just before a left-rear tyre blowout, the fourth of the race, saw Sergio Perez come into the pits. With the damage to the floor he had suffered, the team recalled the car into retirement. Webber went on past Adrian Sutil and then Raikkonen for 2nd, as Alonso and Hamilton both got past Ricciardo. Sutil was next in line as Alonso, then Hamilton got past. On lap 50, Alonso passed Raikkonen to snatch the final podium position. The following lap saw Massa pass Sutil, and evn on the final lap, overtaking continued as Hamilton managed to squeeze past Raikkonen for 4th, putting the Finn down in 5th. Raikkonen, however, was set to take his 25th consecutive points finish as the race came to an end. A fine drive from Nico Rosberg saw him take the chequered flag for his second big win this season, after Monaco. Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso completed the well-fought-for podium places.
Vettel still leads the driver’s championship with 132 points, but his lead has been trimmed as Alonso is now on 111, and Raikkonen on 98. In the constructor’s, Red Bull are ahead with 219 points, Mercedes jump past Ferrari from 3rd to 2nd with 171 points to the scarlet team’s 168.
