For the fourth time this season his race ended before he was able to complete a lap. Here at Silverstone he and David Coulthard from our sister team Red Bull Racing collided, spun off in unison and were force to retire. As one Paddock joker said, we thought DC was only announcing one retirement this weekend.

Sebastien Bourdais had a better time of it, driving a solid race through difficult conditions, avoiding the standing water and Adrain Sutil who nearly swept him off the track when the Force India driver spun in front of Seb. But he held his nerve and came in a solid 11 place. But the weekend’s effort was not for nothing. We take heart form our best qualifying session of the season – proof that our drivers and car are improving all the time.

The weather played a vital part in the race with two other drivers spinning out of the contest and the majority of the others losing traction at least once. Clever tyre tactics from the Honda camp meant Rubens Barrichello took third place, his first podium since he joined Honda (his last was in Canada 2005 for Ferrari), Nick Heidfeld drove a shrewd race to come runner-up, but Lewis Hamilton was the driver of the day, finishing a good minute in front of the BMW driver and his home crowd.

TEAM REACTION:

Sébastien Bourdais (STR3-01)
Pos. 11th
“It was very tough at the start as I couldn’t see because the water wasn’t clearing off my visor. It’s the first time I’ve encountered this problem. In the early stages I had a lot of understeer which ruined the tyres. Putting the extreme wets on was a good call and the car was pretty quick but it was too late to do very much and eleventh was the best I could do. We must continue to work hard, starting with the up-coming Hockenheim test and try and do better at the next race.”

Sebastian Vettel (STR3-03)
Retired
“Massa spun going into Bridge which caused a lot of confusion and meant the cars were all running very close. Then in Turn 14, I got hit on the rear left and it spun me around. I tried to save it, but I got stuck in the gravel. I thought there might have been a chance of being pushed out, but when I got out of the cockpit I saw the gravel was much too deep.”

Franz Tost: “Both drivers had bad starts, losing places from their grid positions, obtained in a very good qualifying session yesterday. Vettel didn’t even complete one lap after being clipped by Coulthard and ending up in the gravel. Bourdais survived a spin and we made the right decision to switch to full wets to bring him home eleventh, even if he could have finished a bit higher. We have reached the mid point of the season and we can approach the second half with confidence, having seen our pace here in qualifying. I am convinced that, in the right circumstances, we can put ourselves in the points scoring positions.”