Silverstone does it yet again with a classic Grand Prix. Carlos sainz is now a race winner on his 150th attempt, while Zhou Guanyu is confirmed to be okay after a horror crash on lap 1.
Despite threats of rain, it was a dry start to the race, but dark clouds loomed.
Gut Wrenching start
Drama took place before the first corner, Verstappen leapt into the lead from Sainz, but behind an Alfa Romeo was spotted being flipped onto it’s roof. Numerous cars were involved with Albon, Gasly, Ocon and Russell also suffering damage. For Russell and Albon, it was terminal.
The red flag was called before the cars made it to turn 4.
It was confirmed to be Zhou in the Alfa, it was assumed that he was stuck in the techpro barriers. The extraction team was called to get him out. After an agonising 15 minute wait, Zhou was confirmed to be okay, but was immediately taken to be observed on site.
Eventually, we were able to see the cause of the incident. Gasly was squeezed and tapped the back of Russell’s car at the start, which speared the Briton into the back of the Alfa. This threw the car onto it’s roof, before hitting the gravel, flipping several times and then, terrifyingly, over the tyre barriers into the catch fencing. At the same time, Albon was punted by Vettel, he spun into the barriers before collecting Tsunoda and Ocon.
It was 55 minutes until the race was restarted.
Bizzarrely, it was announced that the cars would start in the original grid order, meaning that Sainz would get another opportunity to start from the lead. The retired cars would leave their spaces empty. Apparently, this was because a few of the cars still running hadn’t passed the second safety car line by the time the red flag was called.
The battles begin
The restart was incredibly dramatic, but in a much less worring way. Sainz held the lead from the restart, but it was close between the top 2. Leclerc and Perez made a lunge forwards, which resulted in Leclerc tapping Perez. Both cars seemed to suffer minor damage and Perez’s wing disintergrated over the rest of the lap. Leclerc was looking to make a move through turn 6, but a tough defense from Verstappen halted the attempt. Sainz was able to pull out a 1.5s lead by the end of the lap and Verstappen had a similar gap to Leclerc behind.
Perez had to pit on lap 6, giving Norris and Hamilton a position. They were now 4th and 5th respectively. It wasn’t long until Hamilton jumped Norris for 4th with DRS.
By lap 8, Verstappen was back in DRS territory. The ending of the Canadian GP had now been inverted. However, Leclerc was closing on Verstappen, only 1.6s split the top 3. The Ferrari was smoother through Maggots and Becketts, which was just enough to prevent Verstappen from launching a DRS attack into Stowe.
But, Sainz made a mistake during that sequence of corners on lap 10. As the Ferrari went off track, Verstappen breezed past.
Meanwhile, Tsunoda lost control of his Alpha Tauri and spun into his team-mate, Gasly. Both cars were able to continue, but they had lost quite a few places. Tsunoda later collected a 5s penalty for the incident.
But then, high drama as Verstappen was showing slowing through the back straight. Both Ferraris made their was past as a puncture was reported on the Red Bull. He was able to duck straight into the pits, but it was now a Ferrari 1-2 at Silverstone.
This was not the end of Verstappen’s troubles. He was slightly slower and reporting problems. The previously reported puncture was not a puncture at all, but bodywork damage. Meaning the previous pitstop was dropped him unnecessarily to 6th.
Leclerc was now bargaining with Ferrari as he believed he was faster. Just behind, Hamilton had closed the gap to 3.7s. Sainz was under pressure.
Podium Position Pitstops
Sainz was the first of the duo to pit on lap 20. Sainz would have to push on the hard compound tyre if he was to keep the lead of the Grand Prix.
Bottas retired on lap 21, he was running out of the points, but certainly a weekend to forget for Alfa Romeo.
Verstappen was ordered back to the pits on lap 24 for the hard compound tyres. Despite the issues and 3 pitstops, he was now running 8th, after Vettel performed a stunning move through the loop on Verstappen’s exit.
