Stoner says Honda did not have the pace to fight Yamaha for MotoGP victory at Silverstone

Casey Stoner said his Honda simply did not have the pace to fight for victory in the British Grand Prix, and that it had just been a matter of trying to hang on when battling the Yamahas.

The reigning world champion fought with Ben Spies in the early part of Sunday's race before the American ran into tyre issues, and was ultimately beaten by Spies' charging team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner said that even when dicing with Spies he had been having to go beyond his bike's limits.

"He had a pretty good pace, but in my opinion, too good a pace. We weren't comfortable," said Stoner. "We were having to push very hard, especially in the braking points, just to keep up with Ben.

"That was worrying me from the beginning. I didn't have any edge grip on the left and we just couldn't make any inroads on him. We started pushing in some areas that I wasn't really happy to push in, Ben made a small mistake and I slipped up the inside.

"From that moment on, for me, it was about braking as late as possible, just trying to hold everyone back, because we just didn't have the pace."

Stoner had a spectacular race with Lorenzo later on, but could not hold off his championship rival.

"We had a small battle with Jorge, he had a lot more mid-turn speed than us and a lot more grip," Stoner said. "I tried to get him back on each exit, but he could always keep it on around the outside and in the end he could go home to the victory.

"It was a bit disappointing for us that we had nothing to fight with, but we gave it one hell of a shot."

The Australian reckoned an issue with the tyre was central to Honda's problems at Silverstone. Bridgestone introduced a new specification front for Britain.

"For us, there seemed to be something wrong with the left-hand side of the tyre. Even from lap three or four, the tyre just seemed to drop away so quickly, we had nothing to fight with," said Stoner.

His team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who chased Stoner home in third, said salvaging a podium was a good result in the circumstances.

"The team must be happy with the result after the tyre changed on the front," said Pedrosa. "But we have to get better for the next race and try to improve our pace."

Pirelli: Schumacher a serious candidate in the upcoming ValenciaGp

Michael Schumacher should be considered as a serious candidate to become Formula 1's eighth winner in Valencia this weekend - judging by his performance on the streets of Monaco last month.

That is the view of Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery, who thinks that the tight confines of the European GP venue which puts a premium on grid position should play to the same strengths that helped Schumacher set the fastest time in qualifying in Monte Carlo.

"I think you have to look at someone like, maybe Michael getting the pole position," Hembery told AUTOSPORT.

"He probably would have won Monaco if he hadn't been penalised, so why not there? Michael for Valencia, that's where the money needs to go."

F1 is looking for its eighth different winner of the season in Valencia, and Hembery believes that the nature of the circuit means starting from the front is essential - because overtaking is so hard.

"We know Valencia is a tough track to create an exciting race," he said. "It's hard to overtake and it's got elements of Monaco from that point of view.

"There will be some high temperatures, of course, and we're going there with the soft and medium tyre, so we should have less degradation.

"There will not be the challenge that we had in Canada, with the super soft being pushed to its limit, so that is why track position is going to be fundamental. You've got to really get a good qualifying in Valencia."

Hembery believes teams are getting a better understanding of what they need to do to extract performance from the tyres for that crucial single lap pace - but still reckons they face a challenge in actually achieving their targets

"The teams themselves have got a pretty good idea of what they're aiming for, but it doesn't mean they can obtain what they want," he said.

Lotus: Qualifying key to Victory

                         

Victory will be within Lotus' grasp if the Enstone based team can improve its qualifying pace.

Romain Grosjean finished within sight of Lewis Hamilton in Canada earlier this month, having qualified only seventh.

Also driven this year by 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, a black and gold E20 has not started a single grand prix from the front row of the grid in 2012.

But reigning GP2 champion Grosjean insists that the difference between the performance of the Lotus and the very best cars in 2012 is "not that big".

"We need to qualify better, that is not our strength this season but we are working on it," said the Frenchman.

"If we are able to have a strong weekend from the beginning, we are able to fight for the podium and even for victory," he is quoted by Brazil's Globo.

Jorge Lorenzo score comfortable British MotoGP victory at Silverstone

MotoGP championship leader Jorge Lorenzo took a comfortable win at Silverstone's British Grand Prix.

The Yamaha rider spent the first part of the race patiently sitting behind his team-mate Ben Spies and Honda's Casey Stoner. With six laps gone he moved into second place, before stalking Stoner for another five laps.

At half-race distance he made his move, barging past Stoner through the last corner, withstanding a brief period of resistance from the Honda and then sprinting off to an easy win.

Behind him, it was a battle between the Hondas of Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. Having lost the lead to Lorenzo, Stoner seemed to suddenly struggle for tyre grip. However, he was able to narrowly hold on to second place, with Pedrosa settling for third after an unsuccessful lunge on the final lap.

Polesitter Alvaro Bautista did a solid job on the Gresini Honda, running with the leaders throughout the race and eventually taking a fine fourth place.

Spies was fifth, having quickly gone backwards after losing the lead in the opening laps of the race.

Cal Crutchlow (Tech 3) was the star of the race, charging from the back of the grid to sixth place despite having an injured foot from Friday's crash. The Brit made a stunning run through the field, stealing sixth from Nicky Hayden (Ducati) on the very last lap.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda), Valentino Rossi (Ducati) and Hector Barbera (Pramac Ducati) rounded out the top 10, while Andrea Dovizioso finished 19th after making a lengthy stop for a brake problem.

Aleix Espargaro was the best of the CRT machines, finishing 11th on the Aspar Aprilia.

Lorenzo now sits pretty at the top of the championship table, followed by Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.