2013 British Grand Prix: Rosberg Holds Off Webber as Tyres Fail at Silverstone

Nico Rosberg won the 2013 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 30 June, the eighth round of the season, in front of 120,000 spectators. Tyre failures, six in total, overshadowed the Mercedes driver's victory. Mark Webber finished second for Red Bull, and Fernando Alonso took third for Ferrari.

Who won the 2013 British Grand Prix?

Nico Rosberg won the 52-lap race for Mercedes after starting from second, his second win of the season and the third of his career. Mark Webber finished seven-tenths of a second behind, and Fernando Alonso took third for Ferrari. Rosberg had inherited the lead when Vettel retired on the 41st lap.

Lewis Hamilton had taken pole with a lap of 1:29.607, his second of the season and the 28th of his career. He led the first seven laps before his left-rear tyre failed on lap eight, which sent him down the order and handed the lead to Vettel.

Vettel led for much of the middle of the race, and he appeared set to win before his gearbox failed. That retirement, combined with the tyre problems that had already hit several cars, gave Rosberg a route to the front, and he held off Webber for the rest of the afternoon.

A Mercedes win won by holding on, as six tyre failures reshaped the race and handed the title race a new shape.

What caused the tyre failures?

Six tyre failures occurred during the race, and Pirelli later modified its tyres to make them less prone to punctures for the German Grand Prix. The company investigated and concluded there was no single cause, but it pointed to a combination of factors that had affected several cars at once.

The failures were serious enough that the press compared them with the 2005 United States Grand Prix, when the Michelin-shod teams withdrew because their tyres were judged unfit for racing. Across the season there had been 20 tyre failures, which led the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to write to Jean Todt, the FIA president.

Button, Vettel and Pedro de la Rosa, a Ferrari test driver, raised their concerns with Todt in person. Todt then ordered Pirelli to take part in a session with team principals at the Nurburgring on 3 July, where new measures would be put forward.

Pirelli agreed to change the internal belts from steel to flexible reinforced kevlar fibre as a stop-gap for the German Grand Prix. A new tyre combining compounds from 2012 and 2013 was approved for Hungary. The FIA also restricted the practice of swapping left and right tyres around, and it limited camber and tyre pressures.

How did practice go in changeable weather?

Friday's first session was wet, and no one set a fast lap until after 75 minutes, because teams were wary of sending their drivers out. Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time of that session at 1:54.249, and Charles Pic lost control at the Club turn and hit the barrier.

Conditions improved for the second session, and Rosberg set the day's fastest lap of 1:32.248 with 40 minutes to go. Felipe Massa was limited to seven timed laps after he lost the rear of his Ferrari at Stowe and damaged his front suspension.

The final session was dry, and Rosberg was fastest again with a 1:31.487 lap. Hamilton, Vettel, Webber, Grosjean, Ricciardo, Alonso, Raikkonen, Sutil and Di Resta completed the top ten.

After the session Hamilton received his first reprimand of the season, for not keeping to the right of a bollard when entering the pit lane. Sergio Perez suffered a puncture at Copse caused by an unidentified object, which damaged the floor of his car.

How did qualifying shape the grid?

Hamilton claimed pole with a lap of 1:29.607 on his final run, the 28th of his Formula One career. Rosberg joined him on the front row, giving Mercedes its first front-row lockout at Silverstone since 1955. Vettel was third and Webber fourth after an error braking for Club corner.

Qualifying had three parts of 18, 15 and ten minutes. The 107 per cent rule applied in the first part, and cars that reached the final part had to start on the tyres they had used for their fastest times. Di Resta and Sutil took fifth and seventh for Force India on a new set of medium tyres, with Ricciardo sixth between them.

Grosjean was eighth and Raikkonen ninth, after problems on the medium tyres. Alonso took tenth after switching to mediums, with the intention of pitting if his lap was poor. Button missed the final part by a tenth of a second, because he needed a hard out-lap to bring his tyres up to temperature.

Massa was 12th after losing track time to an engine change following his crash the day before. Jean-Eric Vergne was 13th after running wide at the exit of Becketts, possibly because of turbulence from Vettel's car. Perez was 14th after his tyres overheated when he was instructed to drive onto the FIA weighbridge, and Hulkenberg took 15th ahead of the Williams drivers.

After qualifying the FIA technical delegate found Di Resta's car 1.5 kg under the minimum weight limit, and the stewards sent him to the back, starting 22nd. Giedo van der Garde was demoted five places for a collision with Hulkenberg in Canada, and he picked up a second five-place penalty after Caterham changed his gearbox.

How did the race start?

