Top ten pictures from the 2012 British Grand Prix

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Ten of the best pictures that tell the story of the British Grand Prix weekend.

Paul di Resta, Thursday press conference

Paul di Resta was not pleased to begin his home Grand Prix weekend answering questions about why he’d split from manager Anthony Hamilton.

“I think everything’s been said that has to be said,” di Resta replied when asked about it in the press conference. “I confirm that we’re not working together. I think it’s been reported that we’re no longer working together, so that is the matter at the moment.”

Lewis Hamilton, Friday practice

Very wet conditions on Friday meant teams kept their practice running to a minimum.

Lewis Hamilton acknowledged their support but it was destined to be a poor weekend for McLaren. He qualified and finished eighth while team mate Jenson Button only scraped into the points after going out in Q1.

Pedro de la Rosa, Saturday practice

There was respite from the rain on Saturday morning. But the clouds were gathering as final practice drew to a close.

Nico Rosberg and Ross Brawn, Qualifying

The rain returned with a vengeance during qualifying, forcing an interruption of over and hour and a half. Mercedes helped entertain the soaked crowd during the break.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, Race day

Swapsies: Fernando Alonso, who collects examples of his rivals’ crash helmets, trades lids with former team mate Hamilton.

Romain Grosjean, British Grand Prix

It didn’t go to plan for Romain Grosjean at the start again. As he looked around the outside of Hamilton he was passed on the inside by Di Resta. The pair made contact, and Grosjean had to pit for a new front wing.

Despite the delay he recovered to take an excellent sixth. But Di Resta’s weekend was ruined as he spun off with a puncture, suffering damage which put him out.

Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa, British Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher was the cork in the bottle in the opening laps. But Felipe Massa eventually found a way past in time to take his best finish since 2010: fourth.

Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, British Grand Prix

Alonso started from pole position and led most of the way. But as his soft tyres began to fade in the final lap Mark Webber reeled him in and passed the Ferrari to score his second British Grand Prix win.

The two RB8s were running Red Bull’s ‘Faces for Charity’ livery, featuring thousands of photographs sent in by fans.

Podium, British Grand Prix

The podium had a slick new look for the British Grand Prix. After the prize-giving the drivers were interviewed in front of the crowd by three-times champion Jackie Stewart.

Crowd, British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix spectators had endured dreadful weather and severe traffic problems in the build-up to the race. But they were out in force on Sunday and took to the track after the race had finished.

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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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50 comments on “Top ten pictures from the 2012 British Grand Prix”

  1. Why was that person standing in front of Sebastian vettel?

    1. He wanted to show everyone that he’s seriously getting bald.

      1. Vettel demonstrated that!

        1. Indeed, that was classic when the cap appeared. Vettel was also great with his interview with Jackie.

    2. I had to chuckle at our “Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice” during that ceremony; he seemed to have no idea where he was meant to be standing.

      Perhaps it’s a bad omen for mark that he has contested the Conservative Party leadership three times and has been defeated each time.

      1. @Jarv F150
        Not to want to stand up for a politician but I heard there where markers where he was standing so he was in the right place which was very obviously the wrong place!!.

    3. British politician Ken Clark. Whoever arranged for him to stand there wasn’t thinking to clearly at the time.

      1. To rub salt into the wound, Jeremy Hunt was on the podium too. Pair of slimeballs.

        1. Her Majesty’s Cu*ture Secretary.

  2. That picture of Lewis and Fernando is pretty telling, they seem to be pretty good friends now….

    1. at least enough to smile in the 5 seconds to take that pic!

      1. I dunno BasCB there have been a few instances of them walking around together and back slapping.

        It started a season ago I think when they had a party for somebody in the pit lane, they were arms round each other laughing for the camera.

          1. Hehehe.

            Last year, for Spanish TV, Pedro de La Rosa said something like Lewis is a very nice guy, much better than what Spaniards make of him.

          2. @fer-no65 now all I can think of is the “Guy Love” musical number from Scrubs…

          3. @jamesf1 I thought of that Seinfeld episode with Keith Hernandez, “The Boyfriend” :P

          4. Traverse Mark Senior (@)
            11th July 2012, 21:11

            @fer-no65

            man crush? :P

            You might be on to something, after all they seem to enjoy touching each other’s ‘helmet’.

          5. @tmcs88 you’re dirty!! :P

    2. Would make a good caption competition that one

  3. What is that thing on Rosberg’s leg?

    1. It’s to protect the knees (banging into each other) while driving.

      1. @ridiculous @miguelbento @davea86 I thought it was a urine bag on Rosberg!

    2. @ridiculous I think it’s just a knee pad so he doesn’t get bruised up when his legs bang around in the cockpit.

