Rate the race: 2011 British Grand Prix

2011 British Grand Prix

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What did you think of the British Grand Prix? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2011 British Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (9%)
  • 9 (23%)
  • 8 (41%)
  • 7 (18%)
  • 6 (5%)
  • 5 (2%)
  • 4 (0%)
  • 3 (0%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 473

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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2011 British Grand Prix

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    Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    225 comments on “Rate the race: 2011 British Grand Prix”

    1. 10/10
      Absolutely brilliant finish

      2/10 for the FOM Coverage
      0/10 for One HD’s timing of ad breaks at key moments

      Wonder what the stewards will do.

      1. Yep – zero for OneHD.

        Zero for “maintain the gap” message to Webber

        9/10 for the race – 10 if one of the battles had’ve been for 1st

        1. I agree 0/10 for One HD ad timing, most exciting part of the race and I’m watching an ad for the Ab Swing pro.

          1. You were lucky you got the Ab Swing Pro. Being in a regional area, I get ads for businesses that are in Townsville. Yeah, I’m really going to travel 1400km for some fishing tackle.

            1. lol in star sports, during F1 commercial break we used to get ads of the (race-in-progress) F1 television spot itself. :D

            2. I cant believe someone actually called a place townsville

          2. ONE HD did a great job, that was miles ahead of what they have delivered in the past. They had a post race show, short though it was, they commented on the comments on Red Bull’s facebook, they had diagrams before the race despite not quite understanding them and they even DELAYED the ad break so we DID get to see the key points.

            1. But despite delaying the break, they still cut to the ad break as Button was coming out of the pits, while racing for position with Webber. I could see Button slowing down, and Webber rounding the corner and they were still off to flog some crap show I don’t watch. I almost threw the remote at the tele, frustrating to say the least.

              20 seconds more wouldn’t have been too much to ask.

            2. Yeah, ok, it isn’t perfect. But they must have the ads, and it is inevitable that some tings will be missed.

              To be honest, I think we missed more due to the race director than due to ONE HD.

            3. Ads are needed, and I could accept that – if half the ads weren’t for other shows on OneHD! Surely not needed.

              I do appreciate however that the ads are only 2 minutes long, rather than the 3 min 45 secs they usually are on the main channels, and that they gave us more than they ever have before in terms of celebration and post-race and quali stuff.

              But that one incident really annoyed me today. Why stay for the pit stop for position, if you don’t watch where he pops back into line? If you know there’s no lollies coming, you can’t be disappointed when it’s snatched from you. If it’s been dangled in front of you though…

            4. Yeah, true.

            5. Guilherme (@the_philosopher)
              10th July 2011, 16:17

              Seeing all this discussion about ad breaks, I think I should feel lucky that, despite the terrible commentary, we never had ad breaks here, at least not since I started watching in 1998. The only ad break we have is after the winning driver radio transmition, and it usually gets back by the time they reach the pit lane, and that still drives me crazy :P

        2. I thought that Red Bull said they would allow their drivers to fight each other? or did I imagine that one?

          1. Yah, the FIA are going to slap a $100,000.00 fine, so they should!!

            1. Laranja Mecanica
              10th July 2011, 15:20

              They won’t it’s legal now, but the disrepute part might still hold

            2. Would that be for team orders, which aren’t banned?

          2. So they made us believe last year!

        3. Makes you wonder why Webber wants to stay with Red Bull. I mean sure, the car is good, but its clear the team have favoured Vettel since day one! Although he really doesn’t have any other options to drive a decent car.

          1. ivz you think he would be happier being Barrichello.

      2. Very dismal coverage today. Some of the worst that we’ve had for a long time.

        The ad breaks were all in the wrong spots. Terrible

        1. Not a single ad break on BBC1 – I honestly wouldn’t switch to HD if it meant I had to view ads.

          I’ll grab a torrent of the HD later when I watch it again (ads, if any, already taken out.)

          1. I think OneHD refers to a channel in a country that is not the UK, pSynrg.

            1. yeh I was confused what people were on about at first “BBC One HD” had no ads and the picture quality is excellent –

            2. Yeah, referring to ONE HD in Australia. The coverage is pretty ordinary, the ads were quite ill timed for this race and there seemed to be allot of them right at that crucial 2/3rds point of the race. I just wish they would buy the rights to the whole BBC coverage, pre-race and all.

        2. I would kill to have only ad breaks to complain about. Living in the states I had to DVR FOX’s delayed coverage of the race, only for the recording to end with 15 laps to go! I was furious.

          You guys can complain all you want about tv coverage but you have it miles better than we do in America. SPEED does a good job, but the 4 or 5 races FOX does a year are terrible.

    2. 8/10
      Shame there wasn’t really a fight for 1st. Vettel’s pit mistake doesn’t count, does it?

      1. I agree. Great action throughout and a great finish. Only a SC and a fight for the lead would have made it better.

      2. 8/10 is what I gave. Hopefully Webber can win next time.

      3. It was a shame there wasn’t a proper fight, but I think the edge is taken off by the fact that somebody but Vettel won ;)

      4. Agreed here as well. Shame we didn’t get a Vettel-Alonso battle on the track. For the rest: entertaining stuff. Great season, but not because of DRS.

    3. Great Racing by Hamliton at the end there. Seven.

      1. sad his car was 1.5secs slower than alonso’s per lap. it must really frustrating for him to come 4th from 10 when he couldve just easilt finished 2nd or so with a slightly better car.

        1. Its gotta be furstrating. Kind of like how Fernando must have felt when he got lapped after leading the Spanish GP.

      2. It was a great effort, but sometimes I swear there is a magnet in Massa’s car that attracts Hamilton’s. I loved seeing them duke it out at the end, kind of reminds me of 08′ but it’s getting old seeing them make contact.

