2007 Formula One British Grand Prix

[Jack_Bauer]

Hot on the heels of their remarkable turn around in Magny Cours last weekend Ferrari were looking to build on their dominance in the opening practice sessions for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Ferrari definitely looked the strongest at the Northamptonshire circuit in testing in mid-June so look to be favourites to carry their French form into this weekend, and to get themselves firmly back into the title race.

Home favourite Lewis Hamilton managed to upset the form books slightly by taking P1 in the first practice session, a tenth or so ahead of the two Ferraris. Both McLaren drivers took a trip through the kitty litter on the outside of the tricky Priory Corner during the session, which wasn't exactly ideal preparation. But both recovered to set competitive times. The Ferrari drivers were less erratic, and both ended up very competitive and very closely matched on pace.

The second session most definitely belonged to Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn ended the session half a second faster than anyone else, and was the only driver of the day to drop below the 1.21s mark. Teammate Massa was second, but the real story of the session was a remarkable turn of speed from the Toyotas. The much-maligned Ralf Schumacher took P3 and Trulli P5, upsetting the McLarens who could only manage P4 and P6. Whether the Japanese squad will be able to carry their speed through to qualifying tomorrow or whether they were running much lighter than everyone else remains to be seen.

It wasn't all plain sailing for Raikkonen though, as he ran wide at the hugely quick Copse Corner on three separate occasions in the sessions. Fortunately he managed to keep out of the tyre barriers on the edge of the run off area, but the same couldn't be said for Adrian Sutil who put his Spyker F1 into the tyres at the team's home circuit. The other news story from this session was Jenson Button's absence, withdrawing from proceedings with a recurrence of a back problem picked up at Indianapolis two races ago. He should be fit for tomorrow.

Practice One Times

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.100 24 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.211 26 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:21.285 26 laps
04 F. Alonso McLaren 1:21.675 21 laps
05 N. Rosberg Williams 1:22.006 24 laps
06 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.107 25 laps
07 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.176 13 laps
08 A. Wurz Williams 1:22.216 23 laps
09 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:22.878 21 laps
10 R. Barrichello Honda 1:22.956 27 laps
11 J. Trulli Toyota 1:23.030 26 laps
12 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:23.037 24 laps
13 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:23.099 25 laps
14 G. Fisichella Renault 1:23.179 21 laps
15 J. Button Honda 1:23.517 17 laps
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:23.548 18 laps
17 M. Webber Red Bull 1:23.564 21 laps
18 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:23.618 15 laps
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.854 20 laps
20 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:23.954 25 laps
21 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:24.154 23 laps
22 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:24.172 30 laps

Practice Two Times

01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:20.639 35 laps
2 F. Massa Ferrari 1:21.138 30 laps
3 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:21.381 34 laps
4 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:21.381 39 laps
5 J. Trulli Toyota 1:21.467 35 laps
6 F. Alonso McLaren 1:21.616 35 laps
7 N. Rosberg Williams 1:21.619 40 laps
8 A. Wurz Williams 1:21.650 37 laps
9 M. Webber Red Bull 1:22.137 31 laps
10 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:22.143 40 laps
11 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:22.189 42 laps
12 G. Fisichella Renault 1:22.257 39 laps
13 R. Kubica BMW 1:22.372 41 laps
14 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:22.428 23 laps
15 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:22.486 34 laps
16 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:22.487 38 laps
17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:22.511 39 laps
18 C. Klien Honda 1:22.833 45 laps
19 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.840 42 laps
20 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.105 35 laps
21 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:23.113 35 laps
22 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:23.720 30 laps

[Kitdy]

Looks like the season is about to get interesting... Ferrari is climbing back into it and Kimi is racing much better these last two races. It would be nice for Lewis to win at home however.

[scubasteve87]

Lovin seeing kimi getting up to speed as he and hamilton are my faves, also this weekend's off the track climate (the stepney/coughlin/honda mess) should add to the drama and give us something else to talk about.

[faksta]

Finally!! Kimi strikes back :D Yep! Maybe all these talks around Ferrari were just true?

BTW: it would be the biggest mess for Formula-1 if they are really gonna throw Silverstone away...

