After Race 9: Great Britain

So… Mercedes are sabotaging Rosberg? No, of course not, and all those suspicions were quashed after the German’s gearbox failure on Sunday. Having discussed last week how it was not impossible that Rosberg could continue his good reliability record, it seems we put the kiss of death on him. Silverstone also saw a chaotic practice session, one of the craziest qualifying sessions in the sport’s history, the first red flagged race in over a decade (gone are the days of full restarts) and Susie Wolff making her Friday debut. There was also the test of 18-inch wheels in the post-race test and a big crash for Giedo van der Garde.

Although she briefly topped the timesheets, Wolff's test ended early
Source: F1 Fanatic

Wolff’s drive is clearly an important moment in this era of F1 but it’s difficult to view it as anything other than a token gesture, given her connections in the sport (for which I don’t blame her – after all, F1 is all about connections). I still feel Simona de Silvestro is more F1 race-ready and deserves an official Friday run sooner rather than later.

The annual timing of the British/German consecutive-races provides us with an intriguing dynamic at the ultimate Anglo-German team. Expect the heat to be cranked up further as Europe hits the heart of summer…

UPDATE: FRIC Suspension removed from all cars from the German Grand Prix onwards. 

Cheesy smiles and tacky trophies!
Source: Red Bull Racing (Facebook)

1. Nico Rosberg (up one spot)

Rosberg retains top spot in the F1 Power Rankings by virtue of his Saturday performance. Driving purely on instinct, Rosberg dealt a seemingly crushing blow to his team-mate before his race unravelled with gearbox failure. The tyre situation was shaping up to provide us with a fascinating race but, alas, we’ll never know what would have happened. He’ll look to rebuild his championship lead at home. 

Hamilton was reunited with the traditional winner's trophy
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

=2. Daniel Ricciardo (no change) & Lewis Hamilton (up one spot)

Saturday was a bleak day for British sport. Mark Cavendish crashed out spectacularly on day one of Le Tour de France – as the race made its first voyage to his mother’s home town of Harrogate – while Hamilton committed a rookie error in qualifying, losing out to Mother Nature. His recovery on Sunday was excellent – albeit expected – with the clear bonus being Rosberg’s DNF (as mentioned earlier, we’ll never know what happened had both cars finished, although you’d think Hamilton may have had the tyre edge).

Ricciardo had a similar weekend; he sat in the garage late in Q3 as S3 dried up and saw himself tumble down the timesheets before a masterclass in tyre preservation saw him complete one very happy podium.

4. Daniil Kvyat (no change)

Toro Rosso finally found some reliability and secured their first double-points finish since Melbourne. Like Ricciardo, both STRs sat in the garage late in Q3 (imagine just how bad it could have been for Hamilton) and ended up at the foot of the top ten, where both cars also finished. Kvyat just couldn’t get by The Hulk in the closing stages but at least picked up his first points as a 20-year-old. He was one of several drivers to show magnificent car control during free practice – he’s come a long way since the YDT at Silverstone last year! 

Kvyat's impressive rookie campaign goes from strength to strength
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso (Facebook)

5. Valtteri Bottas (up three spots)

Driver of the day by a million miles, Bottas made it look it easy as he recovered from a Q1 exit to finish second. His series of superb overtakes in the early stages were a joy to watch. 

Bottas mechanic-surfs after a stunning drive
Source: Williams F1 Team (Facebook)

6. Jules Bianchi (no change)

After a brush with the wall in the wet practice, JB recovered brilliantly to steal the show in qualifying with a superb P12 for Marussia. He briefly ran in the top ten in the chaotic opening laps before the car’s lack of downforce eventually showed. His highlight of the week came a couple of days later as he tested the Ferrari.

7. Romain Grosjean (up one spot)

It was rather difficult ranking the midfield in this week’s F1 Power Rankings. Grosjean edges it by virtue of having the weakest machinery amongst the contenders for P7. He missed out on Q3 by less than a tenth before he almost failed to getaway at the start of the race. He wound up a credible, if anonymous, twelfth. 

Lotus tested out 18-inch wheels during the post-race test
Source: F1 Fanatic

8. Nico Hülkenberg (down one spot)

A brilliant P4 on the grid for The Hulk promised so much for raceday. Alas, Force India had absolutely no pace on Sunday and Hülkenberg plummeted down the field, only just fending off Kvyat for an eventual P8. Rather disappointing home race for the team.

