Unluckiest driver had to be Jensen Button who was eliminated from the race by an incompetent piece of driving by Vettel who lost control and crashed into the McLaren at the chicane whilst trying to overtake. This cost Button dearly in the points standing and he is now down to fourth place, 35 points behind Hamilton. Vettel, who is clearly as fast as anyone out there is starting to show some frustration and recklessness in his driving which has no place in Formula One.

Michael Schumacher had a better weekend finishing in seventh place after starting from the back of the grid. He raced with his Team Mate for most of the race but Rosberg managed to keep him at bay.

With six races still to go, Hamilton is in a good position but, apart from the next race at Monza, his McLaren may struggle to keep up with the Red Bulls in the remaining races which will be run on circuits which favor the better handling cars.

Drivers World Championship
1 Lewis Hamilton 182
2 Mark Webber 179
3 Sebastian Vettel 151
4 Jenson Button 147
5 Fernando Alonso 141
6 Felipe Massa 109
7 Robert Kubica 104
8 Nico Rosberg 102
9 Adrian Sutil 45
10 Michael Schumacher 44
11 Rubens Barrichello 30
12 Kamui Kobayashi 21

Hopefully, Schumacher will have learnt something from the bad publicity he received after his reckless move on Barrichello in Hungary. I expect him to be running in the midfield again and probably trailing his team mate Rosberg. Time for him to step aside and make space for a younger guy. I am sure it would be a great relief to Mercedes to see him retire and save them further embarrassment.

The Australian’s day was made when Vettel was given a drive-through penalty for falling more than 10 car lengths behind him and holding Alonso back while running behind the safety car. The German said he could not hear his radio, and simply got caught out. That changed the complexion of the race, for now Webber was intent on building a lead of 19 or more seconds over the Ferrari driver in order to make his pit stop. Alonso, for his part, was containing Vettel, as Massa held a watching brief in fourth.

Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher has been punished by the Hungarian Grand Prix stewards for his clash with Williams’ Rubens Barrichello in the closing laps of Sunday’s Budapest race. Schumacher receives a 10-place grid penalty for the next round in Belgium. As Barrichello attempted to overtake the German on Lap 66 on the main straight, the seven-time champion appeared to move over on the Brazilian and push him towards the pit wall. After a post-race investigation the stewards decided Schumacher had “illegitimately impeded car 9 during an overtaking maneuver”

This is not the first time this year that Michael Schumacher has driven in an unnecessarily aggressive manner and he deserves the punishment. His comeback has turned out to be a big mistake and he is no longer competitive. His aggressive tactics were often overlooked in the past when he was winning his championships but he remains the only World Champion to have had his points removed for dangerous driving. He is proving to be an embarrassment and the sooner he retires the better.

Drivers World Championship Standings
1 Mark Webber Australian RBR-Renault 161
2 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 157
3 Sebastian Vettel German RBR-Renault 151
4 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 147
5 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 141
6 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 97
7 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes GP 94
8 Robert Kubica Polish Renault 89
9 Michael Schumacher German Mercedes GP 38
10 Adrian Sutil German Force India-Mercedes 35

Vettel may be the present Wunderkind, but his aggressive behavior off the start line in both the British and German Grand Prix have cost him dear. Instead of concentrating on making a good start from pole and maintaining his position to lead through the first corner, on both occasions he has veered sharply to the right to cut off and nearly force into the pit wall both Webber at Silverstone and Alonso at Hockenheim. On both occasions he lost out and should by now be in the lead of the Championship. These maneuvers show a petulant side of his character which he must overcome if he is to become a great champion. There are far too many top line drivers on the grid today and they will not be intimidated in this way.

The Hungaroring is probably one of the hardest tracks for overtaking, so the start will be all important. I expect the Red Bulls and Ferraris to be on top again with Mclaren struggling. Even the McLaren F duct will not help them very much this week because of the relatively slow nature of the circuit, which could suit Webber.

I expect Vettel to get it right on Sunday and I would expect him to win. Webber and Alonso will be fighting it out for second place and the grid positions will be all important.

