Nico Rosberg Monaco 2013

NICO ROSBERG WINS A PIRELLI SHREDDING BRITISH GRAND PRIX! ASĀ Hamilton, Massa, Vergne and Perez all suffer punctures…

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg claimed victory in a hugely dramatic British Grand Prix overshadowed by four major tyre failures and which witnessed a retirement for Sebastian Vettel which has breathed unexpected new life into the 2013 title battle.

On lap eight, when polesitter Lewis Hamilton hopes of a second home victory – and the hopes of the packed Silverstone crowd – were dashed when the left-rear tyre spectacularly blew in a firework display of rubber as he came onto the Wellington Straight.

But rather than proving an isolated incident, over the next seven laps repeat failures were seen on the left-rear tyres of first Felipe Massa, and then most scarily of all at 190mph on the run to Stowe, Jean-Eric Vergne to put the spotlight more than ever on the safety of Pirelli’s tyres.

While the exact reason for the left-rear tyres – the final one of which claimed McLaren’s Sergio Perez late on for the second time this weekend – are unknown, drivers were subsequently, and almost unprecedentedly, told by their concerned race engineers to stay away from the circuit’s multitude of high-speed kerbs with teams also increasing their cars’ tyre pressures at their subsequent stops to guard against further blow-outs.

Vettel, having run second to Hamilton in the early laps, seemed on course for his fourth win of the season but ten laps from home his Red Bull RB9 started crawling around the end of the lap and ultimately gave up the ghost as he make it onto the pit straight.

With another caution period, the as, with Mark Webber, after a disastorous start from fourth, racing back through to the back of the winning Mercedes with Fernando Alonso third and Hamilton, having at one point dropped to the back, fourth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

The British Grand Prix
Silverstone, Britain;
52 laps; 306.198km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Rosberg        Mercedes                   1h32:59.456
 2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault           +     0.765
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari                    +     7.124
 4.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +     7.756
 5.  Hamilton       Mercedes                   +    11.257
 6.  Massa          Ferrari                    +    14.573
 7.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +    16.335
 8.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    16.500
 9.  Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes       +    17.993
10.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari             +    19.700
11.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault           +    21.100
12.  Bottas         Williams-Renault           +    25.000
13.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes           +    25.900
14.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari             +    26.200
15.  Pic            Caterham-Renault           +    31.600
16.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          +    36.000
17.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +  1:07.600
18.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault           +  1:07.700
19.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Webber, 1:33.401

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Perez          McLaren-Mercedes             47
Vettel         Red Bull-Renault             42
Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           36

World Championship standings, round 8:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel        132        1.  Red Bull-Renault          219
 2.  Alonso        111        2.  Mercedes                  169
 3.  Raikkonen     100        3.  Ferrari                   168
 4.  Hamilton       87        4.  Lotus-Renault             126
 5.  Webber         87        5.  Force India-Mercedes       59
 6.  Rosberg        82        6.  McLaren-Mercedes           37
 7.  Massa          57        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         24
 8.  Di Resta       36        8.  Sauber-Ferrari              6
 9.  Grosjean       26       
10.  Button         25       
11.  Sutil          23       
12.  Vergne         13       
13.  Perez          12       
14.  Ricciardo      11       
15.  Hulkenberg      6