Silverstone, 11 July

If the fact that Fernando Alonso recorded the fastest race lap in the British Grand Prix confirms how much the F10 has improved in recent weeks, sadly Sunday’s final result did not reflect this: The Spaniard finished fourteenth, with team-mate Felipe Massa one place behind him. The race was won by Mark Webber for Red Bull, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, with Nico Rosberg completing the podium trio for Mercedes. Punctures for both our drivers and a contentious drive-through penalty for Fernando ruined their races, which had looked so encouraging yesterday afternoon, after they had secured third and seventh places on the grid.



As the lights went out, Webber got the better of pole man Vettel, with the German trying to squeeze past the Australian into the first corner. Vettel ran wide and then had to pit immediately with a puncture. Also pitting was Felipe, who had been running side by side with Fernando, the Spaniard not having made a very good start. The two F10s touched and the Brazilian’s right rear tyre was damaged and so the necessary stop dropped him to the back of the pack. At this stage Fernando was fifth, behind Webber, Hamilton, Kubica and Rosberg. On lap 12, the Spanish Ferrari man pitted earlier than planned to try and jump some traffic, but the move did not pay off and dropped him to twelfth place, although many ahead of him had yet to pit. However, the stop had not been enough to get him ahead of Kubica and by lap 16, Fernando was right up behind the Renault and was trying to pass him and one lap later, as he pulled alongside the Pole, he was forced to run wide over a kerb, but came out in front of the Renault. The Stewards took nine laps to decide to give the Spaniard a drive-through penalty for this move and he took it on lap 30. Unfortunately, this was immediately after the restart from a safety car period, so that Alonso had no option but to slide down the order. This ruined his race, because up to this point, Fernando looked set to make up for his poor start and was just one step away from the podium places, if he could pass Rosberg, as others in front of him such as Hulkenberg, had yet to pit.

After the safety car came in, Felipe was thirteenth behind Buemi’s Toro Rosso, while Fernando was sixteenth behind Liuzzi in the Force India. On lap 34, it was Fernando’s turn to pass Buemi after a lap long duel. However, there was even more trouble for the Spanish Ferrari driver, as slight contact with Liuzzi’s Force India meant he too had a puncture, which dropped him to fourteenth. On lap 40, having had to pit on the opening lap, Felipe came in again for a fresh set of tyres, after surviving a thankfully harmless spin into the gravel and took the flag behind his team-mate.

Behind the podium trio, fourth place went to Button in the McLaren, followed by Barrichello (Williams,) Kobayashi (Sauber,) Vettel (Red Bull) who was thrown a life line by the Safety Car which allowed him to make his way up to seventh, with Sutil (Force India,) Schumacher (Mercedes) and Hulkenberg (Williams,) filling the remaining points positions.

With no points for the Prancing Horse today, the Scuderia is still third in the Constructors’ championship, 113 points behind the leader, McLaren and 84 behind second placed Red Bull. Fernando and Felipe are fifth and eighth respectively in the Drivers’ classification.