Webber wins another controversial race

F1 Grand Prix, GP Great-Britain, Silverstone Circuit

Mark Webber has secured a solid win at Silverstone after taking the lead in the first corner of the race. Lewis Hamilton came in second, ahead of Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel fell down to 7th due to a puncture, while the Ferraris were hit by extremely bad luck once more.

Silverstone is hot and sunny at the start of the first Formula One race on the newer, 800m longer circuit.

As the lights went out, Vettel had a rather slowish start and could not retain his lead to his teammate starting from second place. Webber had the inside on the first corner and took the lead. Vettel was pushed to the outside at Becketts, used the run-off zone but upon re-entry met another car and had to deviate off track again, giving him a right rear puncture. It appears later on that the puncture was already caused in the first corner as Hamilton just cut his front wing into Vettel's rear tyre.

Felipe Massa also had to pit due to a right rear puncture, leaving Webber in the lead, marginally ahead of Lewis Hamilton. A few seconds away is then Roberg Kubica who moved up from 6th to 3th. Rosberg closely behind in fourth, ahead of Alonso who also had a dismal start.

Barrichello is 6th after 2 laps, followed by Schumacher, Button and Kobayashi.

9 laps into the race, Vettel is briefed that the team is looking into running this stint until the end of the race. His pace is not bad, but he needs to pick it up as the race leaders at the time are only 10 seconds behind him. If the leader manages to catch him, his race will be over as he will have to slow down to allow faster cars pass by.

Webber on the other hand is putting in his 9th fastest lap of the race after completing only 12 laps. He has 2.7s ahead of Hamilton and 18s on third man Kubica.

On lap 11 Di Grassi enters the pitlane with apparent technical problems. He stays in the car though so he might rejoin the action.

Apart from Massa and Vettel the first pitstop is made by Schumacher on lap 11 with many other drivers following in lap 13. Kubica and Alonso for instance pitted, while the two men ahead, along with Rosberg and Button stay out and all set impressive laps to improve their track position.

Rosberg eventually pits on lap 15 and moves up to third, ahead of Kubica who is now fighting hard to try to keep Alonso behind.

Hamilton stops on lap 16 and is still comfortably ahead of Rosberg who has Button behind him. The latter didn't stop yet however - but dives into the pits on the next lap.

At the same time Alonso gets past Kubica in a rather on the edge move. He braked on the outside and was ahead on the turn in, but as they entered the right hand corner 10 meter further down, Alonso was off track, starting off another radio discussion about whether Alonso had to back off again or not. He chose not to, and 3 laps later Kubica abandoned the race after crawling around Silverstone before entering the pitlane.

2 laps later, Alonso is handed a drive through penalty, which frankly is a very harsh judgement for what happened with Kubica.

On lap 26 De La Rosa loses a rear wing end plate and quickly loses pace.

On lap 28 the safety car is deployed to allow the marshals to clear all the debris that is on track from the rear wing, both the pit straight as well as on Hangar Straight. This is again terrible news for Alonso who will have to serve his penalty after the safety car period. The Spaniard will just end up at the back of the field and could invoke even more angry reactions after the debacle at Valencia.

The safety car is working out brilliantly for Red Bull. Webber puts in the fastest race lap right after the safety car, while Vettel moved up to 12th in just 2 laps. Alonso meanwhile is fighting in 16th position with Buemi.

On lap 37 Petrov is slightly through the grass but enough to allow Vettel an easy pass into 10th, right into the points and now right behind Hulkenberg, only for half a lap though as Nico quickly seizes for the much faster Red Bull. Proof of that is Webber's pace as he puts in laps that are a full second quicker than Hamilton.

On lap 40 Massa is in for an apparently unscheduled stop at Ferrari. He nearly lost it on track and likely pitted to replace a set of flat spotted tires.

By lap 42, is up in 8th after passing Michael Schumacher. Alonso appears to be less successful in his attempts to move up as he looks stuck in 13th place, behind Liuzzi.

As Vettel closes in on Sutil, it becomes clear why Alonso is having so much trouble with the Force India. The German is having serious issues trying to find a way along Sutil, just like Alonso who is trying each and every corner. Both Force India cars can defend their positions harshly thanks to their high top speed.

2 laps from the end Alonso is in the pits again, changing to soft tires after a rear puncture.

On the one but last lap, Vettel finally managed to pass Sutil and impressively pulls a big gap on the car which he struggled to pass for about 10 laps.

Nevertheless, Weber secured a great win at Silverstone, ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg. Button ended a close fourth but couldn't challenge third place due to running low on fuel.