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Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber secured Red Bull’s second 1-2 finish of the season at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

As indicated by Vettel’s incredible pace in qualifying, the young German was in another class for the whole race, crossing the line 15 seconds ahead of team mate Mark Webber, who was followed by Rubens Barrichello.

From the moments the lights went out in front of a capacity crowd at Silverstone, Vettel’s win was never really in doubt.  Rubens Barrichello managed to hold second position off the line but lost out to Mark Webber in the first set of pit stops.

Championship leader Jenson Button got squeezed at the start, dropping back to P9 behind Jarno Trulli and then struggled to keep the heat in his hard tyres, eventually finishing the race in 6th:

On the hard tyres the car just didn’t work and I couldn’t get any tyre temperature. That’s the way our car is in cooler temperatures.

Lewis Hamilton started 18th and  finished a slightly less miserable 16th.

While the local fans may have been hoping for a Brit to win what may be the last F1 race at Silverstone, the Red Bull resurgence has injected a bit more excitement into what was fast becoming a foregone conclusion.  All those extra bits Adrian Newey bolted onto the RB5 allowed Sebastian Vettel to close his gap to Button from 32 points to 25 points and the 1-2 finish sees Red Bull narrow Brawn’s lead in the Constructors’ Championship from 39.5 points to 30.5 points.

The Championship is far from over.

2009 British Grand Prix Race Results

Image: Red Bull / Getty

The FIA now publishes the weights of each car after qualifying on Saturday.  Those cars that make it through to the final qualifying session must use the fuel they qualified with while the rest of the field may refuel before the race.

Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as those times adjusted for the weight of fuel each car is carrying.  The graph assumes a standard lap time cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.

Nobody looks particularly out of place, although Kazuki Nakajima’s time was only possible because he was fuelled lighter than anyone else on the grid.

What it does show is how fast Sebastian Vettel really was.  His team mate Mark Webber was fuelled lighter than him but could only manage 3rd.  Vettel looks a lot faster than anyone else on the grid.

2009 British Grand Prix car weights

Image: Red Bull / Getty

The two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber posted the quickest time in both practice sessions for the British Grand Prix at a windy Silverstone on Friday.

Sebastian Vettel outpaced his team mate in both sessions but the new parts Red Bull have fitted (including a new front wing and nose) were obviously working well.

Mark Webber’s second session was cut short when he hit the curb and lost all electrical power:

It’s been a pretty good day for us; we’ve tried a few new bits here, which seem to be going pretty well. We’ve tried both sets of tyres and need to go through all the data tonight.  My second session ended a little early as I hit a kerb on Turn five, which caused the car’s electronics to stop.

In the first session, the two Brawn GP cars were 3rd and 4th fastest but, surprisingly, it was Force India’s Adrian Sutil who went 3rd fastest in the second session.

As Silverstone is such a light braking circuit, it can be hard to harvest enough energy to make KERS worthwhile so McLaren chose to run different strategies for their drivers in practice.  Heikki Kovalainen continued to use KERS while Lewis Hamilton ran without the device as Norbert Haug explains:

Lewis today drove without KERS because Silverstone is a circuit where you do not brake too often: you get less of a benefit from the system here than you would on heavy-braking circuits. By way of comparison, Heikki used the system today and our specialists will analyse today’s results and decide whether we choose to continue using the system on his car for the rest of the weekend.

It will be interesting to see what they choose to do on Saturday as Kovalainen felt he could still make use of KERS:

It’s still difficult to say whether it’s an advantage to be running KERS, but I felt I was getting a laptime benefit from the system.

Morning showers are predicted for Saturday but it should be dry by the time qualifying gets underway.

Here are the times from the first two practice sessions:
First Practice

Second Practice

Despite all the off-track politics, we shouldn’t forget there is still a race on this weekend.

It could be the last British Grand Prix at Silverstone for some time and both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will be wearing special helmet designs for their home Grand Prix.

It is the first time Lewis Hamilton has altered the design of his famous yellow crash helmet for his home race since starting his grand prix career in 2007.

The design shows the top of his helmet peeling away to reveal a British flag underneath.  Hamilton said:

I’m really proud to be a British driver in a British team racing in front of the British crowd. I wanted to choose a design that not only showed that I am a British sportsman but, more importantly, recognised all the support I get from the fans at Silverstone.

Jenson Button, on the other hand, has a tradition of wearing a different helmet design for the British Grand Prix.  This year’s design was the result of a competition to give Jenson’s fans the opportunity to design a helmet that incorporated a British theme and Bernie Zobl’s ‘Push The Button’ design was the one chosen by Jenson.

Button commented:

For the last few years, it has become something of a tradition for me to have a special British themed helmet and this year is no exception. I wanted my fans to be involved so we ran a competition on my website www.jensonbutton.com and chose the winning design by Bernie. What I loved about Bernie’s design was its unique take on the Union Jack flag and how he had incorporated it into my own Button logo. The helmet looks great and I can’t wait to wear it at Silverstone this weekend.

More pictures of Jenson Button’s helmet are below.

Images: McLaren, Brawn GP

Well that’s that, then.  Nobody backed down.

After a four hour meeting at the Renault factory in Enstone, the eight FOTA teams (BMW-Sauber, BrawnGP, Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Renault, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toyota) have decided that they are unwilling to sign up unconditionally to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championhip and therefore have no choice but to begin planning their own breakaway series.

Here is the full statement:

FOTA UNITED ON THE FUTURE

Silverstone, 18 June 2009 – Since the formation of FOTA last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder, to develop and improve the sport.

Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community. FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.

In particular the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives. The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future.

Following these efforts all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012.

The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA.

The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006. Despite this and the uncompromising environment, FOTA has genuinely sought compromise.

It has become clear however, that the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship.

These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners. This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders.

The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series.

Your move, Max.

Update: The FIA have responded.