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We can easily say that the British Grand Prix was the most talked about race this year. A very dramatic race that had major talking points in both good ways and bad. Mercedes and Pirelli were in the limelight but for quite different reasons. Let’s take a look at how the race panned out for the teams:
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Mercedes
They had the perfect qualifying, locking out the front row. Home hero Hamilton was elated to put his car on top and will be happy with his 4th place finish after dropping back to 22nd in the initial part of the race. Rosberg started in 2nd and finished in 1st. He will have no complaints this weekend. His 2nd win this season will surely make him happy and hungry for more. Although the team had a great weekend, equaling their best finish, they still need to improve their race pace to make sure they can go ahead and fight, rather than capitalizing on others misfortunes.
Red Bull
This team qualified on the 2nd row. A good position to start but considering it’s Red Bull who have the qualifying master Vettel with them, they need to find those crucial tenths to put them back on top on a Saturday. Race-wise, Webber drove amazingly after a dodgy first lap incident with Grosjean. Another lap would’ve handed him the win.
Vettel lost out on a sure shot win, but no team has a 100% reliable car. Nothing can be done about a gearbox failure. The team cannot blame anyone for such a misfortune and must continue their good form for the rest of the season in their hunt for the 4th consecutive championship. Vettel still leads the championship by 21 points, which is quite a good margin at this point of the season.
After a disastrous qualifying, Alonso and Massa finished in 3rd and 6th. The team will be elated after a good finish to a disappointing weekend where the Italian team lacked the pace to close in on their rivals. Alonso’s drive leaves everybody speechless everytime. He took a chance by pitting after the Vettel incident and that proved to be a very good move as he made 5 places in the last 6 laps of the race.
Massa, on the other hand, will be happy with his 6th place after starting from 11th. He needs more of these good races to stay in a Ferrari next year, although I think he has had many chances and Ferrari need to look at other options now. This result means Ferrari have dropped to 3rd place in the Constructors championship, 3 points behind Mercedes.
Lotus
The Lotus team looked like they could give Red Bull a tough fight through the year but that hasn’t been the case. After a great start, the team have let down their star driver Raikkonen a few times and the race last weekend was another one of those missed opportunities where a call to stay out during the safety car period caused Kimi to lose a podium finish. Grosjean, on the other hand, retired from the race.
Force India
What a run this team is having this year! Race after race, they go on to prove how much they have improved and this race was no different. Paul Di Resta drove a wonderful race, finishing in 9th after staring in 21st. Sutil, who at one point was running in 3rd, finished in 7th. This further extends their lead from the McLaren team to 22 points.
If they hang on to this lead until the summer break, then it is almost certain that they will finish ahead of the McLaren team which will be a great boost to their confidence level.
Torro Rosso
At the beginning of the weekend, it looked like this team will have a great race. Ricciardo put in an amazing performance in qualifying to start from 5th, but finished in 8th. It could have been better for him but this is still good. Vergne was another one of the tire failure victims. After damage to his car, the team decided to retire his car.
McLaren
Another disappointing race for the Woking-based team. Their 2nd consecutive race without points after finishing in the points for 64 races. This stat speaks a lot for itself. They need to concentrate more on next year’s car and avoid making the same mistake.
Button finished in 13th and Perez suffered a retirement after two tire failures during the weekend. Right now, it looks like an even tougher year ahead for the team who are currently 6th in the Constructors championship.
Williams
A great achievement for the Williams team who started their 600th GP this weekend. The only thing to be happy about this weekend is that their drivers finished in 11th and 12th, which is their best finish all season long. They are yet to score a point this season.
Sauber
Hulkenburg scored the team’s only point in 5 races. After a great performance last year, this year has been a step back for this midfield team. They have a long way to go to match last year’s performance or even close the gap to their midfield rivals.
Pirelli
The sole tire supplier was under a lot of criticism all year long, and the events of the British Grand Prix just went on to add to the Italian company’s bad fortunes. The way things went during the British Grand Prix is just unacceptable for this level of motorsports.
They need to improve and they need to do it now. FIA have given the go ahead to sort out the problems by using any means available. Let’s hope this works and the drivers get to actually race rather than looking after the tires!
