Nico Rosberg won a thrilling British GP at Silverstone in a race which saw four drivers suffer exploding tyres. Mark Webber came second ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Lewis Hamilton fourth despite suffering one of the blow-outs while he was at the front of the pack.
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had inherited the lead from Hamilton and kept it until 10 laps from the end, but the German then suffered an engine failure and ground to a halt on the start-finish straight.
It was Vettel’s first retirement since the European Grand Prix last year, but it was overshadowed by the sequence of blow-outs around the time of the first scheduled pit stops: Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne all suffered spectacular back-left tyre failure within a few minutes of each other between laps nine and 15.
All three were able to rejoin the race, but the incident cost Hamilton what had looked like a likely victory as he showed outstanding pace. Mercedes chief Ross Brawn confirmed later that Hamilton had driven on despite significant damage to his car, and he drove brilliantly to finish in fourth place just six tenths behind Alonso.
Sergio Perez suffered a similar blow-out later in the race – as he had in practice – but his McLaren was too badly damaged to continue.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Rosberg Mercedes 1h32:59.456 2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 0.765 3. Alonso Ferrari + 7.124 4. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 7.756 5. Hamilton Mercedes + 11.257 6. Massa Ferrari + 14.573 7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 16.335 8. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 16.500 9. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 17.993 10. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 19.700 11. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 21.100 12. Bottas Williams-Renault + 25.000 13. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 25.900 14. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 26.200 15. Pic Caterham-Renault + 31.600 16. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 36.000 17. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 1:07.600 18. van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1:07.700 19. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1 lap