Nico Rosberg managed to stay on top of the Formula One headlines with a win at the British Grand Prix, despite four Pirelli tire failures that could have led to disaster.
The German driver highlighted a weekend for Mercedes AMG Petronas that saw the team take the top two times in final practice and qualifying coming into Sunday.
Starting from second on the grid behind teammate Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg fell to third on the start behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who jumped ahead right away.
Hamilton was able to build an impressive gap that saw him escape Vettel’s typically quick starts, until an unexpected tire failure saw his left rear explode on lap eight going into the Wellington straight. The same happened at the apex two laps later with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, and again on lap 15 with Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne.
It was a problem that threatened a number of teams and will undergo an investigation after the race. Pirelli has been under fire all season long with delamination and blistering issues.
As Hamilton limped around the majority of the track and dropped from first to last place, Vettel took a commanding position over Rosberg until the safety car was brought out following Vergne's incident.
While the cars were under caution, radios began to fill with team principals telling their drivers to avoid the curbs at turn four and five, as the questionable Pirellis seemed to be failing in certain areas. After pitting under caution, Red Bull Principal Christian Horner and Engineer Adrian Newey analyzed a photo showing Vettel's left rear tire, which looked to have a chunk out of the area connecting the sidewall and tread. It was as if the drivers were racing on stilettos rather than runners.
When the race went green, Vettel resumed his lead on lap 22. Rosberg failed to close the gap, but was able to keep his fellow German within striking distance if he made a mistake.
Rosberg's efforts paid off at the last turn of lap 41 of 52. With the win all but secure, Vettel's RB9 came to a surprise halt with a gearbox failure on the front straight, his team shaking their heads in disbelief. With the safety car out, five of the top 10 cars came in to pit, including Rosberg, Vettel's teammate Mark Webber, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, and Hamilton - who made a miraculous comeback through the entire field to put himself in 10th with less than 10 laps remaining.
Amidst all the changes within the field, Mr. Consistent, aka Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, was able to make his way into second after starting the race in ninth, but his team made a critical error in failing to call him to the pits under caution for a fresh set of rubber.
As the green flag waved again, the fresh-rubber group of Webber, Alonso and Hamilton began to cut their way through the field, helped after McLaren's Sergio Perez also suffered a left rear failure.
With four laps remaining, Webber cut close and made a swift DRS pass on Raikkonen, followed by Alonso and Hamilton on lap 50.
Rosberg was able to hold off the streaking group, taking the win over Webber by just 0.7 seconds, followed by Alonso and Hamilton.
“It was so special to win today, especially in front of fellow team members and their families as our factory is only ten minutes away from the track,” Rosberg said. “The race was really exciting. I had to manage the tires really carefully, I was told to avoid the curbs.”
Hamilton was equally as impressed with his performance, despite having to battle back following his tire failure.
“Of course, I'm disappointed by today's race and I would have loved to deliver the win this afternoon for all the British fans here at Silverstone,” Hamilton said. “The race started so well for us today; I felt comfortable out in front and was managing my pace. The tyre problem was such a shame and from then, it was just a case of giving it my all and battling as far up the field as possible. I had some good overtaking moves and, given another lap, I might have got Fernando and ended up on the podium. Everything considered, fourth place is pretty good after having been last on lap 10…”
Speaking on Pirelli’s performance this weekend, motorsport director Paul Hemberry was quick to point out the issues were not part of the recent delamination concerns the company has been working to resolve.
“There have obviously been some issues with rear-left tire failures which we have not seen before,” he said. “We are taking the situation very seriously and we are currently investigating all tires to determine the cause as soon as possible, ahead of the next Grand Prix in Germany. At the moment, we can’t really say much more until we have fully investigated and analyzed all of these incidents, which is our top priority. However, we can exclude that the new bonding process, which we introduced at this race, is at cause for the tire failures we have seen today. There might be some aspect to this circuit that impacts specifically on the latest version of our 2013 specification tires but at this point we do not want to speculate but will now put together all the evidence to find out what happened and then take appropriate next steps should these be required.”
The win marks Rosberg's second this season and third all-time. Hamilton meanwhile is still searching for his first win with the Silver Arrows, but gave his home crowd one of the most spectacular comebacks this season. Vettel's DNF is his first since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, and shortens his lead on Alonso and Raikkonen in the drivers’ championship 132-11-98, respectively. With Webber's efforts, Red Bull retains its lead in the constructors’ championship with 219 points, ahead of Mercedes (171) and Ferrari (168).
Next weekend marks the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, so teams and Pirelli have very little time to prepare and make the necessary changes for one of the most watched and challenging races on the calendar.
Note - Van der Garde qualified 21st; penalized five grid spots for collision at previous round. Di Resta qualified fifth; excluded for underweight car, allowed to start from back of grid. Van der Garde penalized further five places for gearbox change.
