Roseberg Wins at the 'Russian Roulette' in Silverstone

Nico Rosberg held fast for a for victory at a British Grand Prix, which was marred by tyre blow outs as he managed to hold off Mark Webber by 0.7s as they crossed the finish line.

Lewis Hamilton had led early on and looked comfortable but dropped to the back of the field when his tyre exploded while leading the race. Sebastian Vettel inherited first place.

Hamilton wasn't the only driver to suffer a tyre failure - all of which were left rears - as Felipe Massa then had one at Aintree and then Jean-Eric Vergne also suffered a blow out at the end of the Hangar Straight. This third failure caused the first safety car to be deployed. The safety car was deployed on the 16th lap as marshals cleared up the debris at Stowe corner caused by Vergne’s tyre incident (by which time the teams were telling their drivers to avoid using the kerbs in case they were causing the tyre trouble).

When the grand prix resumed on the 22nd lap, Rosberg started chipping away at Vettel’s lead. Eventually the pair were only a couple of seconds apart as they started to lap traffic, but then... the world champion’s car rolled to a halt just past the pit entry on the 41st lap, prompting another safety car deployment when Vettel’s stricken Red Bull was moved off the track.

The safety car reshuffled the field as Rosberg, Webber and Alonso all pitted. Rosberg and Mercedes appeared to timed it best (retaining the lead) but Webber dropped from third to fifth and Alonso from fourth to eighth.

When the safety car exited the track on lap 46, Mark Webber immediately over took the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo for P4. Then proceeded to take Adrian Sutil’s Force India for P3, before speeding by Lotus’s Kimi Räikkönenfor second on lap 49. 

But before Webber had taken Räikkönen  there was still time for one last tyre failure. Sergio Perez (which Alonso did well to avoid at the start of the Hangar Straight) and then for Hamilton to follow the Ferrari through ahead of Sutil and Räikkönen . But the Hamilton was just unable to snatch a late podium as Alonso held on to take 15 points out of Vettel's championship lead.

McLaren had another disappointing race as Jenson Button was in the fight for points when the second safety car went in, but dropped dramatically from seventh in line behind it to a bitterly disappointing 13th place by the race finish. Teammate Sergio Perez had also been a contender (running sixth behind the safety car before suffering his tyre failure as the race resumed) eventually stopping his McLaren in retirement. 

Esteban Gutierrez was 14th for Sauber as Charles Pic came home ahead Marussia’s Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton, and team mate Giedo van der Garde.

Romain Grosjean was another to have been in the fight for points, before parking his car in the Lotus garage close to the end to join Vettel and Vergne (whose Toro Rosso had suffered damage during its tyre failure) in retirement.

The results in Silverstone tightend up the fight for the driver's championship. Vettel still leads with 132 points, but Alonso closes in with 111 from Raikkonen on 98, then Hamilton on 89, Webber on 87 and Rosberg on 82.

In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 219 to Mercedes’ 171, Ferrari’s 168, Lotus’s 124, Force India’s 59 and McLaren’s 37.

Nico Rosberg	Winner
Mark Webber	Second
Fernando Alonso	Third
Lewis Hamilton	P4
Kimi Räikkönen	P5
Felipe Massa	P6
Adrian Sutil	P7
Daniel Ricciardo	P8
Paul di Resta	P9
Nico Hülkenberg	P10
Pastor Maldonado	P11
Valtteri Botas	P12
Jenson Button	P13
Esteban Gutiérrez	P14
Charles Pic	P15
Jules Bianchi	P16
Max Chilton	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Romain Grosjean	P19
Sergio Perez	Retired (Tyre)
Sebastian Vettel	Retired (Gearbox)
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired (Tyre)