It’s been over nine months in waiting, but Lewis Hamilton has finally secured his elusive tenth Grand Prix victory with a faultless drive from fourth on the grid, beating former world champion Kimi Räikkönen and Mark Webber to complete an unlikely podium. With the Red Bulls and the Brawns unable to provide a stern enough challenge to McLaren’s impressive pace, the Woking-based team ran home comfortable winners to take a victory that looked impossible just two races ago.
With Hamilton, Räikkönen and Webber locking out the podium places, Nico Rosberg secured his second consecutive fourth place finish. He just missed out on the podium when Mark Webber emerged ahead of him at the final round of stops and the German fell back from the Red Bull as the race neared its end. Heikki Kovalainen had to work hard in the final few laps to hold off Timo Glock for fifth, while Jenson Button picked up just two points for seventh after struggling with tyre wear and graining throughout the race. Jarno Trulli picked up the final point for Toyota, after getting pushed hard by Nakajima and Barrichello throughout his final stint.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber secured his maiden pole position for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring this afternoon, in what was a hugely entertaining and highly unpredictable qualifying. Rain mid-way through the qualifying hour caused chaos throughout the pitlane, before things finally settled down at the end of Q3 when pacesetters Red Bull and Brawn rose to the top of the timesheets.
After a chaotic qualifying session, the provisional grid for tomorrow’s grid reads: Webber, Barrichello, Button, Vettel, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Sutil, Massa, Räikkönen, Piquet, Heidfeld, Alonso, Nakajima, Trulli, Rosberg, Kubica, Buemi, Fisichella, Glock and Bourdais.
Sebastian Vettel stormed to his second successive pole position after dominating qualifying in Silverstone this afternoon. The German, who had topped both practice sessions yesterday, showed his hand in Q2 by going quickest, before eclipsing the field by over a third of a second in the decisive Q3 session, crossing the line just ten seconds after Rubens Barrichello to demote the Brazilian to second on the grid.
Jenson Button secured his sixth win from seven races today in Turkey to extend his championship lead to 26 points over team-mate Rubens Barrichello who failed to finish after a dramatic day. With title rival Sebastian Vettel finishing in third position, Button surely now is in a commanding position as he aims for the championship with Brawn Mercedes.
Vettel’s one error came on that first lap as he ran wide through turn nine and with his momentum lost, Button breezed by to take the lead exiting turn ten, one he would never relinquish.
Mc LAren driver Heiki Kobalainen surprisingly tops today’s Free Practice session today while it’s Rosberg who was fastest in first session as usual.
Here are driver comments after Friday practice sessions,
1 . H. Kovalainen – McLaren Mercedes MP4-24
“At the start of the session, the track was very green and it was quite hard to stay on the road – particularly in the opening corners. At first, the car was quite difficult to drive but we worked hard during the session and I think we found a very good balance. The most important thing is that the car is working fine – and the balance is surprisingly good. I think we’ve made another step forward so everybody in the team can be pleased about today. I still think it will be a tough fight to get into the top 10 tomorrow, but we’ll be trying the maximum to improve overnight so that we can join the fight. Overall, it’s very encouraging that we have made another step forward.”