Tyres were of course the main talking point of the British Grand Prix – not so much in terms of strategy but because they kept failing disintegrating.
Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Jean-Eric Vergne and Sergio Perez all suffered major failures during the race. And some other drivers had lucky escapes.
One of them was Fernando Alonso: “In the first stop, lap nine, I had a tyre problem also,” he said. “My tyre was finished and disintegrate in the last corner.”
“For me it was the right rear that I think was new compared to all the other failures and if this happened like Felipe ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ that I think was in turn five when it happened ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ then I lose the race. For me it happened in the last corner and I pit.”
Race winner Nico Rosberg also had a lucky escape. He had just radioed his team to tell them he was worried about his left-rear tyre which was “getting worse” when Sebastian Vettel stopped on the pit straight with a gearbox failure. The Safety Car was deployed giving Rosberg the chance to make a ‘free’ pit stop and get rid of the damaged tyre.
The tyre failures occured on both compounds: Hamilton, Massa and Perez were using the medium tyres when they experienced their failures and Vergne was on the hards.
In the pits Vettel enjoyed the two quickest stops of the race. Red Bull’s best stop was four-tenths of a second quicker than last year’s best, set by McLaren.
Toro Rosso were the slowest team in the pits: Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne lost at least 2.2 seconds to the fastest stop on each visit. Ricciardo was also one of the drivers who missed the chance to put on fresh tyres when the Safety Car came out, along with a frustrated Kimi Raikkonen.
British Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | Stint 4 | Stint 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nico Rosberg | Medium (12) | Hard (22) | Hard (8) | Hard (10) | |
| Mark Webber | Medium (10) | Hard (21) | Medium (11) | Medium (10) | |
| Fernando Alonso | Medium (10) | Hard (20) | Hard (11) | Medium (11) | |
| Lewis Hamilton | Medium (8) | Hard (28) | Hard (16) | ||
| Kimi Raikkonen | Medium (11) | Hard (18) | Hard (23) | ||
| Felipe Massa | Medium (10) | Hard (6) | Hard (20) | Hard (6) | Medium (10) |
| Adrian Sutil | Medium (12) | Medium (21) | Hard (19) | ||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Medium (11) | Hard (21) | Hard (20) | ||
| Paul di Resta | Medium (9) | Medium (24) | Hard (9) | ||
| Nico Hulkenberg | Hard (12) | Hard (13) | Medium (12) | Medium (15) | |
| Pastor Maldonado | Medium (15) | Medium (22) | Hard (15) | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | Medium (15) | Medium (23) | Hard (14) | ||
| Jenson Button | Hard (11) | Medium (21) | Medium (20) | ||
| Esteban Gutierrez | Hard (10) | Medium (17) | Medium (2) | Hard (11) | Medium (12) |
| Charles Pic | Hard (15) | Hard (19) | Medium (18) | ||
| Jules Bianchi | Medium (11) | Hard (22) | Hard (19) | ||
| Max Chilton | Medium (12) | Hard (20) | Hard (20) | ||
| Giedo van der Garde | Hard (10) | Hard (18) | Medium (12) | Medium (12) | |
| Romain Grosjean | Medium (9) | Hard (21) | Hard (12) | Medium (9) | |
| Sergio Perez | Medium (13) | Hard (20) | Medium (13) | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | Medium (13) | Hard (22) | Hard (6) | ||
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Hard (14) | Hard (11) | Medium (10) |
British Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 24.092 | 35 | |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 24.159 | 0.067 | 13 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 24.357 | 0.265 | 32 |
| 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 24.400 | 0.308 | 36 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 24.428 | 0.336 | 29 |
| 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 24.473 | 0.381 | 42 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 24.572 | 0.480 | 10 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 24.596 | 0.504 | 13 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24.635 | 0.543 | 36 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 24.680 | 0.588 | 16 |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 24.725 | 0.633 | 9 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 24.745 | 0.653 | 11 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 24.751 | 0.659 | 30 |
| 14 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 24.781 | 0.689 | 31 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 24.789 | 0.697 | 30 |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 24.807 | 0.715 | 12 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 24.863 | 0.771 | 37 |
| 18 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 24.872 | 0.780 | 42 |
| 19 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 24.893 | 0.801 | 34 |
| 20 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 24.990 | 0.898 | 12 |
| 21 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 24.992 | 0.900 | 11 |
| 22 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 25.004 | 0.912 | 9 |
| 23 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 25.018 | 0.926 | 41 |
| 24 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 25.028 | 0.936 | 33 |
| 25 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 25.087 | 0.995 | 40 |
| 26 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 25.099 | 1.007 | 33 |
| 27 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 25.158 | 1.066 | 33 |
| 28 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 25.244 | 1.152 | 15 |
| 29 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 25.275 | 1.183 | 37 |
| 30 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 25.330 | 1.238 | 10 |
| 31 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 25.436 | 1.344 | 42 |
| 32 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 25.701 | 1.609 | 32 |
| 33 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 25.729 | 1.637 | 11 |
| 34 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 25.814 | 1.722 | 28 |
| 35 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 25.911 | 1.819 | 42 |
| 36 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 25.927 | 1.835 | 33 |
| 37 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 26.031 | 1.939 | 12 |
| 38 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 26.040 | 1.948 | 27 |
| 39 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 26.191 | 2.099 | 15 |
| 40 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 26.229 | 2.137 | 32 |
| 41 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 26.256 | 2.164 | 25 |
| 42 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 26.317 | 2.225 | 25 |
| 43 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 26.371 | 2.279 | 34 |
| 44 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 26.391 | 2.299 | 40 |
| 45 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 26.515 | 2.423 | 10 |
| 46 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 29.026 | 4.934 | 8 |
| 47 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 29.418 | 5.326 | 14 |
| 48 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 29.446 | 5.354 | 11 |
| 49 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 29.684 | 5.592 | 12 |
| 50 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 30.231 | 6.139 | 15 |
| 51 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 31.448 | 7.356 | 10 |
| 52 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 31.851 | 7.759 | 38 |
| 53 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 31.937 | 7.845 | 29 |
| 54 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 33.401 | 9.309 | 42 |
| 55 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 35.210 | 11.118 | 10 |
sato113 (@sato113)
30th June 2013, 20:40
amazed hamilton managed 28 laps on hards in the middle stint (aided by a SC of course) especially after having that blowout.
