Formula 1 2013 British Grand Prix – Rosberg Wins Scintillating Scrap In Silverstone Sunshine
Qualifying In front of a capacity home crowd, Lewis Hamilton took a stunning pole position for Mercedes, blowing away his teammate by almost half a second in front of thousands of adoring fans. Rosberg made it another Mercedes front row lockout, taking a relatively unchallenged second as the silver cars showed their quality. They also saved tyres in the process, running scrub tyres in Q2 to preserve new sets for the race. Red Bull showed the practice form had weight as they took third and fourth behind the Mercedes, unable to challenge for pole but pleased with their result. Vettel pipped Webber by just one-hundredth of a second after Webber felt he didnt finish his lap perfectly. Di Resta did a brilliant job to snatch fifth place for Force India and was hugely pleased with it, as was Sutil in the sister car taking seventh just behind. With good tyre wear they felt they had a good strategic opportunity for the race. Torro Rosso had a mixed day, with Ricciardo really showing their hand as he took sixth, just shy of Di Resta and showed their excellent practice pace was no fluke. Vergne however made a mistake in Q2 on his fastest lap and only managed to get 13th place. Lotus continued to struggle for one-lap pace and were not as comfortable on the medium tyres as they had been on the hard compound. Grosjean picked up eighth place by a hair over Raikkonen in ninth, with both drivers hoping they can do more in the race. In a surprising lack of pace, Alonso only managed to get 10th place, initially running on the hard compound tyre then switching to the medium in Q3, with Felipe Massa only managing to get 12th after his challenging weekend with limited running time, leaving the Italian outfit a tough race ahead. McLaren started just outside the top ten with Jenson Button as he just missed out on Q3 to take 11th, but he was pleased with their improvements and their strategic position which allowed them to make any tyre choice they wished. Perez finished 14th and felt he had been unlucky in Q2 after being held at the weighbridge, but was also pleased with their slightly improved machine. Sauber took 15th place with Hulkenberg, who felt that hed got about the best they could have hoped for. Their car was difficult at high speed and twitchy with cross winds, and he suggested that rain would be their best hope for points. To continue the practice form, the Saubers sandwiched the Williams cars as Gutierrez struggled and only secured 18th, finding it difficult to get the power down out of corners. Maldonado was the first of the Williams in 16th, disappointed as he had hoped they would be closer to the top ten. Bottas was eliminated in Q2 for 17th place by his teammate, and felt they could have got both cars through, a disheartening result for Williams 600th Grand Prix. At the back, Pic took 19th and was really pleased with his final hot lap, looking forward to the race. Van der Garde focussed more on race set-up and took 21st between the two Marussias. Bianchi felt they didnt get the set-up quite right for the dry and wasnt able to challenge Pic, but comfortably beat the other Caterham, leaving them seeking advancement in the race. Chilton had a challenging day and took 22nd at his home race disappointingly, but felt their race pace was stronger Friday and hoped to make up more in the race.