The British Grand Prix: Heroic Hamilton bags the British

This weekends British Grand Prix was run under a cloud in more ways than one. Rain threatened all weekend culminating in a storm on the sunday for the race itself. But there was also sad news for Silverstone with the announcement that 2009 will be the last run at the historic race track with Donnington Park taking over British Grand Prix duties for 2010 and beyond. The weather nor the news could dampen British spirits however, the race was a cracker.

Qualifying

The Qualifying sessions for the British Grand Prix were dominated by Mclaren not Ferrari who many thought would benefit from the sweeping quick corners and the superior mechanical grip offered by the Scuderia's long wheelbased car. Mclaren showed that it was not to be with both drivers showing great speed and proving more than a match for Ferrari.

Rain came toward the end of the first session and drivers sat out for a short while, waiting for normal racing conditions. The rain seemed to be inconsequential however as several drivers all went out again to try and clinch a place in the second session. Nico Rosberg was not one of them. Curiously, the German opted out of qualifying. The two Honda's were put out of qualifying and ended toward the back of the grid. A poor showing for the team. Jenson Button making it three years running he has qualified so poorly at Silverstone.

Qualifying 2 was another tour de force from Mclaren with Hamilton this time leading home his Finnish team mate Kovalainen. The two Ferrari's struggled however and could not manage to sit back and cruise through as would normally be the case. Both Raikkonen and Massa had to opt to use another set of soft tyres to do an extra run to ensure their passage to qualifying 3. Surprises from the session were Mark Webber in the Red Bull making it into 3rd and Sebastian Vettel making it 9th for Toro Rosso.

In the third session things came together for Finn Heikki Kovalainen. The Mclaren driver piloted himself into Pole Position for the first time in Formula One. Hamilton could manage only 4th on the grid behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. Mark Webber cemented Red Bull's pace with 2nd for the race on sunday. It was abysmal session for Felipe Massa though. The Brazilian had had a crash on Friday and now had a drive problem which kept him down in 9th place. Robert Kubica was also out of luck, making only 10th place on the grid.

Race

When the lights went out Pole man Kovalainen made an adequate start beating the Red Bull of Webber and the Ferrari of Raikkonen away but it was home favourite Hamilton who was quickest away from the blocks, he challenged his team mate very strongly into the first turn. The two Mclarens touched lightly but Kovalainen held first and led away.

Further back there were spinners with notable drivers being Felipe Massa in the Ferrari on the approach to Bridge corner and David Coulthard tagging Sebastian Vettel at Club. The Scot who announced his retirement this weekend sent both he and the young German into early retirement.

Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen started to ease away from the field at a good rate with only Raikkonen able to keep them honest. Hamilton on lap five mounted a daring and successful pass on his team mate at Stowe corner and then began to ease away from the two drivers behind him.

The conditions were treacherous all afternoon and Kovalainen suffered the first of three spins of the race for him early on handing second place to Kimi Raikkonen. Toward the end of the first stint rain was threatening and shortly after the pit stops which Raikkonen and Hamilton made together, the rain did indeed return in earnest.

During the pit stops Raikkonen opted not to change his intermediate tyres whereas Hamilton did change them. When the rain returned the entire field including the leaders were split into two very distince categories; the haves and the have nots.

The haves who were those who had changed tyres were suddenly alive with pace and notable drivers who had changed were Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld. These new tyres were able to warm enough and have enough tread to get up to temperature and be grippy. The have nots, notably Fernando Alonso in the Renault and Kimi Raikkonen suddenly found themselves 10 seconds off the pace.

Heidfeld in these conditions excelled and at one point passed both the Ferrari of Raikkonen and the Mclaren of Kovalainen in the same corner leading to the start finish straight. He had done this earlier when further back in the field. The German found himself in 2nd place before the rain got too heavy and Rubens Barrichello came to the fore.

The experienced Brazilian had opted to change not only his tyres but the tyre construction from intermediate tyres to the extreme wet weather tyres. This made him 10 to 15 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field for about 15 laps. Team mate Button was also on these tyres but binned his Honda aquaplaning on the circuit. If not for a fuel rig problem Barrichello might have easily finished 2nd. As it was, he settled happily for 3rd place.

The middle to closing phases of the race saw many incidents and spins leading to the demise of many drivers. Adrian Sutil and Robert Kubica both ended their British Grand Prix in spectacular fashion leading to the Abbey Chicane. Massa and Raikkonen span repeatedly in the very wet phase and Giancarlo Fisichella too ended up retiring spinning in the gravel trap.

The last few points positions were hard fought toward the end with Trulli, Nakajima, Raikkonen, Alonso and Kovalainen all battling together on the circuit. In the end Raikkonen managed to pass both Kovalainen and Alonso for 4th place while Kovalainen managed to get passed the Renault for 5th. The ailing Spaniard had to settle for 6th while Nakajima allowed Trulli passed for the 7th position in the very dying laps.

However, all of this was inconsequential to the British hopeful at the head of the field. Hamilton crossed the line almost 70 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The young British driver answering critics and nay sayers alike with a spectacular drive in which he demonstrated in the most difficult circumstances, his absolute mastery of his sport. Silverstone, despite it's alleged problems, always cooks up a storm and this year, was no different.