Whilst not quite the unexpectedly busy and eventful race we had at Valencia, the 2012 British Grand Prix provided more than enough twists and turns to live up to what is one of the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory. There’s a real uncertainty around the sport right now. Both in the paddock, as teams try and gauge just how their competitors’ upgrades are coming along, and amongst the fans. Only a fool would have argued Fernando Alonso would be leading the drivers’ championship at Silverstone back at Christmas, but look where we are now.
The winner was, however, Red Bull’s Mark Webber . They started the season with a slight splutter, but it seems that they’ve been quietly squirrelling away upgrades. Their drivers might not have dominated as they have done in the last two seasons, but they too have been putting in workhorse performances, regularly finishing well into the points. It hasn’t given them a lead in the drivers’ championship but it has given them a fantastic springboard from which to mount a substantial challenge in the latter half of the season.
A late challenge will be made all the easier if McLaren continue their nosedive. The de facto British team of Hamilton and Button had a woeful weekend. Button had yet another poor qualifying, although his starting position of P18 can be blamed largely down to Timo Glock’s timely spin on the start line. Hamilton has no such excuse, starting P8 and finishing P8. Neither looked like they had enough pace to take anything special home this weekend, and Hamilton himself expressed great dissatisfaction with the state of their cars. They started the season as far and away the best car, but it seems that they’ve stayed still as everyone else has moved forward around them..
There was another incident involving Maldonado. Inevitable as the rising and setting of the sun, aren’t they? He pushed Sergio Peréz off the track and out of the race, and Peréz then went on to accuse him of being “dangerous” and that all the drivers were concerned about him. Maldonado claims it’s all just racing, but the stewards disagreed, fining him £8,000 after the race. Although this incident in particular isn’t too bad, when you assess the bigger picture and see that he’s caused some sort of malicious or accidental in more races than you can remember you realise that something needs to be done about him.
He showed he can drive maturely in his win at Barcelona earlier in the year. Perhaps he is just too eager to lead races in a car that’s not quite of that pedigree, and this frustration and passion shows in his racing. Maybe he has a different interpretation of the racing rules than other drivers. Either way, he really should calm down now before he sees himself getting punishments that’ll keep him out of the car on race day.
So all in all it was a quietly eventful race. Not the most thrill-a-minute of the year, but the surprisingly great weather ruined a lot of team strategies. It could prove to be the turning point in the season, the race in which Red Bull really began to step up their game. Only time will tell.