Mark Webber Wins British GP, Alonso Finishes Second

Saturday’s qualifying session for the British Grand Prix was dominated by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who managed to grab the pole position but the Spaniard wasn’t able to hold on to this position until the end of the race as Red Bull’s Mark Webber managed to grab the first spot after overtaking Alonso in the last few laps of the race, after Fernando dominated most of the British GP. This is Webber’s second win of the season and he has narrowed the gap between him and Alonso who leads the drivers’ standings.

The qualifying session was one of the longest ever seen in Formula 1 as it was interrupted for almost two hours during Q2 due to heavy raining. It was a close battle between Alonso and Webber for the pole but Ferrari’s driver eventually grabbed the first place on the grid thanks to his fastest lap in Q3 of 1:51.746 while Webber did his fastest lap in 1:51.793. The third place on the starting grid was obtained by veteran Michael Schumacher with a time of 1:52.020. Behind him was Vettel and Massa who achieved his best result so far in this season.

Here are the results of the qualifying session for the 2012 British Grand Prix organized at Silverstone.

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 51.746s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 51.793s
3. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 52.020s
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 52.199s
5. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 53.065s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 1m 53.290s
7. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 1m 53.539s
8. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 53.543s
9. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 54.382s#
10. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault No time

11. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1m 57.009s
12. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1m 57.071s**
13. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 57.108s
14. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 57.132s
15. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault 1m 57.426s
16. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 57.719s***
17. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1m 57.895s

18. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 48.044s
19. Vitaly Petrov Russia Caterham-Renault 1m 49.027s
20. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault 1m 49.477s
21. Timo Glock Germany Marussia -Cosworth 1m 51.618s
22. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 1m 52.742s
23. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth 1m 53.040s
Dnq Charles Pic France Marussia -Cosworth 1m 54.143s

As far as the race is concerned, as we were saying earlier it was mostly dominated by Ferrari’s Alonso but towards the end of the race he had no other way but to let Webber pass who was considerably faster once both pilots changed tires. Alonso put on soft tires while Webber ran the last part of the race on medium tires. With only four laps to go, Red Bull’s driver managed to overtake Alonso and grabbed the victory. Vettel came in third while behind him was Massa who finally had a good race this season. Fifth and sixth places were taken by Lotus’ drivers Raikkonen and Grosjean, while Schumacher in his Mercedes AMG had to settle for seventh. Hamilton (McLaren) had a rather disappointing race and finished on the eight spot, followed by Senna (Williams) while the last point went to Jenson button (McLaren).

These are the results of the 2012 British Grand Prix:

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1hr 25m 11.288s 52 laps
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +0m 03.0s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +0m 04.8s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +0m 09.5s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault +0m 10.3s
6. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault +0m 17.1s
7. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +0m 29.1s
8. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +0m 36.4s
9. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault +0m 43.3s
10. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +0m 44.4s

11. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari +0m 45.3s
12. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes +0m 47.8s
13. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari +0m 51.2s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +0m 53.3s
15. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +0m 57.3s
16. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault +1 lap
17. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault +1 lap
18. Timo Glock Germany Marussia -Cosworth +1 lap
19. Charles Pic France Marussia -Cosworth +1 lap
20. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth +2 laps
21. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth +2 lap

Rtd. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 11 laps completed
Rtd. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 2 laps completed
Dns. Vitaly Petrov Russia Caterham-Renault Did not start

After nine races so far, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) leads the drivers’ championship with 129 points, followed by Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) with 116 points and his teammate Sebastian Vettel with 100 points. Lewis Hamilton has dropped to fourth place with 92 points.

In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull Racing leads the pack with 216 points, followed by Ferrari with 152 points and Lotus with 144 points. McLaren Mercedes holds the fourth position with 142 points.

The next race of the season will be organized on July 22 for the German Grand Prix which will be held at Hockenheim.