GB GP - Race weekend recap - Webber

A lot of people around the paddock were keeping their eye on Red Bull this weekend, but most would have been looking in the direction of Sebastian Vettel.

The German double World Champion tends to have that affect on people and after his domination of the European Grand Prix in Valencia last time out which ended in an alternator failure and retirement, many people in the paddock, media and other teams on the grid had assumed that we could see a show from Vettel this weekend.

But the self proclaimed 'number two' driver, who previously won the Silverstone race in 2010 stepped out of the shadow of his team-mate to take the win and close the gap in the title race, ever so slightly to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who finished second.

Overall it was a good weekend for Webber, despite being a second slower than his team-mate during FP3.

When it mattered it came out with the goods and put his Red Bull car on the front row of the grid.

'It was a tight session today with very mixed conditions. The cars are difficult to handle when it’s like that. In every session we went out the times were changing by up to five or six seconds per lap; there was a lot of standing water and aqua planning. I was happy I was competitive when it counted. You have to put it all on the line in Q3. Alonso put a lap together that was just that sniff better than mine, but I’m not standing here with any regrets about my lap. I’m happy with what I put on the table and front row was what we deserved.” the Australian told formula1.com after qualifying.

After being beaten into the first corner following an aggressive start by Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber had to wait for his chance in the closing stages of the race to really challenge for the lead.

Both teams went for slightly different tyre strategies during the race, both teams had gone for a two-stop strategy, but the order in which they ran their stints on the hard tyre and the softer tyre was where the difference came.

The tyres came good at the right time for Mark Webber and he made his move down the outside of Alonso with the aid of DRS, both drivers made it stick going around the subsequent corner and Webber came out just in front.

“It’s taking a while to sink in this one. I think it was the circumstances of the race - for most of it I was marking off second place. Fernando was not quite out of touch and after the last stop, my engineer Ciaron came on the radio saying that Fernando was not doing much on the option tyres. But I know Fernando is a wily old fox, I thought he was looking after the tyres and just waiting to pull the pin and go a little bit. But when I got within two seconds I thought maybe he’s in a little bit of trouble and it was real. It was completely game on when I knew the DRS was available, I made the move stick and our hard work paid off for the win. It was a cracking grand prix today; the spectators got to see a good race and I’m pleased for them.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was also delighted with the tyre strategy and the move which clinched victory for his team: 'we knew going into that final stint that we had a great chance and Mark started to catch Fernando, sometimes as much as a second per lap. He then made a fantastic manouvre around the outside which got him into the lead with four laps to go and he closed it out in style.'

Webber's victory stands him in second place in the Formula One World Championship, 16 points ahead of his team-mate.