    4. Brilliant Race 9/10, Equal with Canada!

      The Re Bull cock up in the pits made this race otherwise we’d have another 1-2

      1. Another 1-2? There’s only been one 1-2 this season.

        1. And one more 1-2 is another is it not?

    5. 8/10, good race, good battles.
      But a horrible job in the pits (from Sauber, Force India, Red Bull and McLaren).

      Absolutly disgusted by the team order to Mark Webber!

      1. what a shame that team order! i hope there will be as much public blame as the one Ferrari received last year in Germany…

        1. I don’t think it will, because it wasn’t a team roder for the lead.

          But it was totaly unfair because Mark was fast all the week-end

          1. I agree 100%. One very good race with great battles. But I think it was a bit spoiled by the team mistakes. Kobayashi, Button, Vettel. Many, many mistakes today. Overall a rather good race.

          2. Not exactly unfair given Webber couldn’t stay in first off the start.

            I thought the team order was sensible given it was the last lap, though maybe actually unnecessary. Webber wouldn’t have got past Vettel exzcept by hurling the car in similar fashion to Massa, which ended up in a collision.

            1. I will never accept a team order like that in Formula One. Ferrari have now been replaced as my team to hate on. Red Bull spent every opportunity possible saying how they would let their drivers fight, and what did they do?

              Hypocrites.

            2. I totally agree with you Mike, that is exactly how I feel. Utterly disgusted by RBR Team Orders….

            3. Horner apparently said after the race that he was worried about the two RBR drivers hitting each other, but I can’t say for sure – stupid ads.

              But think about it this way. The team principal has so much faith in his two drivers that he doesn’t think they can battle for position without hitting each other. Not sure which driver, or both, that he has so little faith in, but it does raise a serious question as to trust between the driver(s) in question and Horner.

              And there’s also the question of what the call would have been had the positions been reversed.

            4. Seems Webber ignored it anyhow, which will be interesting in terms of any FIA punishment. Does it still count if the dirver ignores the order? And did he, or is Webber saying that just to avoid any inquisition and fine?

            5. @Toro I’m pretty sure that is just a cop out to try and avoid the same bashing from fans that Ferrari got. And just like Ferrari, I don’t believe it will work for a second.

            6. @David BR

              why on earth would the FIA give RB a punishment? Team Orders are no longer against the rules.

        2. I am not sure as much blame will be directed at them due to the fact that Ferrari Cheated and Red Bull did not. However I am appalled by team orders and especially from a team that criticised Ferrari so much.

      2. 8/10
        Many surprises all race long: Kobayashi’s, Vettel’s, Di Resta’s Button’s pit errors, Alonso, Hamilton and Webber very close for a long time, Hamilton’s slow end to the race and the fierce duel by the fast-lapping Massa.
        But the racing of Alonso ahead was wonderful but similar to Vettel’s during the initial races, and he was not challenged anymore. Good results by Rosberg and Perez, and also for Schumacher considering he made yet another mistake.
        Also, what has Di Resta got against his front wing? He always damages it.

        1. I gave it a 9/10. I agree on the Alonso lead, but since it was someone else than Vettel (yes, maybe it should be only about the race in isolation, but still) I can live with it.

          But that’s also because Alonso did have good fights to get into that position, and was giving a good chase before, so he didn’t lead from the start as Vettel has been apt to do. So I guess context does matter a bit.

    6. wow great race! The mclarens had soo much potential for podium had it not been bad luck.. The fuel level issue of hamilton was a gamble.. tho im sure the lower weight probably helped give him an edge though it just didnt work out.. I really hope he doesnt get penalized for that massa duel.

    7. 10/10. Amazing race till the end, that Hamilton vs Massa final fight was insane!

      1. I still can’t believe Massa passed on the outside, then he was on the inside but Lewis was wiser and took the inside line and when Massa was on the outside I knew it was over. A shame because Massa showed he was capable of doing laps as fast as Alonso’s, but did so only in the last laps when he knew Hamilton had problems.

        1. I think on the whole this was a good race for Massa, his pit stop issue wasn’t his fault; the only minus is he should have been able to defend from Vettel etc. a bit better after that set of pit stops.

          1. I agree, it was a strong race for Massa, if he were up against any driver other than Hamilton at the end he would have snagged the place. Hamilton is the only one crazy enough to go for that pass and risk contact like that.

        2. The last couple of corner battle between Massa and Hamilton was awesome. Some great racing and wheel to chassis banging going on.

          I was hoping Massa would make that move stick… as it would result in my second consecutive perfect prediction for the prediction championship, and I would be comfortably in the lead of the prediction championship. It was so close….. argh!

    8. I’ve had to give that a 10. There was drama and action throughout. Wonderful stuff.

      1. Now that I’ve climbed down from the ceiling I reckon it was more an 8 or a 9. Damn that emotional voting!

        1. Haha, I always wait a bit before I vote, went 9. Fantastic race. (Minus the orders)

          1. i think the orders made the race a tad bit interesting. it added drama! :D

    9. Wonder if Webber did listen to the orders. Didnt really look like it!

    10. 7/10 eh, it was alright.. nothing fantastic though.. awesome finish! boring start

    11. 6/10. Got boring in the middle of the race. RBR were just disgusting! end of the race was amazing!

    12. 7/10

      Flashes of greatness, the rest was the usual enjoyable stuff.

    13. 7/10

      I know we’re not supposed to rate the result and I hate Ferrari as much as I hate Vettel but the race did get me away from the computer which is impressive as I was tempted to do a 5th lap finish myself.

      Given we’re always reminded the radios are delayed do we have any idea when Webber was actually told not to pass Vettel?

      1. Correct, Webber must have ignored RBR’s team order for some time: well done Webber!

        1. Webbers WDC charge has been ended this weekend. Has he signed a new contract before today.. and is it likley he will do after this? im not so sure.

