2007 British Grand Prix: Raikkonen Wins at Silverstone as Hamilton Sets a Podium Record

Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 8 July, the ninth round of the season. He moved past pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton during the first round of pit stops, and Fernando Alonso finished second. Hamilton's third place gave him a record run of podium finishes in a debut season.

Who won the 2007 British Grand Prix?

Kimi Raikkonen won for Ferrari after overtaking pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton in the first round of pit stops. Fernando Alonso finished second, while Hamilton took third and his ninth podium from nine race starts. It was Raikkonen's second straight win, following the French Grand Prix a week earlier.

Hamilton had led the early laps from the start, with Raikkonen close behind and Alonso a few seconds further back. Hamilton pitted at the end of lap sixteen and rejoined in fifth, and his car briefly lurched forward with the fuel hose still attached as he reacted to the crew's signal board being turned over.

Raikkonen made his stop three laps later and came out in front of Hamilton to take the lead. Alonso then stopped three laps after that and emerged ahead of both previous leaders.

A pit-stop switch decided a Silverstone win, and Hamilton's third place kept a debut-season record intact.

How did the pit strategy decide the race?

Alonso had run short on fuel in his first stop to jump into the lead, which meant he had to stop early compared with his rival. McLaren planned to use the advantage of a lighter car to build a gap before the second round of stops. Traffic instead played into Raikkonen's hands, and when Alonso finally pitted, Raikkonen resumed the race lead.

Felipe Massa had a much more difficult afternoon. After stalling on the grid, he started from the pit lane alongside Takuma Sato. Massa forced his way through the pack from the back, making up as many places as he could, and finished fifth behind a defensive Robert Kubica.

Nick Heidfeld took sixth after a strong climb, and Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella brought the two Renaults home seventh and eighth. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button were on one-stop strategies and finished ninth and tenth, while Nico Rosberg fought back from a poor first stop to take 12th.

Alexander Wurz finished one place behind Rosberg in 13th. He had tried to overtake Scott Speed, and the move ended with the American out of the race after broken suspension.

Which drivers retired from the race?

Several cars retired, including both Toyotas. Ralf Schumacher stopped with a wheel fixation problem, and Trulli retired with handling trouble. Webber lost his hydraulics completely, while Sutil suffered a large engine failure heading towards Stowe.

Anthony Davidson retired after vibrations from the underside of his Super Aguri, after a good weekend of practice and an unlucky qualifying session. Vitantonio Liuzzi also retired with a gearbox failure, but he was still classified in 16th place.

David Coulthard took a good eleventh place for Red Bull, a result his teammate Webber could not match.

How did qualifying set the grid?

Hamilton took pole in the final session by setting the fastest lap in the last seconds. He was the only driver to dip under the 1 minute 19 second margin, which was a decisive piece of late work after he had been sitting fourth and did not look very competitive for most of the session.

The first session was disrupted when Davidson spun his Super Aguri while warming the tyres, which brought out yellow flags and stopped him from completing a good hot lap. Six drivers were eliminated: Albers, Sato, Sutil, Davidson, Button and Rosberg. Rosberg's exit came because of an engine issue.

The second session was largely uneventful, with Alonso fastest once more. Six drivers failed to make the final session: Liuzzi, Speed, Barrichello, Wurz, Coulthard and Webber. Heidfeld was pushed down to tenth after the BMW pair chose not to run again near the end.

In the final session the two McLaren drivers went out first, and Alonso briefly looked set for pole. Raikkonen then came out on top after the closing laps, despite an error at the final corner.

How did practice go at Silverstone?

Friday's first session was dominated by Ferrari and McLaren, who took the top four times. Hamilton set the top time at his home Grand Prix, and several drivers spun on the greasy but dry track, including Kubica, Coulthard, Sutil, Trulli and Massa.

Button skipped the second Friday session to avoid aggravating a minor back injury from a shunt at the United States Grand Prix, and Christian Klien took over his car to help with the set-up. Raikkonen was half a second quicker than his Ferrari teammate Massa in that session, and Heidfeld said the BMW was difficult to drive.

Eight drivers ran off at Copse eleven times during the afternoon. Sutil ran onto the tarmac there and spun into the tyre barrier, but he was unharmed and the damage was insignificant. Davidson went 10th fastest in practice, a position he had never managed to convert into a qualifying time.

On Saturday the leading drivers went under the 1 minute 20 mark, with Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen all in the high 1:19s. Raikkonen took the fastest time of the session, and Wurz caused a yellow flag that cut short Hamilton's final low-fuel lap.

What did the Ferrari information case involve?

Ferrari took legal action over Nigel Stepney, an English engineer, and a McLaren employee, after a search warrant uncovered evidence of stolen technical data from the Italian team. McLaren said it would cooperate fully. McLaren's internal review found that no Ferrari intellectual property had reached other members of its team or been built into its cars.

The FIA opened its own investigation, but stressed that it would only examine matters covered by the rules and regulations of Formula One.

What was the Red Bull charity livery?

The Red Bull cars of David Coulthard and Mark Webber carried a one-off livery built from fan-submitted images. Over 30,000 supporters pledged money and sent in pictures, each picking a spot on one of the two cars. The target was 1 million euros.

The idea returned at the 2012 British Grand Prix for the same charity, when the number of fans involved was reduced to 25,000.

Preparations had begun on 19 June, when teams started testing at Silverstone. Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time on the first day, while Spyker ran a new chassis that covered 64 laps with Adrian Valles and Giedo van der Garde at the wheel. Nick Heidfeld ended his session early with back problems.

On the second test day Jarno Trulli set the fastest time before showers slowed the running. On the third day Massa was fastest after 87 laps of aerodynamic and mechanical tests, while Alonso lost time to an oil system problem before finishing his work on the car.

How did the race start?

Massa stalled on the grid, forcing a second formation lap, and both he and Sato began from the pit lane. Hamilton led the field away from the start with Raikkonen closely following and Alonso a few seconds behind. Hamilton stopped on lap sixteen and rejoined in fifth, and the early stages set up the strategy battle that followed.

How did the drivers react after the race?

Alonso said he was determined to close the gap to Hamilton in the championship and that he needed to stay one step higher than the McLaren driver on the podium. Hamilton had lost two points to the chasing Alonso, but he had equalled Jim Clark's record of nine podiums from nine race starts.

Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo complained that Raikkonen had won more races than any other driver in 2007 but was not leading the championship. He said F1 should be a sport for winners rather than calculators, and he described the situation as unsporting.

Results at a glance