We spent the weekend in various grand stands (thanks to the roving tickets for the Friday and Saturday) allowing me the chance to resurrect my passion for F1 photography, but also to watch the cars in a good variety of speeds and corners.
The main talk after the race was of tyres - four delaminations over the weekend resulting in the tyre supplier Pirelli being forced to change its construction and the teams being permitted to run some in season testing to test out the new tyres.
Sergio Perez suffered the first delamination of the weekend in Saturday practice, at the time I was confused as to why this resulted in the session being red-flagged - I guess there was a considerable amount of debris on the track.
Practice is usually a good time to watch the drivers going over the limit to explore the maximum pace of their machinery. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) applying opposite lock during a slide, Max Chilton (Marussia) spinning at Becketts.
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) showed incredible pace throughout the weekend, resulting in a pole position nearly half a second quicker than his team mate in second.
Jenson Button (McLaren) didn't enjoy a particularly vintage weekend, while Sebastian Vettel looked like being a fortuitous victor until about ten laps to go when his transmission failed. I was surprised by the amount of booing he received during the weekend, he's a great driver but hardly endearing at times. The crowd erupted when his car failed in the race (my girlfriend commenting that she'd never heard me shouting and cheering so loudly!). Some writers have suggested that it was perhaps due to his nationality, I think it's more to do with what had happened to the driver who in my opinion was the man of the race...
Lewis Hamilton led from pole until he also suffered a puncture. Two safety car periods assisted in his climbing back to fourth by the end of the race in a stunning drive. I've never been his biggest fan, but few can doubt his ability as a racer. Along with Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) driving through the field, the fans were treated to some vintage overtaking.
The highlight of the Sunday for me at least was the fantastic display by the Red Arrows - the skill far out-shadowing that of the drivers who took to the stage after them.