Force India had an awful Sunday
Source: Sahara Force India (Facebook)

9. Jenson Button (up four spots)

One of the weekend’s most heart-warming stories was JB’s superb display in front of his home crowd, the first since the death of his father. The Pink for Papa campaign was embraced by the paddock and crowd and JB and McLaren made the most of the wet qualifying and red flag to qualify third (with a wet set-up) and finish fourth (having then altered their settings under the red flag as parc-fermé is lifted). A couple more laps and he might have stood on the podium but, for now, McLaren must try and build on this momentum.

 

What better way to remember his old man than with a superb weekend?
Source: McLaren (Facebook)

10. Sergio Pérez (down five spots)

Button was the big winner this week while Pérez was the big loser after an underwhelming weekend. Checo randomly decided to let the two Mercs past him late in Q3 and missed the chequered flag (and a certain top five start) before, like Hülkenberg, his race pace was non-existent. The momentum he built over the last few races has evaporated.

=11. Fernando Alonso & Sebastian Vettel (down one spot)

A bizarre weekend from the double world champion. One of several to be caught radar-watching during qualifying, he then completely missed his grid slot as he found himself mired in an unaccustomed position. A magnificent overtake around the outside of Seb Vettel at Copse will go down as one of the greatest ever before payback was given a dozen laps later. Both drivers complained plenty on the radio but it seems like Alonso missed the one clincher: Vettel exceeded track limits when completing the move at Copse. The Spaniard might have been correct in his DRS protestations but the track limits seemed more clear cut. Having said that, both drivers were continuously taking liberties with them and at least the stewards were fair to both parties.

Vettel almost lucked into a front-row grid spot after being forced to complete a final flying lap having made a mistake on his first Q3 lap. A poor start and an early first pit-stop (which proved a mistake) left him out of podium contention. Seems fitting the two drivers are tied, especially after their superb overtakes.

The battle between Alonso and Vettel was one of the highlights of the season so far
Source: Autosport

 =13. Felipe Massa (down three spots) & Kevin Magnussen (no change)

If you take out Massa’s terrific pole position in Austria, the last two-and-a-bit race weekends have been horrific! His spectacular last lap Canada crash was followed up with a podium-less Austrian race and now a double-crash Silverstone weekend, featuring an early FP1 crash and then the Räikkönen incident.

K-Mag was one of the stars of qualifying but came up short in the race after a promising start. P13 is probably harsh for him in these rankings, especially as he finished a fine seventh, but he was also comfortably shaded by Button (although the team’s tactic of asking him to not to join the Alonso/Vettel battle seems strange).

15. Jean-Éric Vergne (down one spot)

Incredibly, despite having a near trouble-free weekend, JEV can’t improve on his 15^th position in this week’s F1 Power Rankings. Why? Well, in both quali and the race, he was bested by his rookie team-mate. Vergne was another driver to demonstrate superb car control during free practice although he did also have a curious wheel failure.

16. Kamui Kobayashi (no change)

It’s been a turbulent week for Caterham. With the long-awaited sale of the team confirmed, both cars immediately failed to qualify within 107% of the Q1 time. KK did very well to avoid the first lap crash as he rally-crossed his way through the grass before he settled down into a quiet race.

17. Pastor Maldonado (up one spot)

Other than the Gutiérrez clash, it was a quiet weekend for Pastor. He was excluded from quali before a late exhaust failure saw him exit early.

 

Not quite Bahrain...
Source: Formula1.com

18. Kimi Räikkönen (down one spot)

I quote from last week: “just a miserable weekend for Kimi.” After Ferrari messed up qualifying, Räikkönen made a decent start before he inexplicably kept his foot floored on the throttle as he attempted to rejoin the track, causing him to lose control and bring out the red flag.

19. Max Chilton (no change)

The luckiest man of the whole weekend was Max Chilton. A rogue flying tyre flew just inches away from his helmet in the first lap mêlée (remember the late Henry Surtees was tragically killed by a stray wheel in an F2 race). Chilton ended up rather frighteningly driving down the pit lane against a flood of mechanics and picked up a deserved penalty. It’s surprising he didn’t have the common sense to stop, to be honest.

Remarkable footage from the crowd shows Chilton's incredible escape
Source: via the BBC

20. Marcus Ericsson (down one spot)

It was close as to whether Ericsson would stay at 19^th or slip one spot. The young Swede drops due to the complete and utter lack of momentum shown carried by either himself or the team – now under new ownership. Tough times ahead.

21. Adrian Sutil (up one spot) & 22. Esteban Gutiérrez (down one spot)

Another miserable weekend for the Swiss team. Both cars ended up in the gravel in quali before Stevie G failed miserably at extracting revenge on Maldonado for Bahrain in one of the race’s more comical incidents.

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