Rosberg takes British Grand Prix victory as fourth-placed Hamilton suffers puncture and Vettel is forced to retire

PUBLISHED: 14:42, 30 June 2013 | UPDATED: 00:12, 1 July 2013

Nico Rosberg won the British Grand Prix that nearly wasn’t. The 100,000 fans at Silverstone and a global television audience of millions watched in astonishment as tyres exploded, sending their rubbery debris flying down the track.

But unknown to the fans and drivers, race director Charlie Whiting, sitting in his control room above the circuit, was contemplating making one of the most momentous decisions in the history of the race: whether to call it off.

‘Yes, it certainly crossed my mind,’ he admitted afterwards. ‘We were quite close to pulling the plug. But in the end we decided we could carry on.’

Time to celebrate: Nico Rosberg of Germany and Mercedes won the British Grand Prix

On balance, Whiting was confident that there was no compelling safety reason to abort — a decision that saved Formula One from humiliation on one of its showpiece afternoons but did not make the hard questions go away.

The drama started in earnest on lap eight, when Lewis Hamilton’s left rear tyre ruptured as he turned through the Aintree corner into the Wellington straight. The rubber looked like string as what remained hung on to the wheel for dear life. The rest of the steel-reinforced tyre hurtled down the track in lumps.

This most gung-ho of racers, who finished fourth, talked afterwards of a fright that is typically alien to his nature, saying: ‘I felt today after my incident that you never know when your tyres are going to go. That’s the first time in my whole career that I’ve felt the danger.

‘You are just trying to drive and do your best to look after the tyres. But I don’t think this is about looking after tyres. It’s a much bigger problem. The car becomes very loose and out of control. You have to fight to keep it in a straight line. You become a passenger when the tyre goes. The rear of the car drops and the left front comes up.

Lovely bubbly: But the day was not as much of a success for Rosberg's team-mate Lewis Hamilton

Second and third: Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso completed the top three

Deserved winner: Mercedes' Nico Rosberg took victory at Silverstone

‘You only have two tyres on the track at any one time, which at that speed in not the best place to be. I was just thinking, “Jeez, I’m going to lose the race.” I was wondering how quickly I could get back to the pits. But for half an hour the blow-out was on my mind.’

It was ultimately a positive day for Hamilton, but before we return to the Englishman’s heroic drive from last place to fourth, we must recount the full trail of tyre trouble that will be the abiding memory of this year’s race.

Two laps after Hamilton’s misfortune, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa suffered the same fate at the same place. Five laps on, Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne’s left rear blew just before the pit lane, his rubber spinning like a cartwheel. The safety car came out while marshals darted on to pick up the pieces.

Lap 29, the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez was sent sprawling when his front left went pop. Finally, on lap 47, Sergio Perez’s race was ended when his left rear ruptured. It took to 20 the number of times this season that Pirelli’s tyres have given up on the men whose safety depends on their adhesive qualities.

Retired: Sebastian Vettel was understandably disappointed after an engine failure ended his race

Tyred out: Lewis Hamilton was seriously undermined in his attempts to win at Silverstone

No wonder Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s head of motor sport, was taken by Whiting to see the FIA president Jean Todt in the governing body’s blue motorhome in the paddock. For 20 minutes or more, Todt made it clear to Hembery that he must deal with the situation urgently.

One note of caution before Pirelli are condemned outright. As our picture shows, the kerb at Turn Four — Aintree — has sharp edges that bite into the tyres, a fact that caused the teams to radio to their drivers to steer away from them.

If the track undoubtedly contributed to the problems, should Silverstone not have attended to this before the race? Should the FIA not have discovered this potential dangers during their inspections?

Returning to tyres themselves, one of the problems is that Pirelli are using a steel rather than Kevlar band this year. It has proved less durable.

They have, therefore, offered to revert to Kevlar. The snag is that the teams who have rumbled how best to use the new steel-based tyres — Ferrari, Force India and Lotus — are unwilling to surrender their advantage by submitting to the idea.