  4. This could be the perfect answer to almost any question asked in F1.

    “I think everything’s been said that has to be said. I confirm that we’re not working together. I think it’s been reported that we’re no longer working together, so that is the matter at the moment.”

  5. Absolutely lovely picture with Alonso and Lewis – body language shows respect, relax and calm, which has translated on the track in a good racing with no incidents as outcome.

    1. @kiril-varbanov Pretty much. Their battle down into Brooklands made for pleasant watching, not cringe-worthy watching.

    2. Yep just lovely to see 2 former fiery rivals and maybe much more influenced by their team of the respective season to hate each other and now to swap their own crash helmets.This has to be something that became regularity in F1 of our days and to see less hate between drivers and more respect and racing duels.

    3. I think both of them have grown up a bit and respect each other as two of the best drivers on the grid. Which is nice to see.

  6. Good choice @keithcollantine on the Rosberg picture – considering the disappointing results for the British drivers, I think the pit lane Mexican wave was my highlight of the weekend! Good on Rosberg for being the only driver who got involved – although Caterham were by far the most enthusiastic team.
    The atmosphere amongst the crowd all weekend was fantastic given the weather & traffic.

  7. Michael Brown (@)
    10th July 2012, 13:40

    I wonder if there will be a race when Hamilton will wear Alonso’s helmet and vice versa…

    1. Maybe after 2016 Alonso returns to McLaren with Hamilton going to Ferrari – at least they will drive eachothers cars…

      1. Pigs have a better chance of flying than Alonso returning to Mclaren.

        1. Agreed. Ron and many others won’t ever forget the $100m fine and the constructors’ title that wasn’t, and while he doesn’t run the team any more, he’s still “there”.

    2. Alonso should wear it to drive in a test or filming day at Fiorano…that’ll get some rumours flying.

  8. Does Alonso collects other driver’s helmets ? I did not get @example@ as quoted by Keith.

    1. yes he does, he said that in an interview on twitter – go on this link and keep scrolling down until you find the question

      http://www.fernandoalonso.com/en/mi-vida/page/6/

      1. How long is your bed? On what side of the bed do you sleep? How many hours do you usually sleep? Do you snore? Do you dream?

        Proof that fans will never run out of questions to ask their heroes!

  9. Clicked on link to page from Twitter.

    Saw first image.

    Fell over laughing.

  10. Don’t like the new podium, it looks ridiculous plus the “champagnnnnnnnneee! bit” but the interviews bit its a really nice thing.

  11. I didn’t know Alonso collected the helmets of rival drivers. Abit like a red indian keeping the scalps of his victims lol.

    1. A few other drivers do too, can think of Barrichello and Webber for a start.

  12. Paul, why so serious??

    1. @oskar He got rather annoyed with people asking him about his manager situation.

      1. I see. did he answer about it? why Anthony Hamilton left him?

  13. What a load of nonsence with the nonsense chaaaaaammmmmmmmpppppaaaannnnnnnngggggggeeeeee, treating us like a low grade reality TV crowd. Also what a load of nonsense having some unwanted person running in shoving a microphone in. Talk about unneeded and unwanted changes which demean the viewer and downgrade the professional image of Formula One. The new podium looks nice though. I also think having some awful corporate logo as a trophy is just bad taste especially considering the public distaste for that particular sponsorship section.

    1. The ‘champagne’ thing is a bit cringeworthy but it’s not new, they’ve been doing it for years.

      having some unwanted person running in shoving a microphone in

      Couldn’t disagree more with this – how can anyone object to have two greats of the sport (Stewart and Lauda) interviewing the top three in front of the crowd? I think this is a terrific addition to the podium ceremony.

      I also think having some awful corporate logo as a trophy is just bad taste

      I’m with you on that one, they look terrible.

      1. The reason I am opposed to an interview on the podium is it is turning the hole thing into a media circus. The post race press conference was just fine for satisfying the media appetite fro asking the most stupid questions while the competitors are still whacked out after the race/ It also detracts from the podium ceremony which should be just that a podium ceremony and not a media to do. The be all and end all of the worst thing that could happen is Eddie Jordan jumping up and asking his dulcet rubbish.

        1. it is turning the whole thing into a media circus

          All it’s done is moved the first part of the press conference interview out of a back room and onto the podium where the fans at the track can see it. Which I think is great and adds to the experience of going to an F1 race.

          1. I though turn the channel over when the wally runs on to the podium.

        2. Actually I think that today Niki Lauda made no qualms of asking Vettel exactly the question I bet 80% of people wanted to hear the answer to. The one to Alonso was a nice one as well, and Alonso’s answered that one perfectly.
          Button got a bit out of tone with telling Niki he would not talk about the penalty, but good of him to thank the crow, I think. Apart from the champagne cry moment and being a tad sad about electronic flags, the only thing wrong with the podiums really is this horrible logo they get handed instead of a decent trophy.

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