          Good race, best British GP since 2008 i reckon, if no Brit was on the podium. But Alonso should be thanking Lewis for holding up Vettel for so long that got him that lead.

          1. Webber is bound for Ferrari next year! Put that in your book.

            1. What, with Domenicali patting Webber on the back walking to the podium? Undoubtedly!

            2. More likely Renault I reckon, considering Ferrari have already locked in Massa for next year.

            3. I seriously doubt it. Webber wouldn’t like playing second fiddle to Alonso any more than he does to Vettel.

        2. You mean Webber put on a show for a few laps, he was right on top of Vettel coming into the DRS zone and just put his nose alongside before backing off, had he wanted to he should have flown by like Alonso did to him.

    14. Bloody thrilling! Very happy for Alonso winning for Ferrari, with another class drive. Vettel had a patchy day- passed Massa, couldn’t do it on Hamilton, then great defending from Webber. Plenty of action right to the final lap.

      10/10

      1. Oh, and the FOM coverage was frustating. Cut away from Webber trying to pass Vettel, and from the Hamilton/Massa fight, though I understand that they never miss the winner crossing the line.

        1. To be fair, that was the absolute worst-case scenario for a TV director. They couldn’t win no matter what they did.

          1. yeah, for most of the races this season the director has been pretty naff, but its more excusable this afternoon with the final laps, although that he/she does still keep missing the good bits.

            1. I agree SJM, they had some nice camera angles (and that great cable car camera) and actually were pretty much on the track action all of the time.

              Worst part were all the replays of the start, but not even showing Webber to see weather he had a KERS glitch.
              Choosing between Massa/Hamilton and Webber/Vettel was always going to be hard.

          2. what happened to good old picture-in-picture? i think CNN international has one of the best examples of live multiangle coverage techniques.

            1. I think the workload involved just might break the director :/

          3. Yep, there was just too much action right at the end. No complaints here.

    15. 8/10 Some brilliant racing, let’s see how the EBD-saga pans out in the near future. It undoubtedly gave us some great racing though I think.

    16. 9/10.

      Brilliant race. A massive shame we were robbed of an incredible finish. I think Horner was too worried about Vettel causing a crash, which is a shame, because Mark shouldn’t suffer for that.

      Massively happy with the result! Go Fernando! :D

      1. Wouldn’t call it brilliant, as the final lead change was only due to a pitstop error. But it was a highly amusing race so I gave it an 8/10.

        Another winner, that has to be good. Great battle on the line from Hamilton and Massa.I hope Hamilton does not get penalized for it.
        Great for Webber getting Pole and pushing Vettel like that in the race.
        Shame it proved us RBR do not really mean it about being equal for both and never adhering to TO as they stated x times last year.
        Nice moves with Kobayashi, Schumacher, DiResta etc. on track as well. And good cameara work actually from FOM.

    17. Laranja Mecanica
      10th July 2011, 14:44

      5, could be an 8 if HAM gets a really big penalty for ramming MAS on purpose

      1. Hamilton had the racing line into Vale. Massa tried an aggressive lunge around the outside. It was a racing incident.

        1. Prisoner Monkeys, I think you need glasses.

          Hamilton was on a defensive line down the middle, he wasn’t on the racing line.

          Massa left enough room on the inside for Hamilton but Hamilton locked up and slid straight on, into Massa.

          Watch a replay and tell me you see anything different.

          1. Even Domenicali thought it was a racing incident, come on, take a breath and calm down.

          2. I’d be one of the first to say it was Hamilton’s fault if it was… but it wasn’t. Massa was a bit too ambitious, Hamilton held his line as he’s entitled to do. Thankfully for both of them they still finished and maintained position.

          3. MattW you must mean rose tinted glasses.

      2. Here we go again.

        Some facts for you:

        Hamilton was in front.
        Hamilton braked first.
        Massa lunged round the outside, well off the racing line.
        Hamilton touched the apex of the corner (racing line) but barely stopped before hitting Massa.

        There was nothing Hamilton could have done to avoid Massa after he put his car there. If anything Massa caused the collision by attempting the overtake (isn’t that what Hamilton has been penalized for before)?? Thankfully, the stewards saw sense and haven’t investigated further as it was a clear racing incident, which even Ferrari agreed with!!

    18. I gave this race a 1/10. And I only gave it a 1/10 because I couldn’t actually give it anything lower. It was one of the worst races I’ve seen in a long while. And what makes it so disappointing is that everything to make it one of the best races of the season was already in place.

      Why was it so bad? Because the entire race was ruined by exhaust diffuser politics. First of all, we had Mercedes and Renault trying to get concessions for their engines which have suddenly become unreliable as soon as off-throttle blown diffusers were banned despite the fact that those engines have remained the same for years. Then we had both Mercedes and Renault trying to get the FIA to revoke the other’s concessions while preserving their own. And finally, the one manufacturer that has remained silent on the issue for the past six weeks rejects the proposal that could have ended the dispute by using conditions that they were quite happy to use two weeks ago, and goes on to win the race.

      The entire thing felt artificial, as if the outcome of the race was decided by off-track actions than on-track racing. And the teams have the nerve to claim they are doing everything in their power to “improve the show”. If nothing else, the British Grand Prix has demonstrated just how empty this promise is – because if they find something that they believe can give them an edge, then they will happily take it and to hell with the so-called show.

      1. Be sincere and say that the main reason you rated it so low it was because Alonso won it ;)

        1. Honestly, I’m so upset the way the off-track action dictated the race outcome, the fact that Alonso won didn’t even register with me.

          Yes. That’s how disgusted I am with the situation.

      2. I would not give the race such a low rating because the racing was pretty good, but yes, I would still give it a low rating for the reasons you mentioned. Probably, a 4-5 would be fair.

      3. It’s rate the race, not the politics.

        1. I rated the race. And because the politics have been so influential this weekend, they’re naturally a part of the race.

