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Monday, July 9, 2012

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber won the 2012 British Grand Prix yesterday at Silverstone, having started second on the grid behind Alonso’s Ferrari.

The second qualifying session of three was red-flagged due to heavy rain; but, despite this, Webber secured second on the grid behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, only bettered by under five hundredths of a second. Michael Schumacher, driving for Mercedes, started third with Webber’s team mate Sebastian Vettel filling out the second row of the grid in fourth.

The race itself started in dry weather, Alonso—running on hard tyres—took an early lead, with Webber—having opted for soft tyres—in pursuit. At the first pit stop, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton stayed out and took the lead, briefly duelling with Alonso before being passed. Shortly after the pitstop, Williams’ Pastor Maldonaldo and Sauber’s Sergio Perez had a collision, resulting in the Perez being knocked out of the race and Maldonaldo being fined €10,000 (£7,931, $US12,273).

Also receiving a fine was Perez’ team mate, Kamui Kobayashi. for a dangerous entry into his pit box that injured three of his team’s mechanics. According to Kobayashi, “The front wheels locked, I couldn’t control the car, and this is how I overshot the pit box.”

Alonso managed to hold off Webber until the final set of pit stops, but his rules-mandated switch to soft tyres left him unable to compete with the better grip of Webber’s Red Bull car. Webber caught him, overtaking Alonso with comparative ease on the 48th lap and going on to cross the line some three seconds ahead of the Spaniard.

With this victory, Webber is the second driver to win two races this season. After the race, he described himself as “…absolutely over the moon, absolutely rapt…”.