2013 British Grand Prix

The 2013 British Grand Prix (formally the 2013 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, England, United Kingdom, on 30 June 2013 before 120,000 spectators. It was the eighth round of the 2013 Formula One World Championship and the 64th British Grand Prix to be held as part of the series. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won the 52-lap race starting from second position. Mark Webber of the Red Bull team finished second and Fernando Alonso took third in a Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg's teammate, won the pole position by setting the fastest lap in qualifying. He led for the first seven laps until his car's left-rear tyre failed on lap eight, promoting Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel to the lead. Two more left-rear tyre failures for Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne led to race director Charlie Whiting deploying the safety car. The race was restarted at the end of lap 21 with Vettel leading. He led for the next 20 laps before a gearbox failure forced him to retire on the 41st lap and cause a second safety car deployment. Rosberg took the lead, and held off Webber for the rest of the race to achieve his second victory of the season and the third of his career.

A total of six tyre failures occurred during the race and supplier Pirelli modified them to make them less susceptible to punctures for the following German Grand Prix as a stop-gap solution before introducing a new tyre at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Pirelli investigated the incidents and concluded there was no single cause. As a result of the race, Alonso moved to within 21 points of the World Drivers' Championship leader Vettel. Kimi Räikkönen of the Lotus team finished fifth to remain in third and Hamilton maintained fourth place. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes overtook Ferrari, moving to within 48 points behind Red Bull with eleven rounds remaining in the season.

The round was the eighth of the 19 races in the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship, and the 64th British Grand Prix as part of the series. It was held at the 18-turn 5.891 km (3.660 mi) Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England, on 30 June. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the white-banded medium and the orange-banded hard compound dry tyres and the green-banded intermediate and dark blue-banded full wet tyres to the race. The drag reduction system (DRS) was expanded from one to two activation zones for 2013: one was on the Wellington Straight on the entry to Brooklands corner and the second was on the Hangar Straight linking Chapel and Stowe turns. For the race, several drains to improve circuit drainage and prevent water accumulation were installed, and the outside tyre wall at the exit to Chapel Curve was extended by 50 m (160 ft).

Before the race, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel led the World Drivers' Championship with 132 points, ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso with 96 points and Lotus' Kimi Räikkönen with 88 points. Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes team was fourth with 77 points and Vettel's teammate Mark Webber was fifth with 69 points. Red Bull led the World Constructors' Championship with 201 points; Ferrari and Mercedes were second and third respectively, with 145 and 134 points. Lotus were fourth with 114 points and Force India were fifth with 51 points.

Vettel won the preceding Canadian Grand Prix from Alonso, but did not want to speculate on the outcome at Silverstone or the championship. "Fernando was a little bit unlucky here and there and we were able to beat him, so we were able to come back but this was ten races from where we are now so I think there are so many things that can happen at that stage of the championship." Alonso said Ferrari could not make more errors and lose extra points. He was confident about his prospects at Silverstone because of Ferrari's recent competitiveness there saying, "We have an interesting weekend ahead of us, but we can approach it with confidence, knowing we have a good opportunity." Stirling Moss, the 1955 British Grand Prix winner for Mercedes, felt Hamilton could possibly win the race and Hamilton himself wanted to win at Silverstone for the second time. Hamilton said he was looking forward to learning how his car would perform and felt Mercedes would be competitive at Silverstone. His teammate Nico Rosberg commented his aim was to score points at the race.

The second mid-season test of 2013 was held at the circuit three weeks after the race. Auto GP driver Kimiya Sato and GP3 Series racers Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr. made their first appearances in a Formula One test session for the Sauber and Toro Rosso teams respectively, while World Series by Renault driver Will Stevens drove a Caterham. The Marussia team entered Tio Ellinas from the GP3 Series, and Susie Wolff drove a Williams car, becoming the first woman to drive a Formula One car in an official session since Giovanna Amati in 1992. The Mercedes team were not allowed to enter the test because the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) International Tribunal concluded they broke the regulations by running its 2013 car in an illegal test session with Pirelli at the Circuit de Catalunya a month prior.

The Grand Prix saw 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) entering two drivers each for a total of 22 competitors and there were no changes from the season-entry list. James Rossiter, Force India's simulator driver, was due to drive a VJM06 car in lieu of Adrian Sutil during the first free practice session to gather simulation data until inclement weather cancelled the plan.