[Jack_Bauer]

Lewis Hamilton takes pole position for his home Grand Prix with a stunning last ditch lap to send the thousands of British fans at Silverstone wild. Of the "Big Four" drivers at the front of the grid Hamilton was looking the least likely to secure the top spot throughout the whole of qualifying. Alonso looked strong and was favourite to make it three Silverstone poles on the bounce, but he was beaten by Kimi Raikkonen who somehow held it together despite dipping into the grass on the exit of Luffield. He would undoubtedly have lost a tenth or so in that mistake which left the door open for Hamilton, and he took his opportunity with both hands. He did it with a quite brilliant second sector, a full two tenths faster than anyone else. He got a little bit crossed up on the entry to Luffield but managed to hold it on the apex and launch it towards the line to take pole.

Kubica was 'best of the rest' behind the McLarens and Ferraris, continuing his remarkable comeback from injury. But the real surprise of qualifying was Ralf Schumacher putting in easily his best performance of the season to take sixth place, and a rare win against his qualifying specialist teammate Trulli. Next were the two Renaults, Heidfelds BMW, and Trullis Toyota rounding out the top ten.

Red Bull had a solid but unspectacular qualy with Webber and Coulthard in eleventh and twelfth respectively. Wurz put in a much improved performance for thirteenth place, showing what might have been for Rosberg who missed out for Williams with some kind of engine problem in Q1. Barrichello did OK in what is clearly a struggling Honda car to take P14 ahead of the two STRs. There was a curious end to Q1, and a disappointing one for British fans after Davidson mysteriously dropped it in the complex which brought out yellow flags that seemed to hinder Jenson Button's final flying lap. As a result both drivers were knocked out in the first round in front of their home fans, bitterly disappointing for both drivers. Sato also lost out along with the two Spykers.

So tomorrow's race will see a genuine chance for the first home victory for a British driver since Coulthard in 2000, but it won't be easy. The Ferraris looked to have a slight advantage on race pace judging by their practice times, which means getting through Copse in first place will be crucial for Hamilton. If Raikkonen manages to squeeze through he will be looking VERY strong for the victory, especially as the McLarens are perhaps slightly lighter on fuel than the Ferraris.

Provisional Grid

1. Hamilton
2. Raikkonen
3. Alonso
4. Massa
5. Kubica
6. Schumacher
7. Kovalainen
8. Fisichella
9. Heidfeld
10. Trulli
11. Webber
12. Coulthard
13. Wurz
14. Barrichello
15. Speed
16. Liuzzi
17. Rosberg
18. Button
19. Davidson
20. Sutil
21. Sato
22. Albers

[Cyco]

Great "Senna" move by Hamilton to get the pole having started his lap in the closing seconds of the session. Seeing Ralf S on top of the time sheet with 5 minutes to go was not expected by me.

[faksta]

Well, Ralf looks really surprising this weekend. Don't even know what to assume...

[Cyco]

Well if he had of stayed there emergency services the world over would have been overwhelmed with calls from people having heart attacks

[Zytek_Fan]

Well done Lewis!

Good to see Kubica continuing positive form.

I really don't think Toyota's performance is going to last.

[Street_Dreamer]

Hamilton was brilliant today, but Alonso was all-round better until that final session. What surprised me was that Alonso isn't on pole, as he was the fastest in 2 quali sessions and was absolutely electric.

[Street_Dreamer]

Well, Ralf looks really surprising this weekend. Don't even know what to assume...
Someone's drugged him up big-time i reckon...

[ScionDriver]

Should be quite a race with the top 4 being so closely gapped. It will be interesting to see if Kimi can get past Lewis from the start two weekends in a row, no doubt that Lewis went back and watched the film and figured out what he did wrong and how to counter balance it.

[faksta]

Start.
Felipe Massa: "Hey, mum!! (takes hands up and shakes them)"
Pity...

How did Alonso appear on the first place after his first pit-stop???

[faksta]

By the way, what is a little yellow tow-truck standing near to pits?

[Jack_Bauer]

Kimi Raikkonen makes it two consecutive race victories in the space of barely a week, and sending out a real warning sign to the championship leaders. The Finn is back, and then some. He ought to have started from pole but for a mistake in qualifying yesterday, but showed that he really was the class of the field in the Ferrari with an imperious display in the Silverstone sunshine.

He didn't have it all his own way though, with both McLarens putting up a strong fight at various points in the race. Home favourite Lewis Hamilton got away well from pole and led throughout the first stint despite fierce pressure from Raikkonen, who clearly had the stronger car. Kimi forced Hamilton to go defensive through Bridge and Priory at one point which gave him a sniff of a chance into Brooklands, but Hamilton shut the door aggressively and Kimi had to back off. But Hamilton was the first to blink in the pit stops and released Raikkonen who put in the fastest laps of the whole race. He comfortably got out ahead of Hamilton after the first stops with his devastating pace and looked to have got himself into the box seat for the race victory.

