Yesterday I decided to have a day off from the blog. This made sense because it would give me a chance to see the GP again at the idiotic time (3:00pm) that Fox chose to broadcast it and so I would have a greater opportunity to reflect upon events. The strange thing is that exactly the same things happened in the later broadcast - Vettel still won and Red Bull repeated their one-two victory.
Sebastian Vettel
Not that I was hoping for a different result; the Red Bull RB5 was clearly quicker than the Brawn BGP 001 throughout the weekend and the only chance for a decent fight between the two teams was if Barrichello managed to get the jump on Vettel at the start. Even then, the Red Bull's heavier fuel strategy meant that their two drivers would leapfrog Rubens in the first pit stop. That left Mark Webber as the only chance for a tussle at the front and Barrichello's retaining second spot put an end to that - Vettel sprinted away in the lead while Mark was held back by the Brawn.
Much has been said of Adrian's Newey's updates to the RB5 being a large part of their advantage at Silverstone and I am sure there is truth in that. We should not forget that Red Bull already had the edge on Brawn at high speed tracks, however, and the tale may be different on circuits where mechanical grip is more important than aerodynamic downforce. That should mean that we will not be presented with a second half of the season in which Vettel does a Button and runs away with every race; much more likely is that the two teams will swap the advantage from race to race, providing us with knife edge contests similar to the Ferrari/McLaren battles of the last two seasons.
In the meantime, Button will edge closer to the championship and almost certainly come out on top, albeit with a greatly reduced lead. That should keep everyone happy, I think.
But I was supposed to be looking at the race, not the championship. For those who are only interested in the first few places it may have been a bit boring, especially after Webber emerged in second after the first pit stops. Further down the order there were some great drives and battles, however. We were even treated to a renewal of the Hamilton/Alonso rivalry, Lewis holding back the faster Renault for many laps before Fernando at last managed to get through.
Felipe Massa continues to impress as the more formidable of Ferrari's driver pairing. He showed real consistency combined with pace as he made the best of his heavier fuel load and was duly rewarded with fourth place. In doing so, he passed Nico Rosberg who had been ahead until the the first stops. Williams must be wondering what they have to do to get Nico to the podium.
They are on the right track, however. Their fuel strategy was much better than of late and at last they gave Nakajima a fighting chance with a lighter fuel load for qualifying. It was a bit too light, however, and Kazuki went from fourth down to eleventh in the course of his first stop. Give the guy the same fuel as Rosberg and the team will have two cars in the points, I think.
Enough has been said about Button's problems at Silverstone for it to be unnecessary to add much. He was bound to have an off day sooner or later and it was just a pity that it came at the British GP.
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock did sound work to bring the Toyotas home in seventh and ninth, the car obviously happier on the fast corners of Silverstone, but the real revelation was Giancarlo Fisichella in his Force India. Tenth spot in a race with only two retirements may not sound much but, for the team, it was a huge encouragement, especially as Fizzy earned the place on merit, battling with the big boys and, at one point, passing two of them at once. The team must surely score their first points this season.
McLaren had a race to forget, the MP4-24 desperately unhappy and twitching its way around the twisty bits. Lewis did his best and put on a brave show in his fight for what ended up as 16th position. And Heikki was probably relieved to be taken out by Sebastian Bourdais's botched overtaking maneuver.
The BMWs were a bit better than of late, Heidfeld holding back Alonso for many laps while Kubica did the same for Hamilton. Thirteenth and fifteenth is not good enough, however, and the Beemer engineers need to burn some more midnight oil if they are to make the F1.09 anything like competitive.
As for Toro Rosso, they at least provide us with the interesting spectacle of a Newey design being both the fastest and the slowest cars in the field. Some of that must be down to the drivers and it must be said that Bourdais is proving a disappointment this season.
And I have not mentioned Piquet and Sutil. Perhaps that is a bit unfair on Nelsinho, in view of the fact that he finished higher up the order than his team leader for a change. And Sutil was handicapped by starting from the pitlane, after all...
Overall, it was not a bad race, although somewhat lacking in interest for large periods. It was always going to be hard to compete with the drama of the political fight, however, and the glorious sight of Max and Bernie retreating hastily from their previous stance of no return to Silverstone whatever the circumstances. It is amazing how quickly their minds have changed now that it is clear that their toys are going to be taken away.