MOTOR SPORT:FERNANDO ALONSO capitalised on a rare Sebastian Vettel pit stop error to sweep to his first victory of the year at the British Grand Prix yesterday.
Red Bull Racing’s day ended in recrimination, however, when Mark Webber was told by his team not to attempt to pass Vettel for second in the closing stages.
In the run-up to the race weekend, Ferrari driver Alonso had said that after six Vettel wins from eight races his best chance of staying in championship contention was to sit back and wait for the defending champion to make some mistakes. He didn’t have to wait long.
At the start, in damp conditions, Vettel had assumed his usual position at the head of the field, the German passing pole winner Webber off the line.
Alonso, after applying pressure to Webber into turn one, was forced to settle back into third and the fans in the grandstands exhaled, sat down and prepared for the apparently inevitable Vettel victory march.
For once, though, it didn’t happen. In his first stint, Vettel built a solid, seven-second gap back to Webber, but after taking on dry tyres in his first pit stop, the German struggled to get heat into them and was chased down by his team-mate, who had switched to dry rubber a lap earlier.
Alonso, too, began to fly on the dry tyres, retaking third after being robbed of the position by Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel bounced back as his own fresh tyres came up to temperature. But the damage had been done and by the time of his second stop the title leader was still not clear of either Webber or the hard-charging Alonso. And it was in the second stop that the race swung towards the Ferrari driver.
First, Webber endured a slow stop, which dropped him down the field, but more surprisingly, a lap later, Vettel was left sitting in his pit box for crucial seconds as his crew had a rear jack problem. The delay was enough to allow Alonso to power past and claim the lead.
From there the Spaniard was unstoppable, and he took the chequered flag more than 16 seconds clear of Vettel.
“It is a huge boost for us,” said Alonso of the win. “We knew that Silverstone, like Barcelona, was difficult for us, so winning here is a good motivation for everyone and gives us confidence approaching the next few races.”
The Ferrari driver, who now sits third in the championship table with 112 points, 92 adrift of Vettel, admitted, however, that a single win did not amount to a title charge.
“We will try to enjoy the moment, the win and work hard. There are not championship thoughts at the moment because the gap is massive to Seb.”
After dropping back after his slow pit stop, Webber fought back, first by closing down Felipe Massa to claim fourth after the third stops and then to take third place when he forced his way past Hamilton, the McLaren driver having been forced to go defensive and save fuel or run the risk of not finishing the race.
The pass put Webber in touch of Vettel and the Australian seized the opportunity, pressing hard for a way past. It prompted his pitwall into action, the message going out for Webber to hold position and not attack his team-mate.
It was a directive he pointedly ignored. Over the final four laps Vettel and Webber tussled hard, the German making his car as wide as possible, Webber attempting to batter his team-mate into submission.
In the end he could find no way past and after the race Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner insisted the call had gone out to prevent a collision.
“I can understand Mark’s frustrations but we cannot give away a load of points,” he said. “We did not want to see our drivers in the fence in the last two laps, which is how it would have ended up. Mark should be fine with that, he is a team player.”
The Australian, though, was far from fine with the call.
“Of course I ignored the team, as I want to try and get another place,” he said of the “four or five” times he had been asked to stay behind Vettel.
“Seb was doing his best and I was doing my best. I don’t want to crash with anyone, but that was it. I just want to race to the end, so with four or five laps to the end, they started to chat to me about holding my position.
“Of course, they want the points, but I also need to try and get some more points as well.”
With Vettel also insisting that the call was right on the grounds that “the last thing you want is to do something bad for the team”, it is a row that is likely to rumble on.
Last year at Silverstone the team was embroiled in a similar row when Webber was denied a front wing, which went onto the German’s car. The Australian, however, won the race and memorably called over the radio that it was “not bad for a number two driver”.
With the team delivering a repeat performance this year, it seems the team has taken him at his word.
1 F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:28:41.196secs
2 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:28:57.707
3 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:28:58.143
4 L Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 1:29:10.182
5 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:29:10.206
6 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:29:41.861
7 S Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:29:46.786
8 N Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 1:29:56.738
9 M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1:29:59.108
10 J Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 1:30:00.304
11 A Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:30:00.908, 12 V Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:30:01.877, 13 R Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 14 P Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 1 Lap, 15 P di Resta (Brit) Force India at 1 Lap, 16 T Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps, 17 J d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps, 18 V Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps, 19 D Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 at 3 Laps. Not Classified: 20 J Button (Brit) McLaren 39 Laps completed, 21 S Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 25 Laps, 22 K Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 23 Laps, 23 J Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 10 Laps, 24 H Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 2 Laps.
Drivers' World Championship
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 204pts
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 124
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 112
4 Lewis Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 109
5 Jenson Button (Brit) McLaren 109
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 52
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 40
8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 34
9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 31
10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 28
Manufacturers' World Championship
1 Red Bull 328pts
2 McLaren 218
3 Ferrari 164
4 Mercedes GP 68
5 Renault 65
6 Sauber-Ferrari 33
7 Scuderia Toro Rosso 17
8 Force India 12
9 Williams 4
10 Lotus F1 0
11 HRT-F1 0
12 Virgin Racing 0
