Webber's maiden British GP victory punctures Vettel's title hopes

Mark Webber claimed his maiden British Grand Prix victory, but a first corner puncture for Sebastian Vettel, who finished up seventh, denied Red Bull Racing a one-two finish at Silverstone.  

Lewis Hamilton  kept the home crowd happy with second place while Nico Rosberg claimed third.

Last year it was Vettel who led the way with Webber in second, and that is exactly how they lined up on the grid from Sunday’s race.

It was a race that seemed destined to have Red Bull on the podium in first and second, with the question on most people’s lips being which Red Bull driver would claim the chequered flag.

But any chance of Red Bull dominating the race was ended just seconds in to the race as Vettel and Webber jostled for position and Hamilton applied the pressure.

Webber was able to force Vettel out of his favoured line to move in to the lead, and Hamilton’s McLaren made the slightest connection with Vettel’s car which again forced him wide at Copse where he picked up a puncture on his rear right tyre.

So the German went from pole to pitting from last place in a matter of minutes, while his team mate Webber did his best to keep a packed out Silverstone quiet by holding off Hamilton.

There was even more excitement from the British crowd as Jenson Button climbed from 14th to eighth in the opening laps before pit stops by other drivers allowed him to move as high as second.

Webber thrived in the conditions and his blistering pace saw him open up a terrific 5.8 seconds gap from second-placed Hamilton.

But the safety car was deployed on lap 29 which was only bad news for Webber as his lead was cut to just 0.4 seconds, yet it allowed Vettel to be brought back in with a chance of fighting his way back in to the race.

By the 32nd lap Vettel had managed to move up to 14th, while Webber went on to set the fastest lap (1:33.948) of the race at that point.

As Vettel continued to claw his way back up the track he became locked in a battle with Ferrari’s Filepe Massa, who also suffered a puncture in the opening lap.

Webber’s stunning speed allowed him to quickly regain his impressive lead as he went 5.3 seconds clear of Hamilton and 20.9s in front of third placed Rosberg.

During lap 41 Vettel had grabbed eighth place by a great piece of driving to overtake his compatriot Michael Schumacher, and spent the remainder of the race trying to out manoeuvre Adrian Sutil which he managed to do so in the penultimate lap to clinch seventh spot.