British Grand Prix Review

From second free practice on Friday onwards, there was no debating that the Ferraris were the class of the field. Despite two extra laps' worth of fuel on board, Raikkonen would have taken pole had it not been for a too-hurried exit from Luffield on his final flying lap. The Finn lived up to his Iceman moniker by staying cool behind Hamilton in the first stint, even when applying pressure to try to pass the rookie, and not getting flustered when Fernando Alonso's tactics delayed him from being in his rightful place.

It was all further proof of the key rule of strategy in modern F1 - he who pits later has an almighty advantage. Raikkonen leapfrogged Hamilton at the first stop and Alonso at the second by staying out for longer on lower tanks. But even then the driver has to make those laps count. Kimi's blistering laps in the clear were simply awesome - and visibly quick especially through the Maggotts and Becketts complex. It was rather like someone else we're used to seeing in a red car...

Raikkonen particularly loves Silverstone which helped, but it also seems clear that he has finally tuned the F2007 to his liking and has got enough momentum behind him to feel at ease at Maranello. He is now back ahead of Felipe Massa in the points, an important first step if at any stage Ferrari decide they have to back one driver out of the two. The 18-point gap to Hamilton suddenly doesn't seem so insurmountable if Kimi keeps winning and Lewis keeps on being relegated to 3rd.

The story of Massa's race, however, shows why Hamilton still has a clear lead in the championship. Once again one of Lewis' title rivals suffered a mishap that kept them off the podium whilst Hamilton got onto the dais once again. Massa probably had the speed to be somewhere near Raikkonen even if Kimi had the slight edge. The Brazilian was fuelled longer than any of Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso, which explained his 4th place on the grid, but it all fell apart when his engine died on the grid.

Had he started in 4th, he probably had the speed to get above both McLarens and demote Hamilton off the podium. Ferrari seem to have regained the upper hand that they lost from Monaco to Indianapolis, coinciding with problems with their windtunnel and the beginnings of the current Stepneygate saga. They were so dialled in at Silverstone that they were in the minority of teams to prefer the softer Bridgestone, not that there was much difference between the compounds.

The question is, will the deficit that they conceded to McLaren in those three races prove decisive? And how long will the current status quo last? McLaren have slipped back in the last two weekends, which in turn has coincided with Stepneygate implicating their chief designer Mike Coughlan, and other distractions such as their ridiculously pompous 'Brand Centre' motorhome. But, given the way the season has developed, it would be a foolish man to predict that Ferrari will keep the advantage for the rest of the year.

Alonso did not have the spotlight on him coming into this weekend, or leaving it either. But Fernando took advantage to strike a vital psychological blow and give himself a mega confidence boost. Apart from Q3, over one lap he was on par with Hamilton, his strategy allowed him to get one over his team-mate at the first stop even if it had him on the back foot against Raikkonen, and his greater consistent pace meant that he finished 37s ahead of Lewis. In anyone's language, that was a right-royal shellacking.

12 points to Hamilton is now no longer a bridge too far, especially if Lewis continues to drive below the lofty standards that he has created for himself. He was somewhat ragged at Magny-Cours and Silverstone was his worst race to date. He only snatched pole through an unrepresentatively banzai last lap, he made his first error of note when he almost did a Christijan Albers at his first stop, and he struggled for handling for the rest of the race thereafter.

At Silverstone, his three title rivals all did in one race what Hamilton has yet to do (or had to do) all season. Lewis is yet to leapfrog anyone in a pit stop sequence, like Alonso and Raikkonen did to him here - although, to be fair, he was denied the opportunity to do so at Monaco. Apart from his pass on Kubica in France and at the first corner, he has made no other passing move, let alone perform a clinical charge like Massa did here. He is yet to be truly tested in a situation where the cards are really stacked against him.

Numerous supposedly-wise but nonetheless-fawning talking heads have worked Hamilton up to this messianic status, already declaring him to have the potential to be one of the greatest racing drivers ever. The frenzied British press have latched onto this and created the Lewisteria that is really quite out of proportion to what Hamilton has proven of himself. If anything, it threatens to devalue his actual achievements because so many are viewing his performances with this warped lack of real perspective.

Lewisteria in 2007 was comparable to Mansell-mania in the late-1980s and early-1990s. Now, we are no great fans of Nigel Mansell here on this site, but if any man proved his worth in the face of adversity, it was Mansell. He had to wait nearly six seasons (not six races) for his first win, and victories like his British GP triumph in 1987, and his Hungarian GP win in 1989 when he came from 12th on the grid on a track where you supposedly cannot pass, showed his true racer's mettle when the chips were down.

This is not in any way to say that Hamilton is not worthy of admiration or support, or that fresh, charming new stars don't deserve adulation, but it all has to be kept in perspective, and Hamilton's achievements need to be weighed as objectively as possible. There seems to be an unfortunate lack of that perspective at the moment. To bring things back to earth, we award 'Lewisteria' the 'Reject of the Race' award for the British GP, in probably our most abstract choice of ROTR recipient ever!

