Great Britain: Webber with style

Mark Webber won at Silverstone after a race he controlled to perfection. The Australian has clinched his third Grand Prix of the season, but the double that Red Bull had such high hopes of achieving, following the qualifiers, was not forthcoming.
 
Sebastian Vettel, the other Red Bull driver, could be justified in feeling some regret. The young German started in pole position but, at the first corner, Webber, 31, took the lead and never looked back. “It's special, because I had already won here in Formula Ford and now in Formula 1,” declared Webber. “My car was perfect from start to finish,” he said. Throughout the weekend, the two team mates hammered the competition, carrying off the three free trial sessions, the front row on the grid and victory.

Relegated to last place after his puncture at the beginning of the race, Vettel fought vigorously to get back into the points and not fall behind in the drivers' rankings. Nevertheless, it is now Webber who is leading the dance at Red Bull, with a seven-point lead over his team mate, although still lagging seventeen points behind Lewis Hamilton, who finished second at Siverstone and leads the Championship. 

A tough race for Renault

The British Grand Prix will not be figuring in Renault's hall of fame, although everything started well on Friday, when Robert Kubica clocked the third-fastest time in his R30 during the first free trial session.

The Pole, who started sixth and was third after the first corner, could legitimately have believed he would finish in the points as he has done regularly since the second Grand Prix this season.

However, fate decided otherwise and a problem with transmission obliged him to retire. “After the pit-stop, I had a fine tussle with Fernando Alonso, but he overtook me by cutting across corner N° 8. The team said he should allow me to overtake him but he did not have the time to do so, as I fell victim to transmission failure,” he said. “All I could do was head back to the garage and retire.” 

As for Vitaly Petrov, he finished the race in 13th position, having fallen victim to a puncture following the neutralisation of the race by the Safety Car when he was lying tenth. “I did my best and I am happy to have finished the race as that provides us with useful data, and provides me with valuable experience on the circuit.” The next race is a fortnight hence, in Hockenheim, for the German Grand Prix.