British F1 GP: McLaren 1st and 3rd but Alonso/Renault extend lead

McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya took his fifth career win here at Silverstone, but the real story played out on the lower podium steps where Renault’s Fernando Alonso took second place and extended his championship lead over third placed Kimi Raikkonen. For Montoya, it was his first ever win for West McLaren Mercedes (indeed his first ever podium with the team) since he joined at the start of this season. Kimi Raikkonen put in another gritty drive, overcoming a ten place penalty on the grid due to an engine change after qualifying, fighting his way up from 12th on the grid to third at the flag.

While the "foreigners" were complaining about the British weather at the start of the weekend, they had nothing to say as the race got underway under clear blue skies, with temperatures approaching 30 degrees. Ten minutes before the start, all the drivers and the team bosses gathered at the front of the grid for a minute's silence as a mark of respect for Thursday's London bombings.

As the lights went out in front of a capacity 100,000 crowd, Sato had not managed to get round to the grid. Montoya got a great start going from third into the lead, from Alonso. Behind came Button, Barrichello, Fisichella, Trulli, Schumacher (up two from ninth) Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve, Webber. But the Safety Car came out as Sato was blocking the track. By this point Raikkonen had already gone from 12 to 8. The race was on again at the end of lap 2 as the SC came in. Klien had gone from 15 to 11 and then dropped back to 12.

On lap 5, Montoya led Alonso by a second, but it was the Spaniard who was lapping quickest at this point. In third place, Button was already 3.5s off the leader, with Barrichello a further 1.5 behind. Meanwhile, Kimi was really pushing M Schumacher hard for seventh place. There was also a good battle for eleventh between Webber and Klien.

Karthikeyan pulled off to retire with ten laps gone, as Klien was the first to stop for fuel in the Red Bull. His stop was a 10.5 second one which suggested he had gone for a two stop strategy over the 60 lap race. Klien had another minor off but continued. Raikkonen continued to try all he could to get past M Schumacher in seventh spot.

Barrichello pitted from fourth on lap 17 with a quick stop that suggested a three stop strategy. He rejoined ninth. Villeneuve, Heidfeld and Coulthard all came in on lap 19.

Montoya pitted on lap 22, for 8.8s leaving Alonso in the lead as Villeneueve passed Coulthard for 14th spot. The race leader pitted on lap 23 and as he came out of pit lane, Montoya got past him to go second behind new leader, Fisichella.

M Schumacher pitted from fifth on lap 24 followed by Massa in the Sauber. Fisichella refuelled on lap 25. In fourth spot, Kimi was the only driver not to have refuelled at this point. The Finn finally came in on lap 26 (8.0.)

With everyone having made at least one stop, the order on lap 27 was now Montoya, Alonso, Fisichella, Button, who had Barrichello on his tail, Raikkonen, who had got ahead of M Schumacher in the run of pit stops, Trulli, R Schumacher with Webber tenth.

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