F1 Great Britain 2010

Redbull once again locked out the front row of the grid but they just can't seem to avoid stirring up controversy. A late decision to move a front wing assembly to Vettel's car, left Webber visibly angry and frustrated. Watch his body language in the official post qualifying interview. Webber actually checks his watch while Vettel is answering a question! Ouch!

Vettel made a poor start which allowed Webber to pull along side. They probably would have raced for the lead on the first lap, but Vettel had a puncture which sent him to the back of the field. Vettel seemed to have given up until a safety car bunched the cars together again. He found new motivation and was very entertaining as he fought his was back through the field to finish seventh. Webber drove a fantastic race and made no errors, which was really the only way he could have lost the race. In typical Webber fashion, he rubbed the noses of the team bosses in his victory. "Not bad for the number two driver!"

Mclaren tested a blown diffuser on Friday but heating caused big problems. They went back to the old diffuser, which meant they were essentially starting over on Saturday. Hamilton basically carried the car to fourth on the grid. Button qualified in fourteenth which reflected the car's true pace. Still, Button drove brilliantly to finish fourth which, together with Hamilton's second place finish, was a great surprise for everyone, including the team itself.

There was a lot of passing in the race which was very surprising. It's not that passing suddenly got easier, but that drivers were willing to use the marginal opportunities that the changes in the track offered them. It required a measured amount of daring to pull of a pass which is what makes for great racing.

I'm glad the F1 powers-that-be finally came to their senses and recognised that the sport needs historic circuits such as Silverstone, which will host the British Grand Prix for at least ten years. I hope similar deals are being considered for other historic tracks, which would enable them to plan upgrades in same way that Silverstone is doing.

F1 Great Britain

Redbull have really turned it up notch. Vettel got his second poll in a row and Webber came really close to making it an all Redbull front row. Brawn GP were definitely off the pace but the real surprise was that Barrichello out qualified Button for the first time this season. I have a suspicion that Barrichello may not have shared all of his practise data with Button this time. I have no evidence to support my theory; it is just a hunch.

In the race, Vettel kept it on the track for the first lap this time and pretty much cruised to the victory, with Weber passing Barrichello in the pits to make it a Redbull one-two finish. Thankfully, there was plenty of good racing in the rest of the field. Who could have imagined Hamilton and Alonso fighting over fifteenth place, but it was fun to watch them throwing their poorly handling cars around the track. Unfortunately this is the only proof that McLaren were actually at the race. Ferrari showed better performance in the race than in qualifying but were completely unable to explain why. Williams is also improving. The rest of the season is going to be interesting.

Finally, Silverstone is an historic F1 circuit. The fact that the F1 management are willing drop it from the calender is, I think, indicative of what has gone wrong with the sport. The modern circuits might be better in some technical ways but they feel sterile compare to places like Silverstone.