Formula 1 – VC of Great Britain

The eighth race of this year's Formula 1 World Championship had everything a great race should have. Several sub-heroes, a dramatic plot, an "evil villain" and, above all, an interesting course. I can already say that it was the best grand prize of the year !

At the same time , qualification predetermined the race, let's say, clear reins. In the first two places in the order of Hamilton – Rosberg , Mercedes lined up. The second row was occupied by Red Bull in the order of Vettel – Webber, the third row belonged (after di Resta's disqualification) to Ricciardo and Sutil, the fourth row consisted of Grosjean – Räikkönen and only the fifth row was Alonso together with Button.

The start went well for Hamilton, Vettel, Sutil and Massa. On the contrary , Webber lost after contact with Grosjean, Alonso, who had a less than ideal start, and also Rosberg , who had perhaps the worst start of all, but still kept the third place in the end. In front of him was Hamilton, who was being chased by Vettel. Fourth was Sutil, fifth Massa . Only at the end of the top ten was Alonso cringing, and only at the very end was Webber driving at that moment.

During the first seven laps , the standings did not change much. The same pack of pilots circled the first five places, but Alonso started to get ahead with Webber and other pilots, at the border between the first and second ten. The shock came in the eighth round . Hamilton started a sad series of punctures and fell from first place to where Webber was driving after the start – that is, to somewhere around fifteenth place. Vettel thus moved to the front of the race, followed by Rosberg and, surprisingly, Sutil third.

Just three laps later , another pilot suffered a puncture – Felipe Massa in Ferrari had to swallow a very bitter pill, as he drove a great race until the fateful eleventh lap. After the puncture, the subsequent hours and the pit stop, he fell to last place. At the time of Massovi's crash, the first pit stops began. These took place without any problems and the order in the fifteenth round was as follows – 1. Vettel, 2. Rosberg, 3. Sutil, 4. Alonso, 5. Vergne.

However, just one lap later, another tire failed – this time Jean-Eric Vergne with Toro Rosso became a victim and the Safety Car came onto the track for the first time in the race. This helped some riders in the back positions (Hamilton, Massa) who regained contact with the riders in front. In the 21st lap, the race finally resumed in normal mode, but Vettel did not allow drama at the restart and kept the first place. On the contrary, it was expected when Alonso would defeat Sutil, or when Räikkönen would do the same.

But Sutil held on bravely and so another maneuver came. After a slight delay in the pits, Räikkönen got ahead of Alonso in the 31st lap! Mark Webber, who had nothing much to lose after the crash in the first lap, drove very discreetly. After pit stops, on the 36th lap , the order was as follows – 1. Vettel, 2. Rosberg, 3. Räikkönen, 4, Alonso, 5. Webber.

Alonso did not fare badly, who instead of Räikkönen's attack received a blow in the form of a loss of position at the expense of Mark Webber . At a similar time, on lap 37, Paul di Resta and Lewis Hamilton staged a beautiful duel that lasted over one lap. Both of them exchanged positions several times, but in the end Hamilton and Mercedes came out victorious. After the fight and specifically in the 40th lap, the standings were as follows – 1. Vettel, 2. Rosberg, 3. Räikkönen, 4. Webber, 5. Alonso.

In the 42nd lap , a small sporting tragedy came for Sebastian Vettel . The German's gearbox probably failed and he had to retire from first place. At the same time, he stopped his car on the finish line and the Safety Car came onto the track. This was used by Rosberg or Webber to drive to their last stop, while Räikkönen (second place), Sutil (third place) or Ricciardo (fourth place) remained on 10-15 lap old tyres.

At the end of the 45th lap, the retarder entered the pits and thus began a sprint to the end of the race . As expected, both Sutil and Ricciardo quickly lost their positions at the expense of Webber or both McLarens at the expense of Alonso, who stopped just before the Safety Car exit. The Spaniard also quickly made his way through Force India and Toro Rosso, leaving only the leading three in front of him – Rosberg, Räikkönen, Webber. The Finn soon lost his battle with Webber and soon gave way to the Alonso-Hamilton pair, who was greatly helped by the slow-moving car to catch up with the leading group.

Felipe Massa , who at the end of the race looked like he had been doused with living water, also climbed the ranks. His spread stopped only in sixth place, unfortunately he didn't have Räikkönen. There was still a fight in the top three, when Webber was able to pull Rosberg to 0.7 seconds, and that was still managed by Hamilton on Alonso. The places didn't change anymore, so Nico Rosberg drove to the crazy victory with Mercedes. Mark Webber finished second after a fantastic performance, Fernando Alonso finished third after a reliable performance and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth after another fantastic performance.

The next race is in Germany in a week.

Complete standings of the WC of Great Britain:

Rider standings after eight of the nineteen races:

Ranking of the teams after eight of the nineteen races:

Source: formula1.com