Nico Rosberg Wins Difficult British Grand Prix

The 2013 British Grand Prix turned out to be a race of tires. Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Jean-Eric Vergne and Sergio Perez all suffered from failing tires. Nico Rosberg won the race after inheriting the lead on lap 42 when Sebastian Vettel lost drive in the car, but Rosberg had to fight to keep the lead and won. Mark Webber came back from early damage to take second, and Fernando Alonso put in a late race fight to take third. 

The race started bad for Mark Webber with damage in the first corner that dropped him from fourth to 15th place. However, it helped the drivers fighting for the championship behind him. Kimi Raikkonen was in sixth by the end of the first lap after starting ninth.

Hamilton continued to lead up front and pulled an early lead in the first five laps, but it did not last. Hamilton's left rear tire failed on lap seven and he fell down the field quickly. He nursed the car back to the pits, but by the time he left, he was dead last. That put Nico Rosberg in the lead with Sebastian Vettel behind him.

Vettel took the lead on lap 12, when Rosberg came into the pits for tires.

Jean-Eric Vergne had his own rear tire failures on lap 14 that brought out the safety car to allow for the tire debris to be cleared. It stayed out until lap 22. When the race restarted the top drivers were Vettel, Rosberg, Adrian Sutil, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel pulled out a lead over Rosberg almost as soon as the safety car pulled in. By lap 33, the lead had grown to 3.4 seconds over Rosberg.

It appeared that Vettel would cruise to another victory, but on lap 42 his race was over. He came on his radio and said, "Lost drive," and that was the end of his race. He pulled off right in front of the pits, which brought out a safety car. 

The safety car went in on lap 46, and the running order was Rosberg, Raikkonen, Webber, Sutil, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez. 

Perez also had a tire failure just after the safety car went in, and he left the race.

The final laps were some of the best race we have seen in Formula 1 this season. The late safety car meant that everyone was on new tires and could push as hard as they wanted. There were great battles between Raikkonen and Webber, and after Webber got past, between Raikkonen and Alonso. Raikkonen fell to fifth place in just five laps.

Mercedes overtakes Ferrari in the World Constructors' Championship standings.

There are no changes in position in the World Drivers' Championship.