          1. If the teams had only been told about this just before the race id understand your comments but they knew in spain that this would be coming in at silverstone.

            also nothing has been banned. it was a clarification of a rule.

            shame about your bitterness. must be hard for you to watch some gps!

            1. If the teams had only been told about this just before the race id understand your comments but they knew in spain that this would be coming in at silverstone.

              Yes, they knew this was coming. And that makes it worse. The engines have remained the same for years because of the development freeze that was introduced some time ago. And the concept of an off-throttle blown diffuser only really came into play last year. And yet, the manufacturers expect us to believe that without extreme engine mapping, the reliability of their (unchanged) engines would be compromised, and so they needed exemptions to the rules that would just so happen to have the unaviodable side-effect of giving them an extra half a second per lap.

      4. “I gave this race a 1/10 because Fernando Alonso won.”

        Fixed.

        1. Don’t you dare put words in my mouth.

          1. Dear oh dear; grump, grump, grump, that’s OK though. You are totally right, the politics have been very unsavoury (but there’s been worse too). Evidently as a Spaniard I’m feeling (stupidly) uplifted.

          2. I’m sorry, but it’s a laughable coincidence that you’ve typed up this essay about how artificial F1 is, and how the politics are ruining the sport on the very weekend that Alonso comes out of nowhere to win.

            The issues you speak of have been at the forefront of F1 for several weekends before this one, and didn’t affect the level of action that occurred in comparison to the last 8 races.

        2. Prisoner Monkeys would have rated it 10/10 if Lewis had won lol.

          He is such a hypocrite its guaranteed.

          1. Lol PM doesn’t like Hamilton, Button is his driver.

            1. My feelings towards Hamilton are the same as my feelings towards, say, Sebastien Buemi: largely indifferent. Button and Petrov are the drivers I support.

              But even if Petrov won, Button placed second, and a naked Anne Hathaway came third while Fernando Alonso was forced to spend most of the race watching his chances at a third championship slip away and Tony Fernandes had his stupidly smug grin wiped off his face by an embarrassing performance (which did kind of happen since the Lotus T128 is about as reliable as wet paper towel) – in other words, the best race ever – I still would have rated it 1/10 for the diffuser politics.

            2. Had to look up that third place PM, but I had a good LOL at your dream race scenario there!

              I think you are overreacting, but I like the comment :-)

            3. Had to look up that third place PM, but I had a good LOL at your dream race scenario there!
              I’m glad you approve. However, I did forget to include one element of the perfect race: Tina Fey. Also naked. And in character as Liz Lemon.

        3. Laranja Mecanica
          10th July 2011, 15:47

          +1

      5. Did you have that post ready for this thread with a empty gap at the end of the second paragraph for whatever the result ended up being?

        How was this race different to any other we’ve seen this year? Had it not been for the godsend of a Red Bull pitstop mistake we would have seen yet another Vettel borefest. I mean I can just tick off the boxes on carbon copy situations. Vettel takes the lead off the first corner and runs away. Webber fends off Alonso. Button struggles when he’s supposed to sail, Hamilton whinges and loses ground. Schumacher runs into everything with 4 wheels. We’ve seen it all before and it didnt require any playing around with EBD’s before to get a race like this and it didnt seem to need playing around with EBD’s now to get the same stuff.

        Again, thank heavens for that Red Bull mechanic for inserting some sort of variety.

        1. what exactly did lewis whinge about?i heard him asking his team for information on his fuel.hardly whinging.

      6. Prisoner Monkeys you managed to sum up my own thoughts pretty well. I also voted 1. Whole weekend just a waste of time.

        1. Thank you. At least someone managed to read my past without assuming I was simply attacking Ferrari for the sake of it. The whole race felt like it was a sideshow to the political bickering behind the scenes, like the racers were just puppets. It didn’t matter who was actually racing because the result had already been decided in avour of whoever cut the best deal.

          I watched the race in my college common room because they get OneHD, they dedicated sports channel. When I came back to my room, I turned my own television on (I don’t get OneHD) and was on Channel Ten just as the race was about to begin. And the first thought that crossed my mind was “I know what happens here”. With my feelings about the OTBD ban in mind, if I had had that same knowledge three hours ago when I first sat down to watch the Grand Prix, I probably would have gone off and done something useful instead. Like clean out the toilets with my tongue.

          1. if this is you true feelings, why do you watch F1?

            as its all politics. many ferrari fans could argue that pirelli drastic change of tyres before start of season has blown there season….that wasnt nice or fair but there you go.

            Something jarno trulli picked up on, but not many of the journalists did. It was a MASSIVE blow. but thats how F1 works im afraid.

            but on your logic i dont see why you even bother to watch the sport??

            1. as its all politics

              But until today, the politics and the racing have been mostly separate.

              many ferrari fans could argue that pirelli drastic change of tyres before start of season has blown there season….that wasnt nice or fair but there you go

              How is it unfair for Pirelli not to play favourites? They have wuite clearly said on several occasions that they will not supply rubber that will favour or marginalise one particular team for the sake of keeping the championship alive.

          2. Fair enough you found it distracting PM, but responsibility has to fall on FIA for changing its rules mid-season and then mid-race weekend. Once the teams saw FIA were vacillating, obviously each team wanted to maximize its chances. Just weak direction.

            1. @ monkey you just shot your own argument.

              no one said anything about pirelli playing favourites but fact remains they changed the tyre at the last minute and it destroyed ferrari title chances. as it was no the tyre they tested with. it just happened to effect them more than others as they designed a car round the original type of tyre they were given in december.

              so explain to me the difference between that and red bull moaning about losing out with this weekends rule change? no none. well yes one you say its ok when ferrari lose out but not anyone else.