REJECT OF THE RACE
Rampant Lewisteria
Unreasonable expectations met with "only" 3rd

The Renaults filled in 7th and 8th on the grid and in the race, but after recent gains they too brought back to the field a bit. Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella played swapsies on the track and in the pits, Kovalainen losing out by pitting earlier at the first stop, but Fisichella returning the favour by doing an Alonso in the middle stint to hand the advantage back to his Finnish team-mate. However, the French team will be galled by the fact that they were easily lapped by the end of the race.

Again, if you want to look at adversity, look at Kovalainen's season so far as the other star rookie before the year began. Lambasted by Flavio Briatore after his debut, he was up and down in the first few races, but after his horror qualifying in Canada he has rebounded tremendously strongly, and arguably has had the better of Fisichella ever since, including in France where he was unlucky to be punted on the first lap. That is eyebrow-raising stuff - and the kind of thing you miss in the middle of all the Lewisteria.

To give them credit where it's due, Toyota were unexpectedly strong in terms of one-lap pace, and was right up there amongst the Renaults and BMWs. Schumacher had one of those days on Saturday that makes us all wonder with amazement why that kind of speed remains hidden at other times. But mediocre race pace and retirements for both he and Trulli also make us continue to wonder with amazement why Toyota just continue to never be able to get things totally right.

The other great Japanese underperformer, Honda, are definitely creeping forward and making progress. Not only in terms of pace - Rubens Barrichello comfortably made it into Q2 although Jenson Button missed the Q1 cut for the second British GP in a row, but both were respectably strong in the race - but in terms of maximising performance and positions. Their one-stop plan elevated them up to 9th and 10th at the end. If only they had been as creative and/or brave in both Monaco and Canada!

Of course, we never knew what Webber could have done, but one suspects he would have been roughly where Coulthard was, and even if Button's one-stopper couldn't overtake the Australian, then Barrichello would have regardless. But Red Bull's reliability record is becoming nothing short of a joke. And it's not even as though the car is outright fast. At the moment you have say they are definitely behind BMW, Renault, Williams, Toyota and even Honda. Adrian Newey, where are you? What are you doing?

Williams should have been right up there, possibly around the Toyotas, going by pre-qualifying pace, but things went awry from Saturday afternoon. Alexander Wurz made it past Q1 for a change but couldn't get through the Q2 cut, whereas Nico Rosberg's engine malady left him high and dry in Q1, and from there the race was always going to be a hard slog for no reward, especially when they stuck to a two-stop plan. And so their Sunday was spent scrapping for track position with the Hondas and Toro Rossos.

It's interesting how, as Red Bull have slipped back, Toro Rosso with virtually the same chassis has continuously improved. They both got into Q2 but that didn't come as a surprise. Neither did the fact that Scott Speed had an edge over Vitantonio Liuzzi, who is looking increasingly disenchanted as another gearbox problem prevented him from seeing the chequered flag. With Coulthard and Webber confirmed at Red Bull for 2008, could both Toro Rosso drivers be on the way out come the end of the season?

The talk continues to be that Sebastian Bourdais will fill one of the Toro Rosso seats next year, and now Sebastian Vettel is also in the frame to form an all-Sebastian dream-team given that BMW will be keen to keep the Kubica-Heidfeld pairing. It doesn't take a genius to work out that Speed hasn't been completely in favour for a while, and Liuzzi's helpless puppy expressions as he trudges back to the pits after retirement upon retirement has rising discontentment written all over it.

If he was going to let Alonso by into Stowe, he should have done so on corner entry so as to tuck in behind the Spaniard and still reach the apex of the corner. That was probably not on the cards. The nature of Stowe these days, with the left kink on corner exit, made for a very awkward pass for Alonso the way Speed managed it, and Fernando was rightly annoyed. So what Scott should have done, in all the circumstances, was take his normal line and let Alonso through before Vale. I think Fernando would agree.

But then Speed left himself open to attack down the inside by Wurz at Vale, which the Austrian took, opportunistic racer that he is. The Williams squeezed the American for room, Speed did not relent fast enough, and banged wheels with Alex, breaking the Toro Rosso's front left suspension. The best part afterwards was Speed criticising Wurz for making an unexpected passing attempt! Quite apart from the fact that Wurz was clean through, what's a good passing move if the man in front is expecting it?!?

It was another rather undistinguished weekend for Super Aguri. After their Canada heroics both Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson have been struggling for pace. Remembering that the SA07 has a very small development window, being last year's Honda, perhaps this is a sure sign that what was predicted earlier in the season is coming true. Super Aguri can't keep up the development pace whilst other teams improve, and they will increasingly be left to battle with the Spykers.

Spyker themselves show little sign of making progress, although Adrian Sutil was excellent on his final Q1 run, and by lapping 0.5s faster than Albers may have brought the Dutch driver's F1 career to a premature end, going by the rumour mills. However, they are still a long way off scoring any points, Sutil's dramatic engine detonation and another languid race from Albers keeping them firmly planted at the back. Apparently a new car is due later in the year, possibly at Spa, but no one is particularly excited.