Rosberg negotiates tire chaos to win British Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg raced to his first British Grand Prix victory and second of the season as tire problems dominate at Silverstone.

Hamilton recovered to finish fouth, but was unhappy about the tire problems drivers experienced at Silverstone.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel had looked set for victory but had to retire with gearbox problems.

Not for the first time this season, tires played a key part in how the race panned out.

Hamilton's hopes of a home win at Silverstone ended after just eight laps when his Mercedes suffered a puncture.

Hamilton lead in the early stages of the race, but then disaster struck.....

Mark Webber suffered some damage to his front wing soon after the start of the race and the Australian slipped to 15th on lap one. But the Australian made a superb recovery to finish second.

Lewis Hamilton was on pole and the Briton made the perfect start as he streaked away from Sebastian Vettel.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Nico Rosberg wins British Grand Prix for first time
• Mark Webber fights back from poor start to take seccond
• Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished third
• Championship leader Sebastian Vettel retires due to gearbox problems

(CNN) -- Just nine days ago Formula One's governing body punished Pirelli and Mercedes for holding an unsanctioned tire test -- at the British Grand Prix it was Pirelli handing out punishment to the elite racing series.

British home hope and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton lost the lead when his left-rear tire began to unravel on the eighth lap at the demanding Silverstone circuit.

It was the first of four incidents as Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and McLaren's Sergio Perez also had their races ruined by failures to the exact same tire.

Hamilton -- and the 130,000 British fans who streamed into Silverstone to support the 2008 world champion -- were left counting the cost more than most.

His problem handed Sebastian Vettel the race lead and Red Bull's defending world champion marched ominously towards the checkered flag.

But there was a final twist -- and a dash of retribution for Mercedes -- as Vettel's Red Bull ground to a halt with 10 laps to go.

"We had a gearbox issue," the championship leader said. "Fifth gear broke and it was not possible to carry on. It was quite disappointing to stop and retire."

Nico Rosberg inherited the lead from Vettel and the German raced to his first British Grand Prix victory and second of the season.

Mark Webber, who announced he was retiring from Formula One at the end of the year, recovered from a dismal start to a brilliant second in his last-ever F1 race on British soil.

The Australian was followed home by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso while Hamilton fought his way back to the field to finish fourth ahead of Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen.

There was some world-class racing in the final laps but Pirelli will now face serious questions about whether the drivers are pushing themselves and their cars to the limit in safe conditions.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery explained in a short media conference after the race: "Today wasn't foreseen. We've seen a different type of problem.

"We are still doing our analysis so we have to go away and understand what's happened and get to the core of the issue. We take these things seriously. It was one tire, the left-rear. When we have the answer we'll let you know."