              FIA have made a joke of it, but the only joke being that they cant stick to one decision. they made the call 2months and should stick to it not U turn cos mclaren and red bull dont like it. It was deemed illegal long ago. Williams, ferrari, sauber and co would be well within their rights to appeal the result after nuringburg, they wont for the good of the sport IMO but they should.

              also how much is this constant u turning costing the teams in changes to the car design every 5minutes.

          3. I think reading your post is quite similar to reading your past.

            It is nice to see how powerful Freud might be. At times. :-)

      7. Disagree entirely. Such a shame you weren’t able to put it all out of your mind despite the incredible action. If anything, it ruined Saturday. Sunday was fine.

      8. Prison Monkey, I am not surprised of your typical monkey’s comment!

      9. And finally, the one manufacturer that has remained silent on the issue for the past six weeks rejects the proposal that could have ended the dispute by using conditions that they were quite happy to use two weeks ago, and goes on to win the race.

        This has absolutely no bearing on the way the race unfolded. Even if all the teams agreed the rules would have been the same for Silverstone. The distracting part was during the Practice and Qualifying sessions.

      10. Sorry PM, but given your rich history of anti-Ferrari sentiment, and the unfortunate timing you’ve chosen to express your dislike of the FIA’s decision, it’s rather hard to believe you’re not sore about Alonso winning.

    19. 9/10, it was a great race. Action all through the field.

    20. 10/10 Just because it was the first win for Ferrari this season.

    21. 8/10 Great race, great finish, sweet to hear Murray Walker on radio. Half-wet/half-dry at start was brilliant. Team order still sucks tho.

    22. I’ll give it a 5 just because of Horner.

      It’s funny how whenever Mark gets near Vettel it’s a “team work” so it’s better to maintain positions. Whatever the reason Vettel was going slowly, Mark had pushed hard until the point of almost getting Seb. And then the radio comes up and they say: “mantain positions”.

      “We don’t want to lose points”. They are 2nd and 3rd, whatever the order it’s the same points… a collision hurts? of course, but that’s racing. They claim to be a proper team with no team orders and they do this.

      I’m sorry but that’s bulls…

      1. Well at least we know the message that Ferrari are going to use in their next Christmas card.

        1. yeah i knew all the rubbish they spouted last year was going to make them look stupid eventually

          They are a joke, you dont need team orders when you have a 100 point lead.

          yet i bet there isnt the uproar like there was ferrari were involved like there wasnt in 2005 when mclaren did it 5 times.

      2. I’m sorry but that’s bulls…

        No…. Thats Red Bull.

        Sorry i couldnt resist.

        Agree though, and it would appear Mark wasnt listening to him for 3/4 laps until the last one. But Red Bull pays the wages.

    23. So much for no team orders. Absolute ********* from Red Bull..

      Apart from that it was a fairly decent race. 8/10 for me.

    24. “Webber, you are faster than Sebastian. Do you understand this message?”

      1. Agree mate, agree!

    25. Anyone think Hammy will get a penalty? Btw, 8/10 for race but One Hd is really screwing the Australian fans over now

      1. I doubt it to be honest. I think we would have heard by now. Domenicali doesn’t seem to want to persue it.

      2. Yeah its so crap I watch on one of the dodgy sites online.

        1. Sorry, One HD coverage is crap I mean. I wish they would just broadcast the BBC coverage with the after race coverage. BBC Awesome.

      3. Yep, someone at OneHD needs to make the decision to ditch the clowns on our end and just relay the feed from the BBC as-is, without soo many ads.

        And then instead of putting on this dodgy golf movie thats on now, continue with the BBC’s ‘red button’ thing afterwards.

    26. good race but knowing theres at least a 2 minute delay on radio messages being broadcast means webber was told b4 start of last lap not to race n as an avid f1 fan it leaves u feeling robbed so personally i think its quite clear to all bar the blind that rbr is giving vettel its full support while webber has to fight on as rbr’s number 2 driver . would have been 9 but after orders only. 7/10

      1. Dude, the thing about RBR supporting Vettel over Webber was clear from the last British Grand Prix.

        1. Forgot to say “Happy anniversary Mark on the team screwing you again!”.

    27. Great for Ferrari to win the same race that 60 years ago gave them their first Grand Prix victory!

    28. Christian Horner is full of rubbish. Webber was quicker at the end, if he was that worried about the pair of them crashing then he should have told Vettel to let Webber past.

      If as he claims the team result is most important then there is no difference, they still would have finished 2nd and 3rd. But no Vettel is the favoured son so he stays ahead, despite having an enormous lead in the championship! Props to Webber for ignoring him.

      Anyway rant over; enjoyed the race a lot, last five laps were very exciting but there were excellent battles throughout. Great race, 9 out of 10

      1. Guilherme (@the_philosopher)
        10th July 2011, 15:08

        Yeah, so you want him to issue clear team orders to his drivers in order to get Webber in front of Sebastian just because he was faster on the last stint? Get real, look at the points difference, there’s a reason why Vettel is, as you claim, “the favoured son”. That’s the same as, for example, Massa is faster than Alonso at the next race and Domenicali tells them to swap positions.

        We don’t need to go too further into history to see teams telling their drivers to “bring the cars home” with some 20 laps remaining in the race, and we never had a problem with that.

        1. No I want Horner to let the two of them race to the flag without intervening. What annoys me most is his hypocrisy to the camera claiming they can race continually and then does that.

          Let me ask you a question, do you really think he would have told Vettel to hold station if Webber was in front? No. If he was worried about Turkey 2010 part 2 Webber was the quicker driver, and the team points haul is the same.

          There is also a difference between telling your second driver to ease off with 10/15 laps to go when the driver in front is clearly driving within the limits of the car to save it until the end, and holding station in the last few laps when both guys are on the limit and the guy behind is clearly faster.

