LEWIS PROVES THEM WRONG WITH HISTORIC DISPLAY
There are three Grand Prix that have always defined the midseason of Formula 1 and the second of this sequence of three is nearly always the British Grand Prix at Silverstone(apart from in 2000 when the race was held in April). It won't be at Silverstone much longer though, Bernie didn't get as much money as he'd have liked out of the BRDC. However for now the tradition continues with the other main headline of the weekend being David Coulthard's impending retirement, which'll be a bummer. Lewis in the meantime had been having to deal with various on and off-track issues for the last few weeks. It looked as though he was going to fade out so this weekend really was make or break.
In qualifying, well Jenson continued his barren Q1 run. The Hondas just can't seem to get it on in qualifying and Jenson would start P17! DC barely scrabbled into Q2 but looked more competitive in the second session but still failed to make the cut for Q3 and would start P11! That left Lewis at Britain's only representative in the final session at Silverstone. It took a while for anyone to come out in Q3 as everyone had been dodging rain but Raikonen was first man out. Lewis then looked like he was going to blitz his time only to overcook it in the third sector and Kovalainen went fastest instead. Kimi replied only for Webber to come out of nowhere and only Kovalainen could beat him for the first pole of his career! Lewis wound up settling for P4!
Well DC's last ever British Grand Prix didn't last very long, he ran slap bang into Vettel and both drivers went out. A bummer for the Scot who did win this race two years in a row at one point and perior to this year, no Brit had won the race since. In the meantime, he still has the back end of the season to get through and he is still looking to be competitive till the last lap of the season. Even he says though that he won't miss racing in Silverstone in the rain and the weather would go on to play a significant part in this race. The Scotsman watched from the sidelines in the dry. Onwards to the next race and it's only a pity he couldn't have put on one last display for the Silverstone crowd.
Jenson got away clean at the start but soon found himself having to deal with the likes of Massa and Webber who spun early on. He wasn't able to put up much of a fight against either man but was able to benefit from other spins to find himself in the points at one point. However as the race went on it looked as though he would come away empty handed but with a creditable performance, definately top ten, aided by him refuelling till the end of the race. However the track had other ideas and like many others, he spun off. Dissapointing as it looked like he'd be able to take advantage of the wet condition and possibly pick up some points.
As for Lewis, well his race was the stuff legends are made of! He jumped up to second at the start and immediately set off chasing down Kovalainen and took the lead before the end of the first lap! Soon afterwards Raikonnen became his main challenger and the race relied a lot on team strategy...and Ross Brawn is now at Honda! Lewis had a spin of his own but he survived as by that point he'd already built up one heck of a lead and all the serious insanity was happening behind him. The intermediate tyres were a gamble but with the rain being on-off it proved to pay off. Two of his main rivals failed to finish the race and Raikonen got lapped! Lewis won by 65 seconds...bringing back vague memories of Mansell's win at Silverstone in 1992! Lewis's third win of the season and surely one that will define his career. Heidfeld second and credit to Barrichello for finishing third, his first podium since '05!
So, Lewis surges to the top of the championship table on 48 points. It's a three way tie for the lead on points though and from there a two way tie on race wins. Lewis's lead is currently down to him having more top ten finishes than Massa. Further down, DC falls to 13th place on 6 points and even further down, Jenson remains in 16th on 3 points.
Comments go here
Click here to return to sports homepage
Click here to return to Matt G's homepage