Red Bull dominated the British Grand Prix and in doing so ignited the blue touch paper for their championship challenge. Meanwhile, politics dominated the weekend as a whole.
Red Bull have had a quick car over one lap from the beginning of the season but a major update for Silverstone saw them carry that performance through the full 60 laps of the British GP.
From the start of the race Vettel drove like a demon and was actually on average one, yes that is ONE, second a lap faster than the nearest rival team-and-driver combination, who happened to be Barrichello in the Brawn.
Button was having a weekend off and was never really in contention for pole or a race win but when weekends like that happen the most important thing is to take away as many points as possible, and I think he did that with a fairly non eventful sixth place.
Mark Webber came home second and I am afraid to say that, with a team-mate like Vettel, that is about as good as it’s going to get. He is a good driver but when push comes to shove, Vettel has that extra something that makes him exceptional.
Other drivers that are worthy of a mention are Felipe Massa, who drove well to come from 11th to fourh, and Fisichella, who finished tenth. As for the rest, I think their school report would read similar to what mine did for many years: "Must try harder".
It was great weekend with exceptional crowds every day and they were really trying hard to support Silverstone in its plight to retain the British Grand Prix. The drivers were even going out of their way to compliment the circuit and the challenges they really enjoy about this type of track, as opposed to some of the new desert races that have been introduced over the last few years.
However, once again the politics of Formula 1 dominated the weekend with the battle between the FIA (the governing body) FOM (the marketing arm) and FOTA (the teams’ association) taking the limelight.
Where will this all will go, who knows - in reality it is now about making logical business decisions for the good of that business and believe me that's what Formula 1 is. It is not a sport, it is a multi-billion dollar business and the problem with the people running it is that they have egos so huge they are not willing to concede on anything.
The teams have, and rightly so, confirmed that they are going their own way and setting up their own championship. This is not a rival championship as the FIA will be asked to govern it but it will be a championship with rules and venues defined by the participants. In my opinion FOTA are in a strong position even though the car industry is on its knees; they still have the clout of major backers who want to be associated with car manufactures.
There is room and a requirement for small independent teams to be in Formula 1 and Force India are showing that by carrying on where Jordan GP left off. There were a few years with other owners who thought they knew it all but that team is now back to having the spirit of the Jordan days, and I wish them all the luck in the world.
That said, we still need the manufacturers to attract the major sponsors. Why would companies like Bridgestone or Shell, for example, put so much money and commitment into Formula 1 if there was no chance of them getting their product on production cars? The manufacturers are the magnet that pulls in this level of sponsorship and then the smaller teams benefit by attracting smaller sponsors that want and need the association with those major players. A Sunday at a Grand Prix for many of these companies is not really about the racing, it is mixing with other business leaders, it is called B on B (business on business) and it is a very important part of any major sporting event.
The teams are the circus act and as such should be able to be in charge of defining the show, the FIA need to realise they are just the same as any referee and nothing more, and FOM are the worldwide promoter and as such should market the sport for the teams as required. But as I said earlier, the egos will stand in the way of this happening to the extent that the whole thing could implode before our very eyes.