Leader of the pack: But Lewis Hamilton's day was to be ruined

It therefore falls to the FIA to impose their will on the disunited teams. There is rarely any other way in Formula One. You simply cannot allow the teams — selfish and disputatious — to govern themselves.

Action should be taken before the German Grand Prix next Sunday, even if the Nurburgring is a less likely to destroy the tyres than Barcelona and Silverstone, both of which place a greater strain on the vulnerabilities of the Pirelli design because of their high speed, lateral braking compositions.

However worrying yesterday’s events were, they were spectacular too. A chief contributor to the enjoyment was Hamilton.

His blow-out seemed to stir him, and once his lingering safety fears had subsided, he scythed his way up with a series of overtaking moves.

Iconic: The British GP at Silverstone remains a popular occasion

Debris: There are concerns surrounding the condition of the Pirelli tyres

The illicit test Mercedes conducted to understand the tyres better after last month’s Spanish Grand Prix appears to have helped dramatically, even if it took a gearbox failure to prevent Sebastian Vettel, in his dazzling Red Bull, from winning once Hamilton’s tyre had shredded itself.

The cheer that met Vettel’s demise was so loud it was a touch unsporting. A more generous reception marked the second place achieved by Vettel’s seemingly more popular team-mate, Mark Webber, with a late charge past Fernando Alonso, who finished third in his Ferrari.

Competitive: Several drivers showed true intent to win

Lightning strikes twice: Brazilian Felipe Massa suffered an identical fate to home driver Hamilton in his Ferrari

Flying off: Jean-Eric Vergne becomes the third driver to see his left-rear tyre explode on lap 15

‘It was Russian roulette,’ said Webber of his route through carnage that even included a lump of rubber falling into Kimi Raikkonen’s cockpit.

A final twist to this memorable day under the Silverstone sun came when Rosberg was hauled before the stewards for speeding under a yellow caution flag. He eluded a reprimand. The race, and its combatants, escaped something far more serious.

The ‘British Grand Prix that just about was’ triumphed on the cusp of ruin.

Under fire: Pirelli engineers examine a set of their compound tyres in the paddock

Unlucky? Vettel was not to finish the race

Ultimate winner: Rosberg enjoys the adulation that came with his victory

BRITISH GRAND PRIX TYRE FIASCO: LAP-BY-LAP

The British Grand Prix was today overshadowed by a string of tyre failures that will lead to serious questions being asked of manufacturer Pirelli.

In the space of eight laps over the first third of the race there were three failures, ultimately resulting in the introduction of the safety car after 15 laps to aid the marshals clear the debris.

All incidents involved the left-rear tyre, as was the case with Sergio Perez in final practice yesterday, with the Mexican unfortunately the final victim late in the race.

Lap eight:

Leading the race after making a strong start from pole position, Lewis Hamilton is the first to suffer as he heads down the Wellington Straight, his left-rear exploding and rapidly delaminating. Hamilton manages to make it back to the pits on just the wheel rim, but given he was only just over four corners into the lap, the time lost sees him drop to the back of the pack.

Lap 11:

Coming out of Aintree Corner on to the Wellington Straight, Ferrari's Felipe Massa is the next to suffer a blow-out. Running fourth at the time, Massa spins off the track, and like Hamilton faces a long, slow journey back to the pits to take on fresh tyres, the Brazilian relegated to last.

Lap 15:

Travelling at a speed of around 160mph at the end of the Hangar Straight into the gentle right-hander at Stowe, Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne manages to hang on to his car under braking as his left-rear gives way. Vergne was the more fortunate of the trio as his incident was close to the pit entrance, resulting in a short trip to take on new tyres.

It was at this point, with tyre carcasses strewn across the track, that race director Charlie Whiting deployed the safety car.

Lap 46:

Shortly after a second safety car incident to remove Sebastian Vettel's stricken Red Bull after he suffered a transmission failure, Perez suffered his second blow-out in two days to end his race.
There were two other notable incidents as Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez suffered a puncture to his front-left due to a cut, but no serious delamination.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, has confirmed he incurred a failure to his right-rear tyre just as he came into the pits for his stop.

KATCHING MY I

Pages

Monday, 1 July 2013