British Grand Prix: Making his Mark

Sports Journalist

Monday 9 July 2012

I n the end, the threatened rain never materialised and the sun shone over Silverstone, but there was a dearth of genuine excitement throughout yesterday's British Grand Prix.

Alongside team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who was third, Mark Webber of Red Bull celebrates winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Picture: Getty Images

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Neil Drysdale

Perhaps it was the fact that most of the A-listers and sporting celebrities had decamped to Wimbledon, where there was drama in spades and a plethora of visceral scenes.

Maybe we had been spoiled by the fluctuating fortunes of the protagonists in this season's F1 campaign, but there was something "meh" about the fashion in which Mark Webber inexorably hunted down Fernando Alonso in the climactic stages and surged to the chequered flag for another Red Bull Racing triumph.

Webber, a bluff, no-nonsense Australian, with a sunny demeanour and a refreshingly honest approach to his job, is clearly one of life's good guys, and, as one who has eschewed the easy option of relocating to Monaco and paying less tax, deserves whatever success arrives in his direction. This was his second win at the circuit in the last three years and Webber is now 13 points behind Alonso in the title battle, with Vettel 16 points further back on 100.This latest victory, though, emphatically owed more to his team's tyre strategy and technical expertise than any individual brilliance from the veteran driver and, as such, relied more on pragmatism than panache. Indeed, even Webber himself admitted afterwards that he had been surprised by the relatively comfortable manner in which he and his employers had accumulated a fresh 20 points. "This win has taken a bit longer to sink in, because I don't think I've ever had a win when I've got the victory so late in the race," he said. "I don't think Fernando had the right balance at the end, but that can happen to any one of us."If the occasion was a vindication of the progress which Red Bull have made since the outset of their championship defence, it was also a desperately disappointing experience for the home contingent, with Paul Di Resta's race finished almost before it had started, following contact with an opponent, which led to a puncture. "I am not really sure what occurred. I turned into turn four and, suddenly, there was no pressure in the tyres," said the Scot. "It is unfortunate, but there is nothing you can do. Then, on the way back to the pits, the floor [of the car] was damaged and there was definitely no way we were going to continue after that. It has not been a great weekend, and we have not done much running, but we took a bit of a gamble."Mind you, nobody is harbouring excessive anticipation for Di Resta in 2012, but these words don't apply to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, the McLaren duo, who seemed capable of launching a sustained challenge against the Red Bulls in March, but whose recent travails suggest that their normally smooth-running organisation has been afflicted by a bagful of spanners in the works. Button, the poster boy for the petrol-head posse, was never in contention, either during Saturday's qualifying session (where he was a woeful 18th) or once the main event had begun. Despite eventually garnering a solitary point by finishing in 10th, two positions behind Hamilton, this was another instance where the McLarens appeared off the pace in comparison to their rivals. Hamilton, too, has served up intermittent glimpses of the qualities which earned him the world crown in 2008, but he did not enter this business to make up the numbers and, while doing his utmost to put a brave face on the outcome, and parade his PR skills by handing out doughnuts to spectators in the crowd at the denouement, he also vented his frustration that, once again, as has transpired in the last three years, McLaren are losing the plot."We are a long way away from the Red Bulls. It was a disappointing day in the sense that we wish we could have gone further forward and given more for the fans," said Hamilton, who completed his analysis with the damning assessment. "I pushed as hard as I could, but I didn't have any speed for some reason." Or, in other words, his car appears to have stalled since his team flew out of the starting blocks. Regardless of McLaren's reputation in the pit and paddock, there is only so much remedial surgery you can implement at the midway stage of the battle and, with Button a daunting 79 points in arrears to Alonso, the sensible option would be for the company to put all their backing behind Hamilton, who is still very much in the mix, albeit heading backwards.Ultimately though, on a weekend of exquisite thrills and tantalising tales of derring-do in London at SW19, Silverstone seemed to be akin to Webber – solid rather than spectacular.

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