Hamilton made a brisk start to lead into the first corner, while Vettel got past the slow-starting Rosberg into second. At Abbey, Webber and Grosjean touched, and Webber's carbon fibre front wing was damaged, sending him wide onto the run-off area. By the end of the first lap Hamilton led Vettel by eight-tenths of a second, with Rosberg third and Sutil fourth.

Sutil rose from sixth to fourth and Massa moved from 11th to fifth, while Alonso passed Button on the inside at Stowe for ninth. Alonso said his Ferrari was better suited to cooler weather, and he passed Grosjean for eighth at the exit of Woodcote on lap two. Webber recovered from 14th to 11th by lap seven.

Hamilton was two seconds ahead of Vettel by lap five. That gap meant Vettel could not use DRS, and it allowed Hamilton to make a pit stop without losing position. Hamilton's car appeared to be faster all round the lap.

What happened to Hamilton's tyre?

Hamilton's rear-left tyre punctured on the Wellington Straight after the exit of turn five on lap eight. Vettel swerved to avoid the tyre rubber that flew across the track, and he took over the lead. Hamilton limped to the pit lane for a replacement wheel and rejoined on hard tyres in 22nd place, with yellow flags out to warn drivers about debris.

Alonso followed with a right-rear puncture on lap nine, which did not delaminate, and he pitted for hard tyres to fall to 11th. Massa's left-rear wheel deflated at Aintree on lap ten, and he dropped to 22nd after entering the pit lane cautiously for new tyres.

DRS was switched off on lap 11 after debris gathered on the Wellington Straight. Race director Charlie Whiting considered stopping the race at that point but decided against it. Pirelli took rear tyre rubber away for analysis, and it advised teams to raise pressures to 24 psi and to avoid mounting the kerbs.

How did the safety car change the race?

Vergne's left-rear tyre failed at 180 mph (290 km/h) on the Hangar Straight on lap 14, littering the circuit with debris. A large piece landed on Raikkonen's helmet without causing injury. The fourth tyre failure brought out the safety car, which was not withdrawn until the end of lap 21.

Vettel was told by radio that the inside of his left-rear tyre had sustained cuts. Teams had been trying to limit the time spent on their tyres as three-stop strategies became common. Racing resumed with Vettel leading Rosberg and Sutil.

Gutierrez punctured on the Hangar Straight on lap 28, which damaged his front wing and left carbon fibre on the track. Alonso swerved to avoid the debris as he ran close behind Sutil.

How did the second half of the race unfold?

The second round of pit stops began on lap 30, with the leaders switching to hard tyres. Vettel made his second stop on lap 35 and kept the lead. A second safety car came out after his gearbox failed on lap 41, and Rosberg inherited the lead as Webber closed in.

Webber had already passed Alonso for fourth on lap 35 with DRS on the Hangar Straight. Di Resta and Hulkenberg made contact at turn three on the 36th lap, damaging Di Resta's front wing. Hamilton narrowly avoided a collision with Di Resta's car on lap 37, and Vergne retired in the pit lane that same lap with significant damage.

Rosberg and Webber both pitted at the end of lap 42 under the safety car. Rosberg kept the lead while Webber dropped to fifth. Over the radio, Rosberg was told of an issue with the centre of his left-rear tyre.

The field was released at the end of lap 45. Webber passed Ricciardo for fourth on lap 46, and Alonso passed Button for seventh at Copse. Perez's left-rear tyre then failed on the Hangar Straight, damaging his floor, and McLaren retired him in the pit lane.

Webber used DRS to pass Sutil for third on lap 47, and he moved past Raikkonen for second at Copse on the lap that followed. Alonso passed Raikkonen for third on lap 50, and Hamilton took fourth on the same lap, which left the Lotus driver to fall back.

On the final lap Grosjean retired in the pit lane with front wing damage, and Massa overtook Sutil for sixth. Rosberg held off Webber to take the win by seven-tenths of a second. Alonso was third, and Hamilton, Raikkonen, Massa, Sutil and Ricciardo finished fourth to eighth.

What did the result mean for the championship?

Vettel's retirement left him at the top of the Drivers' Championship with 132 points, but Alonso closed to within 21 points after finishing third. Mercedes passed Ferrari for second in the Constructors' Championship and moved to within 48 points of Red Bull with 11 rounds remaining.

Vettel said he was disappointed to lose a potential win late in the race, but he pointed out that the next race was only a week away and that the team could try again. Raikkonen blamed a Lotus strategy error for dropping him from second to fifth in the final laps.

Rosberg described the win as a very special day, because of the progress Mercedes had made over the season. He was reprimanded by the stewards for not slowing enough for waved yellow flags and for failing to overtake early enough between turns three and five. Button said he had been a sitting duck on cold tyres after the safety car.

Results at a glance