F1 Fanatic

A first-lap collision between their drivers and an avoidable penalty were just part of the reason why Ferrari failed to score in Silverstone. It took another dose of poor luck to turn a bad day into a disaster.

A wasted race leaves them in danger of falling out of touch with the championship leaders.

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Felipe Massa

After the race Massa was cursing his luck:

I don’t know what to do, but I have to find some way of getting rid of the bad luck that is following me around! In the last few races, everything has happened to me.

Today my race was soon over, when I touched with Fernando and got a puncture which dropped me to the back of the pack.
Felipe Massa

But there were plenty of reasons why he should have been blaming himself. He was almost three-quarters of a second slower than his team mate in qualifying.

At the start, an over-optimistic lunge on his team mate could have put them both out. Massa was perhaps fortunate that the damage was limited to his own car rather than incurring the wrath of his team for taking out his team mate.

He pitted with a puncture at the end of lap one, leaving him almost last. Massa quickly dispensed with the drivers from the new teams but spent several laps stuck behind Sebastien Buemi. He finally passed the Toro Rosso after the restart.

Sebastian Vettel then came by him with little difficulty at Club, after which Massa’s progress halted.

On lap 39 he spun at the exit of Woodcote, which was either the cause or consequence of a puncture. He pitted again and went on to finish 15th, out of the points for the third race in a row.

Compare Felipe Massa’s form against his team mate in 2010

British Grand Prix in pictures

Fernando Alonso

Qualified third but fell to fifth having made a slow start, saying afterwards “we had some problems with the clutch”.

He ran in close company with Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg and pitted early in an effort to get ahead of them. It didn’t work, and he found himself stuck behind Kubica.

The subsequent incident which led to him getting a drive-through penalty has been covered in detail in an earlier article. Suffice to say the penalty would have been avoided had Alonso simply let Kubica past.

Alonso got ahead of Sebastien Buemi after the restart and then began a lengthy tussle with Vitantonio Liuzzi. At one point he dived down the inside of the Force India at Village, only to run wide and lose the position.

He finally got ahead with three laps to go – but the pair made contact while side-by-side and Alonso suffered a puncture, ending any chance of a finish in the points.

Compare Fernando Alonso’s form against his team mate in 2010

2010 British Grand Prix

• Technical review: British Grand Prix
• Liuzzi explains hard tyre struggle
• Ten F1 fans’ stories from Silverstone
• 2010 British Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Was new Silverstone a success? (Poll)
• Alonso: we’ll catch Red Bull in Germany
• Michael wants Silverstone bumps eased
• Who was the best driver of the British Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)
• Both cars in points (Williams race review)
• Kobayashi takes sixth (Sauber race review)

Image (C) Ferrari spa