      2. Mark is a number two driver because he drives like a number two driver.

        1. Actually I think Webber drives like a number one driver who isn’t fast enough.

        2. sunnyedinburgh
          10th July 2011, 19:44

          +1

          Webber should be thankful to still have a drive at RBR after 2 and a half seasons of being beaten by a man with 6 years less experience of F1.

      3. I just wonder what Horner would have been saying if it was Lap 20 or 40, when theres loads of time left in the race. Would team orders have come into play then?

        The cynic in me says yes.

    29. nothing against the RBR orders. I wouldn´t like my two drivers crashing out on the last lap.

    30. Guilherme (@the_philosopher)
      10th July 2011, 15:01

      9/10

      Brilliant race, I was in the edge of my seat throughout the entire race. At first I rued Red Bull’s pit mistake, but Alonso’s pace was phenomenal on the soft tyres, and Seb clearly lost performance in the end, so I think he would have won anyway. The battle between Hamilton and Massa was really good, as was the one between Vettel and Webber. I only wished Alonso would be more challenged for the win, but he was so incredible today that we can’t take anything away from his win.

    31. “MAINTAIN THE GAP”

      That is what this will be remembered for.

      What an utter load of croc from Red Bull.

      Horner can never say that they let their drivers race.

      1. Don’t look into it too much. Mark Webber doesn’t seem too phased by it. He knows he can’t win the championship and ultimately has a team to play for more than himself.

        People will look for drama where there isn’t one.

        And Horner left Webber plenty of time to get the job done, he left the decision until the last minute, fair enough in my opinion.

        1. Doesn’t seem too phased?

          He seemed majorly peeved off in the post-race interview, the way in which he avoided the question and his facial expressions when Vettel was speaking.

          Maybe I read his body language wrong but that was my impression.

          1. People will look for drama where there isn’t one.

            Great quote from AndrewTanner.

        2. And Horner left Webber plenty of time to get the job done, he left the decision until the last minute, fair enough in my opinion.

          That’s not the case. We all heard the radio on the penultimate lap, but it took place a few minutes earlier.
          Horner tried to hold Webber from even trying, probably.

    32. Great race, 8/10.

      Great start from Vettel and Hamilton especially. Even the girlfriend was impressed with 10th to 3rd!

      The new cable camera was impressive, well positioned.

      Disappointed for Button but it helped my predictions ;)

      All in all, not bad.

    33. 6/10. I hate Horner.

    34. 10 again. Action packed.

    35. 9/10. actually 8/10 but I gave +1 because of fly-by-wire cam.

    36. Legendary race from Alonso. Any news on Hamilton’s disqualification from the final result?

      1. Nope, looks as though Ham turning up for the race just fell short of the grounds required to penalise him! :D

      2. Why on earth would he be disqualified?

    37. The message might have well been “Maintain your position as #2 Driver”

      1. sunnyedinburgh
        10th July 2011, 19:48

        Quite right too, he’s been beaten for 2 and a half seasons now, he well deserves number 2 status at RBR.

        1. Actually, Webber has lead Vettel for quite a lot of 2009 and 2010 in the standings. Only at the end has Vettel managed to gain the upper hand. So I really don’t think you can say that Webber has been blown into the weeds by Vettel. Only this year, and TBH, it seems like RBR have learned from their mistakes in the past and have made sure that Webber gets nowhere near Vettel. Or is is just a coincidence that Webber’s KERS never works, or that Webber has the gearbox problems, or that Webber is the one challenging when suddenly TO come into play?

    38. It is probably cheaper for One to show the race without commercials but overall 10/10 for race very exciting, 1/10 for FOM coverage horrible coverage espically during hamilton vettel battle but great and well deserved win by alonso.

    39. “No Team Orders For Red Bull in 2011” C. Horner

      http://tgr.ph/dQP0gw

      1. haha, i was looking for that quote!

    40. a good race and a good one from Shumacher Also he recovered very well.

    41. @Mike: i must admit when you put it that way One HD does seem to be getting better, but they still have alot to do in regards to ad timing.

    42. 8/10 I’d say. Despite the fact that I am over the moon that Ferrari finally have a win under their belt (and Alonso just drove… gah, stunningly, superbly, whatever you want to call it) I’m trying to look at this objectively and considering all the action throughout the field especially at the end and even the tension that has hung over the entire weekend, I’d say this was a pretty damn good race! Enjoyed every minute of it (even when it looked like ferrari were going to finish fourth and… man what was it? seventh? eighth?) Only thing that really took the shine off was the team orders, obviously, and this whole EBD fiasco really. I’m not angry about Redbull’s decision just that they proved to be such hypocrites. And in case anyone hadn’t noticed, this is the race before Germany. For the win or not, they had always said they’d let their drivers race. Guess only when it’s convenient.

      Anyway, enough of my somewhat (possibly completely) biased rant, I am going to bed, a very very happy girl.

    43. UKfanatic (@)
      10th July 2011, 15:32

      9.5/10 Of course, it was one of the best races in this last few years but just like Canada where I couldnt give a 10 there wasnt a race wining overtake on track,Hamilton was bullet fast on damp conditions, alonso on dry track and the Reds fast in all conditions alot of genuine overtaking maneuvres, when i say genuine i say that they weerent due to kers, drs or different strategys. I know that the Brits didnt had a great race, bad for williams bad for mclaren and british drivers, Di resta was running superb and simply was unfortunate Button was nutless and Ham needs a more stable car with proper exhaust

    44. 9/10

      Too bad for Jensen’s mess-up pit stop

    45. 8/10 as I’m a Lotus fan, and for the Red Bull attempt at team orders (ignored admittedly) and Lewis’s crashing into Massa. But a brilliant race. Haven’t seen a pointy finger all weekend!

      1. Vettel has such a lead that the championship is effectively over. A handful more second place finishes and it’s mathematically over.

