British GP: "Number Two" driver, Webber takes perfect win

July 11 '10

Mark Webber won his first British Grand Prix in style. ?Not bad for a number two driver? radioed Webber to his race engineer after the end of the race.

Lewis Hamilton finished second for Mclaren in front of his home crowd, while Mercedes' Nico Rosberg bagged third.

The Race in brief
Webber overtook his teammate Sebastian Vettel at the start, with the latter experiencing a tyre puncture only seconds later. While the German had to make a short trip to the pits for a new set of tyres, Webber increased his lead from Lewis Hamilton in front of the pack.

Ferrari?s Fernando Alonso had another start to forget, losing 2 spots and dropping to 5th place after the first few corners. He slightly touched his teammate Felipe Massa?s car while trying to defend his position, causing the Brazilian's right rear tyre to burst. Massa then visited the pits and returned to the track in 23rd place.

Although only a couple of seconds separated Webber and Hamilton in front, the trailing group, headed by Renault?s Robert Kubica, dropped no less than 20 seconds to the leading duo until the first round of pit stops. After each driver went to the pits to get new tyres, Webber emerged once again in front of the field, ahead of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg (who passed Kubica thanks to a great team work in the pit lane).

Alonso tried to pass the Pole himself in order not to lose contact with the Top 3 positions, but shortcut a chicane while pushed by Kubica out of bounds ? and passing the Renault driver ? which later got him a drive-through penalty from the stewards. Just when he was about to make his drive-though run, the safety car was deployed due to debris coming out of Pedro de la Rosa?s car. His rear wing practically disintegrated in the start/finish straight, as there was a slight contact between him and Adrian Sutil on the pit straight.

The Spaniard was forced to make his pit lane run when the SC went in, which dropped him to 16 overall.

In front of the field, Webber had no problem maintaining his 1st place in front of Hamilton, while Rosberg did the same in front of the second McLaren driver Jenson Button. The reigning world champion had a wonderful start and climbed all the way to 7th place (from 14th on the grid) after a few laps, which he later turned into 4th place after a good pit stop strategy (added Alonso?s penalty).

Webber the ?Number Two? Driver
Prior to the Saturday qualifying, the Austrian team decided to take the front wing of Webber?s RB6 and hand it to Vettel, resulting in the German driving to pole position in Q3. While obviously furious with the decision, Webber kept his cool and decided to deliver the response on track, winning his first British GP in career and becoming the winningest F1 driver this season (to date).

?Not bad for a number two driver,? Webber told his race engineer via radio at the end of the race, hinting that what happened in Silverstone will still haunt him from now on.

At the press conference after the race, Webber continued to voice his frustrations, insisting that he would have never signed a one-year extension with Red Bull had he known he will be treated the way he was in the UK.

?Yesterday was really a unique situation, and it was the first time we had one bit. I would never have signed a contract for next year if I believed that was the way going forward. I was disappointed. We will see how it goes in the future, I will keep doing what I am doing and I hope it is enough.?

?I have had a few hurdles in my career, sometimes privately as well, so I think you can judge a person's character by how they come back from adversity. Some drivers have that, I've had a bit more than others. It can work but obviously it is not how long is a piece of string - you have to make sure it is not constantly happening because it can test you too much but if the balance is right it can put some fuel on the fire,? added Webber.

The Race as it happened via James Allen
Heading to Hockenheim in two weeks time, Lewis Hamilton leads the drivers championship with 145 points. His team mate Jenson Button is second in the standings with 133 points and Mark Webber climbs to third with 128 points.

British Grand Prix Race times

1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 52 laps 1hr 24m 38.200s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +1.3s
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes-Mercedes +21.3s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +21.9s
5. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +31.4s
6. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari +32.1s
7. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +36.7s
8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +40.9s
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes-Mercedes +41.5s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +42.0s

11. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes +42.4s
12. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari +47.6s
13. Vitaly Petrov Renault-Renault +59.3s
14. Fernando Alonso Ferrari-Ferrari +62.3s
15. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari +67.4s
16. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth +1 lap
17. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth +1 lap
18. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth +2 laps
19. Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth +2 laps
20. Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth +2 laps

Rtd. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 44 laps completed
Rtd. Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 29 laps completed
Rtd. Robert Kubica Renault-Renault 19 laps completed
Rtd. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 9 laps completed


Fastest lap:
Fernando Alonso Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.874s lap 52



Thanks to autoevolution for the article. Image(C) daylife

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