liam (@)
30th June 2013, 21:00
Hats of to the lads at Mercedes seeing Merc suffered from some of worst deg at the start of the season, now they have some of the best in a few races..All that overtime and hard work at the factory clearly paid off or maybe Paddy Lowe’s arrival has really paid off. Either way Ferrari and RBR now have a fight on their hands regarding the silver arrows.
stefano (@alfa145)
30th June 2013, 23:06
plus, they achieved that without doing any sort of secret test with pirelli, wich is remarkable.
no actually they had one this year, and started winning from that moment on. ups, my mistake.
liam (@)
30th June 2013, 23:37
Dude I know, I was being sarcastic. ;)
Tariq Patel (@mdtariqp)
30th June 2013, 21:07
Based on what Lewis achieved today, I now think Mercedes will be a real challenge in both the WDC and WCC
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st July 2013, 17:35
Yes they seem to be a force to be reckoned with – let’s hope Hamilton can get some good luck. I kind of wonder if Shumi left at the wrong time….
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st July 2013, 17:37
Boy, if ever a race needed 2 more laps, this was the one (barring extra tyre delaminations)! Webber would be duking it out for P1 with Rosberg and Hamilton for P3 with Alonso! Damn the stewards!!!
Tariq Patel (@mdtariqp)
30th June 2013, 21:10
Both of Vettel’s pit stops were not only the fastest, but within 6 hundreds of a second time difference.
Amazing work from the Red Bull crew
HK (@me4me)
30th June 2013, 23:03
Indeed. Redbull was almost perfect this weekend. Felt bad for Vettel, this replicates Korea 2010. A fault not of his nor the teams fault. Also felt bad for Hamilton, but great to see he at least could make a come-back through the race.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
30th June 2013, 21:23
I wonder why Merc didn’t pit Hamilton as well at the 2nd saftey car period? The top 3 cars had storming pace at the end because of this, and arguably led them to achieve their positions. On new tires, i believe Lewis would have had Nando and possibly Webber.
minnis (@minnis)
1st July 2013, 11:57
Hamilton pitted 5 laps or so before the safety car, so he wouldn’t really have gained much. Plus the fact that Alonso actually lost three places by pitting (others probably did too, but I can’t remember) would mean that Hamilton would have had to gain more places with tyres that were not much newer. It wasnt really worth it.
George (@george)
30th June 2013, 21:56
I wonder how much further up Ricciardo might have finished if his team had been as good as Vettel’s? I guess we might find out next year…
Elliot A
30th June 2013, 22:04
Hamilton did two stops and still beat a Lotus? Even with Lewis on tyres 6 laps newer, that seems crazy on such a high deg track. I think in light of the other drama Mercedes fixing their tyre problem has been overlooked completely. They could well have had 2 podiums today, or perhaps a 1-2. Looks like that tyre test really paid off!
OEL F1 (@oel-f1)
30th June 2013, 23:02
Didn’t Gutierrez have a tyre failure as well?
William (@william)
1st July 2013, 0:53
I thought that too but apparently it was a front wind damage according to Sky Sports F1
Bosley (@)
1st July 2013, 8:26
It was a front left blow out like the left rears on the other cars, and the tyre exploded into the front wing.
OEL F1 (@oel-f1)
1st July 2013, 15:18
Very interesting that he had a front tyre explosion, seems like Pirelli has even more work to do then!
Dafffid (@dafffid)
1st July 2013, 9:47
Di Resta’s missing a tyre
Ritesh (@rits)
1st July 2013, 11:20
Or 10 laps on one of the stints. He stopped thrice as far as I remember.
Dafffid (@dafffid)
1st July 2013, 13:57
Yes, one or the other. They changed his nose on lap 42, but presumably they changed his tyres as well