Fuente: © Renault F1 Team (English)
http://www.renaultf1.com/

FORMULA 1 - RENAULT: Silverstone, race: An eventful Grand Prix

/noticias.info/ Start: As the lights went out, Lewis Hamilton made an impeccable start from fourth place on the grid. He emerged from turn 1 in second position as his teammate, Heikki Kovalainen had to close the door to keep the Briton behind him. Behind them, Mark Webber made a mistake, as did Kazuki Nakajima, Felipe Massa, David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel, with the latter two retiring. For the ING Renault F1 Team, Nelson Piquet ended the first lap in fifth and Fernando in sixth.

On the second lap, Fernando Alonso overtook his teammate, then Nick Heidfeld. A lap later, Felipe Massa spun once again. He rejoined while his teammate in the other Ferrari ran comfortably in third. The classification was then as follows: Kovalainen, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Heidfeld, Piquet, Trulli.

On lap 5, Lewis Hamilton lunged down the inside of his teammate at Stowe to take the lead of the race. At the same time, Fernando Alonso was the fastest man on the track, closing in quickly on the Ferrari of Raikkonen. But a mistake by Kovalainen a few laps later saw Raikkonen inherit third from his compatriot. The new order was then: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Alonso, Heidfeld, Piquet.

On the 18th lap, Mark Webber was the first driver to stop and refuel. Heikki Kovalainen followed him in a lap later. Fernando Alonso stopped on lap 20. It was then that Raikkonen closed to within a second of Lewis Hamilton, who seemed to have some problems with his tyres. The two men pitted at the same time with the Briton opting for new wet weather tyres, as the Finn kept his used wets. This was the turning point of the race.

After the first stops, the order was as follows: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kovalainen. The rain then made its return - who would have the advantage? The drivers with new wet weather tyres or used wet weather tyres? Heidfeld, who was running on new wet tyres, gave the answer: he overtook Fernando Alonso and took fourth place.

Kimi Raikkonen, was the second driver to suffer big problems with his used tyres: he lost 5 seconds a lap to the leader. Nelson Piquet had opted for new wet weather tyres in his stop and was going well, overtaking his teammate on lap 26.

On lap 27, Nick Heidfeld made a great move on Kovalainen and Raikkonen to take second place behind Hamilton. Fernando then decided it was time to pit for new wet weather tyres. It was a change of strategy by Renault as the Spaniard was losing too much time and the plan was to give him enough fuel to run to the end of the race.

Kimi Raikkonen continued to lose lots of time and finally decided to pit for new wets on lap 31. The order was then: Hamilton, Kovalainen, Kubica, Piquet...while Fernando was in ninth.

Kubica began closing bit by bit on Kovalainen and on lap 35 he made his move to take third. The McLaren of Kovalainen then made a stop to change tyres.

It was then that the rain became heavier. Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton all made mistakes, as did Nelson Piquet. Unfortunately, he was the only one who could not rejoin as the Brazilian was beached in the gravel at Abbey.

It soon became clear that extreme wet tyres were the best solution. Some drivers wanted the safety car to come out, but the two Honda drivers opted to pit for extreme wets. They were 10 seconds per lap faster than the other cars. Lewis Hamilton came into the pits on lap 38 and decided to take normal wet weather tyres. Nick Heidfeld did the same, as did Robert Kubica, while Fernando Alonso remained out on track.

On lap 40, Rubens Barrichello was flying on his extreme wet tyres, while Robert Kubica made a mistake and retired. The new order on lap 41 was: Hamilton, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Trulli, Alonso, Kovalainen.

On lap 44, Barrichello caught Heidfeld and overtook him for second. But the rain stopped with 17 laps to go - would the extreme wets last? Hamilton, meanwhile, remained in front of Barrichello, Heidfeld and Alonso.

On lap 46, Barrichello stopped to change his extreme wets for normal wet weather tyres. At the same time, Heikki Kovalainen overtook Fernando Alonso for fourth place. Unfortunately for him, he then proceeded to spin, losing two places in the process.

In the final 10 laps the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was catching the Renault of Alonso. He was able to pass Fernando on lap 54, which left Heikki Kovalainen fighting with Fernando, just as Kazuki Nakajima and Jarno Trulli also caught up with 5 laps of the race remaining.

In the end, with two laps to go, Kovalainen overtook Alonso for fifth place, but Alonso was able to hold off Kazuki Nakajima and Jarno Trulli to finish sixth.

After 60 laps, Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello. notas_de_prensa_archivo