        1. themagicofspeed (@)
          10th July 2011, 18:44

          i agree, i must admit that from maybe monaco onwards i just thought “oh well, hopefully next year will be better”. if he is not reined in soon there will be little point any other teams turning up to races. i think RBR are definitley out of reach in constructors. both titles are theirs to lose.

    46. 8/10. Great race, controversy, action, overtaking, and finally a bit of RACING CONTACT that doesnt get hammered by the stewards.

      1. *cough* Schumacher *cough*

        The 10sec penalty was just awful. Michael drove a brilliant race.

        1. I 100% agree.

          He just made a mistake under braking. That’s what happens in a race. It’s a sad fact that whenever someone has a go and it goes wrong, we immediately think ‘what are the stewards going to do here?’ I feel that’s a shame.

    47. Trenthamfolk (@)
      10th July 2011, 16:00

      Great race, even if Monobrow won cos of of everyone else’s mess-ups and Ferrari’s sinister influence over the rules… I’m sure their advantage will be eliminated once the blown diffuser is allowed back in.

      Summary: Well done everyone… bad luck for Button, Hammy did as well as can be expected and kept the red mist at bay (bonus), Vet did some chasing for a change (relief!) and Web did a fine job of not sucking man-member again! Chuck another shrimp on the barbie Mark!

    48. Fast-starting Ferraris a threat to Red Bull

      Bang on Keith! :)

      1. Ah, but they didn’t pass them at the start. Still, I’ll call it a win :-)

    49. I hate DRS so much. It really screws with F1 and what it used to be.

      1. Indeed. Mario Kart Racing.

      2. I’m not as opposed to DRS as some on this site, but today it was just rubbish. I didn’t see it enable any moves that otherwise weren’t on, but I did some cars clearing the defender before the braking zone.

        9/10, still, for a spectacular race with good overtaking elsewhere on the circuit.

        Gotta feel for Button though. His tyre-preserving skills finally looked to be paying some dividends again. I don’t find it inconceivable that he could have joined the Vettel/Webber battle at the end – and pass them both!

    50. When the track was wet/dry, Lewis overtook 5 cars or so and was pretty much as fast, and sometimes faster, than the leader who had a much better car.

      When the track dried out, Lewis’s opportunity to show-off his skill evaporated and the McLaren was once again too slow.

    51. if he had won this race, he could’ve said “not bad for a #2 driver”, again!

      1. oh crap! wrong article!

    52. I gave it a 9.
      Alomst perfect.
      Fanstastic drive from Fernando, great job from Ferrari with the pit stops. Great action in mid field, a few crashes, retirements, loose nuts, overtakes, weather variables, high tyre deg, a bit of everything really.
      Coverage on the BBc was well below par due to the mess ups from Jake and the constant hyping up of Hamilton and constant negativity he threw at Ferraris (yawn yawn Jake). Where is Jim Rosenthal when you need him!
      Good job from Perez, unlucky Button.
      Can any1 please explain to me the difference between Hamiltons collision with Maldonado in Montecarlo and his collision with Massa on the last corner today? Massa was at least half a cars lenght ahead of Hamilton and on the racing line. In the forum Nigel Mansell (one of the stewards for today no less)put it down as a racing incident…yeh rite. Also Stefano put his foot in it when too soon after the race he also put it down as a racing incident… In my opinion Massa had the racing line and was at least half a cars lenght ahead of Hamilton therefore he clearly got barged into the side by the Mclaren driver who couldnt stop in time so Hamilton should have been penalised (thats without mentioning Massa being barged off the track).
      Also Schumi was hard done by, receiving a stop and go which costs way more time than the more commo drive through…

      1. Ok, so Schumi was hard done by for careering into the back of kobayashi but Hamilton should have been punished for Massa cutting across him? Could you be more biased?

        For the record I think Schumi was hard done by due to the track conditions but Hamilton was certainly not to blame for the Massa incident.

        Massa decided to try to out brake hamilton around the outside of a very tight corner. This was always going to be a gamble as if it came off he would have been in a perfect position to defend the next corner but it was a big if. There was never going to be enough room for both cars around there as Hamiltons line would have had to be too tight. It was massas choice to make the move so he would have been the one judged to have caused an avoidable incident (as it was not a clear opportunity). However I do think in the end they both did very well not to take each other out and I would have hated for either to have been punished for it as I watch F1 for the racing and that was what racing is all about. Plus Hamilton had cold breaks hence locked up, not much you can do in that situation.

    53. Overall I’m stuck as to whether to congratulate Alonso on a fine victory – or the blown diffuser rule change.

      Fine race from Hamilton at the start and even taking second at one point, pity McLaren apparently didn’t fuel him enough for an aggressive race.

      1. You put more fuel in, you go slower at the beginning of the race. Which could explain a few things.

        1. I only took a couple years of sarcastish, but I think maybe you are saying Hamilton only looked quick early on because the car was light? But if that were the case, it would be a truly pathetic and desperate gamble by the team, given his shortfall in fuel. After the Q3 screw up, Hamilton told the papers that he needs to start taking more control of strategy. He is starting too late.

    54. themagicofspeed (@)
      10th July 2011, 18:41

      brilliant, would have been even better for me if massa’s move on hamilton had stuck. now its time to start reeling in that unbearable t****r vettel…
      all in all, 9/10.

      1. sunnyedinburgh
        10th July 2011, 19:57

        Lewis slow down, tyres.
        Lewis slow down, fuel.

        Any danger they might get back to racing someday?

        1. I know what you mean, although it’s a fine line. The tyres being the way they are have made the racing very exciting at times this year, but at the cost of drivers having to ‘manage’ more than they ‘max’.

          I think Pirelli aren’t too far away from finding the right balance though.

    55. I’ll give it a 5, not much happened, all lead passes were made in the pit.

      1. There is more to a race than just the leader!

        Elsewhere there were some brilliant passes and excellent driving.