Fernando Alonso had other ideas however, as it turned out he was significantly heavier on fuel than the other front runners and managed to take advantage of his clean air out front and jump from third all the way to first after he short-fueled in the pits. It then looked a two horse race as Hamilton was struggling with his McLaren down in third place. Alonso needed to build a healthy gap while his car was light, but couldn't get more than about 4 or 5 seconds ahead of Kimi. This was crucial as Raikkonen kept his cool and pushed when necessary to exit his second stop ahead of the reigning champion. One crucial factor aside from the fuel was the tyre tactics. McLaren calculated the harder tyre would be the stronger race tyre, Ferrari went with the softer tyre for the first two stints and the Scuderia were proved to be correct. Slight tactical errors from the McLaren team for the second weekend in a row, which will be encouraging for Ferrari.

The other big story of the race was Felipe Massa's eventful race. His Ferrari mysteriously stalled on the grid and he had to start from the pit lane. He spent the rest of the race fighting his way through the field from the back of the pack. His car was clearly extremely quick and the first half-dozen or so places were like taking candy from a baby. His progress was slowed somewhat when he came up to the likes of the Renaults and BMWs. It looked with about ten laps to that he had a chance to make it all the way to fourth, back up to his original grid slot, which would have been a remarkable achievement. However, he met his match in young Robert Kubica who put in another excellent performance for fourth place, managing to fend off Massa's much faster car for a full ten laps to the checkered flag.

Heidfeld was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap down in sixth, but his performances seem to have dropped off a little of late after a superb start to the season. The Renaults of Kovalainen and Fisichella rounded out the points in 7th and 8th but in truth they were nowhere near the kind of pace to get them up with the top three teams. The Hondas managed to get up to a decent 9th and 10th place by virtue of an unusual one stop strategy for both cars, jumping ahead of the Williams and Red Bull cars in the process. Coulthard had a ferocious battle with Nico Rosberg for 11th place which seemed to last all race long near enough, with Rosberg ending up on the grass at Club at one point. Coulthard was the eventual victor of that little battle. Wurz, Sato and Albers were the other three drivers to reach the finish.

There was an unusually high rate of attrition in terms of mechanical failures in the midfield and towards the bottom of the grid. Webber was first out with a hydraulic failure, Sutil's Ferrari engine blew up on the Hangar Straight, both Toyotas retired with mysterious suspension problems, as did Davidson, and Liuzzi stopped out on the track with a handful of laps remaining. The only person to retire through an accident was Scott Speed after tangling with Alex Wurz in Club corner and breaking his front suspension.

So in the end the fairy tale British victory for Hamilton in his first ever home Grand Prix didn't quite materialise. But he continued his incredible consistency with his ninth consecutive podium finish and stayed comfortably in the lead, but not quite as comfortable as he was before the weekend. Alonso made a couple of points up on him, and below that significantly Kimi Raikkonen managed to get back ahead of his team mate Massa in the standings and really edge himself closer to challenging the McLarens. The teams now head off for some testing at Spa, and McLaren know they have their work cut out for them over the next couple of weeks before the Nurburgring. They are starting to fall behind Ferrari in pace terms, and they need to buck the trend ASAP or Ferrari will be breathing down their necks in no time. It really is 'game on' for the rest of the season...

1. Raikkonen
2. Alonso
3. Hamilton
4. Kubica
5. Massa
6. Heidfeld
7. Kovalainen
8. Fisichella
9. Barrichello
10. Button
11. Coulthard
12. Rosberg
13. Wurz
14. Sato
15. Albers
ret. Liuzzi
ret. Trulli
ret. Davidson
ret. Speed
ret. Schumacher
ret. Sutil
ret. Webber

[faksta]

Good race. I did like it really.

[john14]

I forced myself to watch this and my opinion is still Formula One is more boring than living in hell.

[faksta]

U think that living in hell is so boring? :D

[Zytek_Fan]

Pretty much all the points positions were filled by the top 4 teams...

[aNOBLEman]

Good to Kimi is back to winning. Maybe he'll finally get that elusive first Driver's Championship.

[faksta]

Good to Kimi is back to winning. Maybe he'll finally get that elusive first Driver's Championship.

He was so close to this a couple of times... He should be remunerated at once!!

[torque55]

kimi's win was great, but massa race was more enertaining. had he not stalled he would have prevented hamilton from his 9th podium.