Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso wins thrilling British Grand Prix

• Alonso enjoys first victory of the season at Silverstone • Vettel ends up second while Button fails to finish Fernando Alonso won his first grand prix for nine months with the 27th victory of his career as Ferrari continued to improve their competitiveness. It was a memorable way for Ferrari to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their first win here. It was the Spaniard’s first victory since his win in South Korea in October last year. But the real thrills were taking place behind him, with Red Bull team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber battling it out for second place and Lewis Hamilton coming under increasing pressure from Felipe Massa. Vettel, who still managed to increase his lead in the world championship table by three points to 80, did hold off Webber to take second. But despite saying in the past that the two drivers were free to race, Red Bull gave Webber the chilling message on the last lap: “Mark, maintain the gap.” Webber though, appeared to ignore the message and continued to race Vettel until the end of the race. Hamilton had a brilliant afternoon. Starting in 10th place, with a car well off the pace over the weekend, he charged up the field, overtaking Paul di Resta to take sixth place, before moving up to fifth by passing the other Briton in the race, his team-mate Jenson Button. He eventually finished fourth. But it was another difficult day for McLaren. Button, making his 12th attempt to win a podium place in the British Grand Prix, failed to finish, retiring after a pit-stop mistake resulted in his front right wheel almost falling off. Hamilton only just finished the race, running out of fuel and having to slow down as Massa closed on him. Hamilton was brilliant but his recent criticism of the team was justified. But the day belonged to Alonso. He said afterwards: “This is a very special day for Ferrari and I’m very happy. It means a lot to all the guys who work for Ferrari.” Formula One Fernando Alonso Ferrari Motor sport Paul Weaver guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 10, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.