A Dry 2012 British Grand Prix Brings Webber a Win

After an exciting but wet qualifying session yesterday, the race today at least began in the dry. The race was fairly unexciting. The biggest story was Webber chasing Alonso down for nearly the entire race until he passed him on lap 48 of 52. 

The first few laps were stable up front and Alonso held his first position. Paul di Resta went off track after hitting Grosjean on the first lap causing both some damage, but they pitted and remained in the race. 

Grosjean was racing through the field after getting his new wing. He went from 22nd to 14th in between the opening laps and lap 16. 

The first round of pit stops came around lap 17. Alonso took hard tires and so did most of the other drivers. 

Alonso and Hamilton who had still not pitted began fighting for position around lap 19. Alonso made it around in a great move, but Hamilton continued to pressure him. That put Alonso in first and Hamilton in second. Within about a lap, Alonso had pulled out over a second lead. 

Lower in the field, Grosjean continued to move up and was in eighth by lap 22. 

At the halfway point, the leaders were Alonso, Webber, Vettel, Massa and Raikkonen. Alonso's lead over Webber was up to 5.7 seconds by lap 29.

Vettel pitted from third on lap 32 and resumed in fifth. A lap later Webber came in and came out in fourth. 

After the Red Bull pit stops, Ferrari was leading the race. Alonso was in first, and Massa was 15 seconds behind him. However, Massa pitted and dropped to fourth. Still, Alonso's lead over Webber was 19 seconds. 

While pitting on lap 39, Kamui Kobayashi crashed into his pit crew. No one appeared to be seriously injured but several were knocked over. 

With 10 laps to go, things had mostly settled down. Webber was down to three seconds behind Alonso and gaining slowly. With six laps to go, Alonso’s lead was down to less than a second. Webber made his move on lap 48 and made it around Alonso. The Ferrari driver was not really able to fight back, and Vettel in third began chasing him down. With three laps to go Alonso was 1.5 seconds behind Webber and Vettel was about 2 seconds behind Alonso. In the end, Alonso's lead was too much, and Vettel could not get around him. 

The final podium was Webber, Alonso and Vettel. Behind them were Massa, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Schumacher, Hamilton, Senna and Button. 

With the performance today, Red Bull still leads the Constructors' Championship. However, Alonso has a 13-point lead over Webber in the Drivers' Championship.