    56. Quite a good race. I just love the track.
      But this GP will be remembered by the infamous “maintain the gap” message.
      5/10

    57. I’d call it a 7 or so for a good first half and for a great performance by Alonso. But the winner took it by 20 seconds going away; the battle for second was mooted by team orders; 4th was decided basically by Mclaren’s daft fueling decision.

    58. HounslowBusGarage
      10th July 2011, 21:05

      Well, I’ve read most of the commentshere and looked at the largest overall rating (8) and so I think I’ll watch the race tonight – and I’m delighted to say that I was wrong in predicting another lights to flag victory for VET. So if anyone can foind a virtual stetson for me, I’ll gladly eat it. However, I’m a bit worried by Maxthecat’s comment that all lead passes were made in the pits.
      Oh, and I agree with PM that the apparent vacilation on throttle policy exhibited by the FIA so late before the event was more than slightly pathetic.
      Heads for BBC iPlayer, closes study door, pours large scotch.

    59. I voted 6. It would have been a 9 or 10 if not for the shameful Red Bull race fix. The circuit was good, the BBC TV coverage was good, there was some masterful overtaking. But in the end, the fans pay to watch racing. Red Bull would have got as many constructor points if it had been Webber leading Vettel, so this was about them artificially manipulating the drivers championship. Yet again we will probably end up with a WDC who got there through cheating rather than racing cleanly. F1 is corrupt, and I hate the feeling of being cheated of a clean fight.

    60. 8/10 if micheal didnt crash into kamui 10/10

    61. I’m giving it a 9 but that’s because I was there and the atmosphere was grand. I’m going to watch the race on iPlayer now and maybe then I’ll re-rate it.

    62. 10/10 as far as I’m concerned. That’s because my boy and I just had a fantastic weekend courtesy of the prize for last year’s predictions competition. Great action and an absolutely superb view from probably the best grandstand seats in the circuit. Fantastic prize, thanks for everything, Keith!

      1. Aww, congratulations!

    63. I gave it an 8, but I really should have deducted points for RBR’s behaviour which took a lot of the gloss off a really good race. Messed with my predictions mightily but awesome victory by Alonso.

    64. bummer outcome for Button, Kobayashi, the Lotuses, and DiResta – but definitely an enjoyable race.

    65. I have to say another well done….. not the drivers this time (although of course they deserve every credit), but to Pirelli for producing this years tires. :)

      It has made F1 exciting again, has ended precession racing (with the exception of Valencia and probably Abu Dhabi and Hungary).

      I was worried that the tires were becoming more durable after Valencia, but it seems not, keep it up FIA and Pirelli, and don’t give in to pressure from the teams to make the tires last longer!

      P.S can anyone clear up what the rule is now on the blown diffusers? Ecclestone said ‘we stay as we are’ so I wasn’t sure if that meant they were banned? Because he looked condused when someone said ‘as we were in Valencia’?

    66. not a great race but fantastic on last lap i give 7/10

    67. I can’t go by what would’ve/could’ve happened, so I think a 7 is round about the score I’ll give it. Had to potential to be lower though, the first half was disappointing and pretty boring in my opinion.

    68. A 5K Pound fine … Oooooooo … break the bank!

      WAFJ.

    69. 8, we have seen some proper battle in the race,some good overtaking.One of the key thing in this race is that none of the driver had maintain a constant race pace up early that was due to the condition which was that half the track was wet the other half dry.Some harsh penalty but I guess overall everyone enjoyed it.

    70. The standard of races has gone up so much the last year that I can only give this race 8. Would have been a 10 in ~2007.

    71. Nine upon ten.

    72. 8 to 9 out of 10…
      First of all, could see some contending forces to be at the lead with subsequent changes of the lead.
      Naturally not seeing the fingering of SV following uninterrupted cruise mode lapping.

      Well, not sure of those technical pros and cons on each team. But it sure seems Ferrari benefited from the change, as some said. And it brought in the dormant nuts on Alonso speaking outloud ‘Alonso won the race in 70% inferior car’, ‘He’s better than who…’ Wondering isn’t that enough to see the difference in the cars and evolvement of upgrades as time goes by.
      Sad McLaren is not posting much upgrade let alone the messy management of the situation while still hearing bluffings from Whitmash.

    73. 9. This was actually a race!

      Sat in Becketts grandstand you could see Webber and Hamilton both spent the whole racing driving so hard trying to catch those in front of them. Didn’t know about team orders until driving home, but Webber definitely wasn’t holding back in the last few laps!

      The whole grandstand was grinning when the rain came 45 minutes before the race :-)

      Doesn’t get a 10 because DRS gave some easy overtakes which could have affected the race outcome…

    74. I don’t really understand the BBC’s opinion after the race that it was spectacular. As far as I could see it involved Hamilton being superb for the opening 15 laps, a Red Bull pit error to decide the winner and a McLaren pit error to annoy Button.

      Loads of overtakes but no real competition for the win. Great to see Hamilton having balls at the end.

      The most annoying thing was that MB & DC both thought that with Vettel behind Alonso we would have a fight to the finish, but the fight never happened :(

      6/10.

    75. mattshaw85 (@)
      11th July 2011, 10:54

      Gave it an 8 – thought it was decent.

    76. I was there and it was amazing to see and hear these 2011 cars. Saw a good amount of passes too which was really nice. An amazing atmosphere and a great weekend.

      I only gave the race a 7 out of 10 though, Alonso lucked in big time from Red Bulls mistake and Hamilton holding up Vettel and Webber.

    77. I gave the race an 8.
      Even without the Red Bull pitstop mistake I think Alonso had the pace to win the race and I think he could have overtaken Vettel on the track.

    78. It was alright 7/10 for me. When Schumy got a drive through that was it for me. But it was alright!

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