It makes sense for a Team to favor one driver over another to maximize their chances in the Championship but to do so is against the rules of the sport. The rule actually says that the Team is not allowed to instruct their drivers to finish in a certain order if it effects the result of the race. The amazing thing is the arrogance of the Ferrari Team in thinking that they could orchestrate the race in such an obvious way and get away with it. There have to be ways of ensuring the result they want in a much more subtle way.

I sincerely hope and expect the World Council of Motorsport at the FIA will come down very hard on them, either with removal of their points from Hockenheim or a ban for a number of races.

If I had to choose a winner in bad conditions it would be Button but if it is dry Vettel will be hard to beat in front of his home crowd.

Sweet revenge for Mark Webber when he won the British Grand Prix today. The Red Bull Team had given his updated front wing to Vettel before qualifying which understandably upset the Aussie, although the team denied any favoritism. Webber made a great start from second place on the grid and outgunned Vettel to the first corner. Vettel touched Hamilton’s wing end plate and collected a puncture which put paid to any chance he had of a podium finish. Hamilton drove a great race in his uncompetitive McLaren to finish 2nd and Jensen Button drove a great race from 14th on the grid to 4th overall. Alonso was never really fully competitive and was finally given a drive through penalty for cutting the corner at Club whilst overtaking Kubizca. He was so upset that he left the track immediately without any comment to the media.

This result for Mark will hopefully make the Red Bull Team think again about playing games with the drivers. Mark has surely established himself as every bit as quick as Vettel if not quicker in many instances. He has now won the two most restigious races of the year, Monaco and Silverstone.

The new section of track proved interesting but did not provide any genuine overtaking opportunities  and the powers that be at the BRDC must be wondering why they spent all those millions to make the changes.

The next race at Hockenheim is home territory for Vettel and he will want to pick up maximum points there. I am sure Webber will have other ideas.

Sebastian Vettel took pole for the British Grand Prix today, ahead of his Team mate Mark Webber and Alonso in the Ferrari, but not without some controversy.  Both Red Bulls had been fitted with a new design of front wing for this weekend, but Vettel’s front wing became detached and was damaged and the Team gave Webber’s wing to Vettel, which left Webber with the old design. Clearly after qualifying Webber was not a happy bunny and quite rightly so. The team had stated after the Turkish Grand Prix fiasco that they did not favor either driver. Clearly they favored Vettel today. They say that the new front wing would not effect the lap time, so why give it to Vettel? Even if the new front wing was not an improvement, taking it away from Webber and giving it to Vettel was a very demoralizing move against Webber. I hope he wins tomorrow and shows the Team that they are backing the wrong guy. Rosberg outqualified Schumacher by nearly a second today which is massive in Formula One terms. Schuey should step down and give a younger driver like Gary Paffet a chance.

The race should be a no contest tomorrow. The Red Bulls have a big advantage here, much to everyone’s surprise and only Alonso looks like being anywhere near them. A big disappointment for the British fans with the updates to the Mclarens being a damp squib and Jensen in particular seems to have suffered adhesion problems today. I predicted the closest race of the year so far but it looks like this will not be the case. We need a sharp downpour just before the start to liven things up.

This week, the Grand Prix circus moves to Silverstone, which, alongside Monaco and Monza, is the most Historic of all the circuits. In fact, Silverstone was the venue for the very first World Championship Grand Prix in 1950. Recent updates have assured Silverstone’s place on the Calendar for the next few years. I doubt if the new circuit extension will add anything to the racing and will not provide any extra overtaking opportunities, but, having said that, I expect the race on Sunday to be the most exciting of the year so far.

The gap between the cars is narrowing considerably and we should see a great race between the Mclarens and the Red Bull cars with Alonso and Massa in the Ferraris in the mix too. Robert Kubica in the Renault and Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes/Braun will be close and looking to pick up some good points. Don’t expect Schumacher to suddenly find form, in fact, this may be his last race. If I have to pick a winner, Mark Webber would be my tip. It will take more than his low flying experience in Valencia to put the Aussie off his stride and he knows Silverstone like the back of his hand.