The race was one of the best seen in a long time and there were two standout performers in Hamilton and Barrichello who made it even better to watch. Rubens Barrichello has been struggling with the Honda for the past two seasons, with this season being no better. Actually, they seem to be languishing at the back of the field with the Force India F1 team, and turning their efforts to next year. Barrichello's decision to change to extreme wets at a crucial time seems to have been the best decision made all weekend, and it makes me wonder why not even one of the other teams tried this as most had nothing to lose. Barrichello was a whopping 10secs faster than anyone on track when he changed tyres and came from 16th to 3rd (would have been 2nd if he did not have a problem with his fuel rig). Hamilton astonishingly managed to lap in similar times to Barrichello, which made his driver even more memorable.
Massa probably had his worst Formula One or racing weekend ever, having trouble on all three days. He started off Friday practice by slamming the barriers and wrecking his car after sliding on oil which came from Alonso's car on the first session. When he was about to set off for his final qualifying lap in Q3 there was a mechanical problem which caused him to stay in the pits. On race day, he spun about 5 -6 times which took him out of contention completely. Massa will have to bounce back strongly to ensure he stays with the Championship leaders.
Raikkonen was carving his way through the field and was on the tail of Lewis Hamilton until his first pitstop, when he decided not to change his tyres. This cost him the race as the rain began to come down heavily and his tyres were in no shape to take on Hamilton. Alonso was the only other driver who decided to not change his tyres and paid the price for it. Alonso, along with Hamilton and Barrichello were the only drivers not to make a mistake during the race. Both Raikkonen and Alonso to an extent had a chance to challenge Hamilton if they had changed their tyres, which also shows why these three drivers are easily the best drivers on the grid today.
Robert Kubica could not cope with the conditions as he too slid into the gravel trap. With all rivals struggling this weekend, Hamilton gained a lot with regards to the Championship. There are three drivers tied at 48 points, namely Raikkonen, Hamilton and Massa with Kubica on 46 points and his team-mate Nick Heidfeld a further 10 points adrift. McLaren seem to have found a huge performance gain in the past few weeks and in my opinion should be the favourites going in to Hockenheim in two weeks time. Each of these drivers have made about 2-3 mistakes this year, which could end up costing them the Championship in the long run. It's hard to imagine that drivers of the calibre of Schumacher or Alonso would make these kind of mistakes, given a good car and in these circumstances. If either of these driver want to be Champion they will definitely have to step up to the plate and make fewer mistakes.
On another note, Karun Chandhok's drive to 3rd place at Silverstone was indeed a joy to watch. Silverstone is a very tough track to overtake in and Karun overtook about 5 cars on his way to third, after starting 10th. The last time I saw someone overtaking cars in this manner at the British GP was in 2002, when Barrichello started last and carved his way ended up finishing 2nd. Karun's move on Zuber when he sized him up at Priory and dived inside at Brooklands was probably the move of the whole weekend. Next is the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim and this will be Karun's first trip there, but I don't see it being a problem for him. He is still looking for his first win of the season so let us hope it is here...
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