Leclerc ducked into the pits on lap 25, Hamilton was only 1s behind at the time. The race victory was now in the balance. Sainz was able to overtake before Leclerc exited the pits and all eyes were now on the gap between the Mercedes of Hamilton and the Ferrari duo. Hamilton was storming around Silverstone.
Gasly received the black and orange meatball flag on lap 28, meaning he was required to pit from an already dismal 15th. This ended in his retirement.
Leclerc’s laptimes were cutting into Hamilton’s advantage, but Hamilton would end the race with fresher tyres. Meanwhile, Leclerc was now in Sainz’s DRS territory. He was given clearance to fight for position. After Hamilton started to gain time, Sainz was given one lap to prove his pace. Sainz’s pace wasn’t enough and he had to concede position on the hangar straight, However, the scarlet team had lost a significant amount of time.
Hamilton eventually pitted on lap 34 and suffered a slow stop. Both Ferraris were able to get past, with an advantage of 4s. Hamilton had fresher tyres, but a lot of work to do. Leclerc was pushing, setting numerous fastest laps.
Meanwhile, there were 3 cars performing strongly in the midfield. Norris, Alonso and Vettel were running in 5th, 6th and 7th.
Latifi’s strong start unfortunately started to unravel. Schumacher overtook him for the last points paying position on lap 34. Just infront, Ocon was challenging Verstappen for 8th. After being nose to tail for the best part of two laps, the frenchman squeezed his way past into Stowe. But on lap 39, the Alpine ground to a hault on the old pit straight. Out of nowhere, the safety car was called.
scintillating ending
Sainz and Hamilton immediately ducked for the pits while Leclerc stayed out. Both cars bolted on the soft tyres. Leclerc was in trouble, older, harder tyres and not enough time to react to the safety car.
Perez had been running on his tyres for an incredibly long time and this stop was a gift. He was able to maintain 4th. Norris and Vettel stopped. Alonso was able to jump to 5th, whilst Vettel managed to keep 7th.
The safety car came in on lap 42, a 10 lap sprint awaited. Sainz was asked to give 10 car lengths to Leclerc on the restart, but he refused.
Hamilton had no grip on the restart and Perez was able to squeeze past through the loop. Meanwhile, Sainz took a risky overtake on Leclerc on the Wellington Straight, A lap later, Hamilton was fighting back against the Red Bull. Side by side through Copse, but Perez maintained 3rd. Leclerc was now backing into the battling pair and Hamilton was in DRS territory of Perez.
This led to one of the most incredible battles this motorsport fan has ever seen.
Perez’s lunge on Leclerc through the final corner gave Hamilton the opportunity to take 2nd. A few corners later, Perez was back alongside and hard racing caused Hamilton to go wide, Leclerc jumped up to 3rd and Hamilton had to then defend from Alonso who had joined the battle. Hamilton, 4th, was now crawling all over the back of Leclerc. Hamilton squeezed past through Luffield, but Leclerc took the place back into Copse. But then, one final attempt into Stowe sealed the position. Alonso and Norris were now attacking Leclerc.
Just behind, Schumacher was now battling Verstappen for 7th. The battle would go down to the final corner of the final lap, but Verstappen held on. Despite this, Schumacher was thrilled for his first points in Formula 1.
After the intense battle from earlier, the top cars stayed in position as they crossed the line. Sainz converted his first pole position into his first win while Perez came from nowhere to take 2nd. Hamilton took an incredibly popular 3rd place, while Leclerc limped home to 4th. Alonso took another strong points finish with 5th ahead of Norris. Verstappen 7th and Schumacher 8th, while Vettel took yet more points with 9th ahead of Magnussen, a double points finish for Haas.
- Sainz
- Perez +3.7s
- Hamilton +6.2s
- Leclerc +8.5s
- Alonso +9.5s
- Norris +11.9s
- Verstappen +18.7s
- Schumacher +18.9s
- Vettel +22.3s
- Magnussen +24.5s
- Stroll +26s
- Latifi +32.5s
- Ricciardo +32.8s
- Tsunoda +40.9s
- Ocon RET
- Gasly RET
- Bottas RET
- Russell RET
- Zhou RET
- Albon RET
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
