British Grand Prix: Sainz – Perez – Hamilton

Cloudy. Dry. Air +17C, rail +28C

Max Verstappen arrived at Silverstone on round ten of the season as individual leader with an overwhelming 46 points lead over teammate Sergio Perez and 49 points over Charles Leclerc. On Friday the stands were already filled and on Sunday it was a full house. In total, over 400,000 spectators attended the circuit over the weekend, bravely enduring the vagaries of British weather. Race day was warm and sunny, which rewarded their patience.

The teams brought a lot of new products to the podium, but on Friday the first practice was ruined by the rain, so the program of the day had to be completed during the second session – Carlos Sainz showed the best time. It was dry on Saturday morning – Max Verstappen set the best time and qualifying was held in the rain. In the decisive fast lap, Verstappen and Leclerc made a mistake and Sainz did everything right – and won the first pole of his career.

Sainz and Verstappen shared the front row of the grid, Leclerc and Perez – the second, only the British started from third on the home track – Hamilton and Norris.

Pirelli traditionally brought the toughest lineups to the podium – C1, C2 and C3 as Hard, Medium and Soft. In the race Russell started on Hard, Verstappen, Latifi, Albon, Magnussen and Vettel on Soft, the rest chose Medium for the first stint.

Already on the grid, Leclerc’s car had problems with the electronics, but the mechanics were able to replace everything before the start of the race.

At the start, Verstappen overtook Sainz, Hamilton overtook Leclerc and a poor start from Pérez to slide into third, but the race was immediately red-flagged due to a massive five-car crash at Turn 1.

Russell and Zhou squeezed Gasly from both sides, George’s left rear wheel caught Pierre’s right front wheel, his car lost stability and crashed into Zhou’s car, which flipped over, flew past the safety zone, then a protective tire barrier, crashing right behind him. the grid separating the track from the spectators.

Behind them, Bottas slowed down. Vettel had no time to slow down, crashed into Elbon’s car from behind – Williams turned. Alex’s car crashed into a wall, crossed the track and hit Ocon’s car. Yuki Tsunoda, who was driving behind it, didn’t have time to slow down and hit Elbon’s car.

Guanyu could not get out on his own – marshals and doctors rushed to the accident site, carefully and for a long time evacuated the rider who left the track on a stretcher – he communicated with the team and was able to move.

Okon and Tsunoda reached the pits with a flat tire and broken suspension. Russell and Albon exited the cars and stopped fighting. Zhou and Albon were sent to the medical center. The stewards did not investigate this incident as it was a racing incident.

Fortunately, Zhou was not injured – he was discharged from the medical center during the race and Albon was sent by helicopter to Coventry Hospital for testing as a precaution.

Okon and Tsunoda’s machines were repaired during the intermission.

The pause after the accident would not have been so long if the marshals and police had not had to remove participants from the illicit protest of the Just Stop Oil movement, which opposes the use of petroleum products, from the highway. However, police warned on Thursday that such an action was possible, so organizers quickly got to work.

Just an hour later, the riders were able to start again. The FIA ​​lined them up in accordance with the original grid as they did not have time to complete a full circle before the red flags.

The riders left the pit lane after the safety car and started from the spot. Latifi, Gasly, Tsunoda, Okon and Vettel started the race on Soft, the rest opted for Medium.

At the start, Verstappen attacked Sainz, but Carlos kept the lead. Leclerc and Verstappen made contact but kept moving. The stewards left the incident without consequences. Norris beat Hamilton.

Top ten in the fourth round: Sainz – Verstappen – Leclerc – Perez – Norris – Hamilton – Gasly – Alonso – Tsunoda – Windows.

On lap 6, Perez entered the pits to replace the front wing, which was damaged at the start in the fight with Leclerc. Hamilton beat Norris for fourth place.

On lap 7 Vettel made a pit stop.

On lap 8, Verstappen picked up the pace and narrowed the gap on Sainz. On lap 10 Sainz made a mistake, flew into the safety zone – and Max led the race. Sainz came in second.

The AlphaTauri racers collided in battle for position – Tsunoda attacked Gasly and both cars reversed. The Japanese was given a five-second and two-point penalty for this incident.

On lap 12 Verstappen’s car lost speed – Sainz and Leclerc took the lead and Max entered the pits and changed tyres. The team confirmed that the rear of his car was damaged as he had lost some downforce from interacting with the AlphaTauri’s front wing plate, but he was able to continue racing.

Top ten in round 13: Sainz – Leclerc – Hamilton – Norris – Alonso – Verstappen – Ocon – Latifi – Bottas – Riccardo.

On the 16th lap Stroll switched tires, on the 17th he went out.

Leclerc came close to Sainz at attacking distance in the battle for the lead, but his car lost some downforce after contact with Verstappen. Ferrari racers drove eight tenths in a row for a long time, but Charles tried not to attack.

On lap 19, Tsunoda switched tires, on 20th – Latifi and Schumacher, on 21st – Riccardo and Sainz, who came back on track in third.

Bottas put the car in the pits and retired due to gearbox problems.

On lap 23 Ocon and Magnussen made a pit stop, on lap 24 Verstappen, on lap 25 Leclerc, coming back behind Sainz. The race was led by Hamilton.

On lap 28, Gasly stopped the car in the pits and pulled out.

Leclerc picked up the pace and closed the gap on Sainz – Ferrari did not intervene, allowing the riders to fight.

On lap 30, Okon overtook Latifi for fourth.

On lap 31, Leclerc overtook Sainz for second. Carlos is now back in the DRS zone.

On lap 33 Schumacher overtook Latifi for tenth.

On lap 34 Hamilton, Alonso and Ricciardo switched tires – Lewis had a hitch while changing the front right wheel and he returned to the track in third, four seconds behind Sainz.

On lap 35 Norris made a pit stop. Magnussen passed Latifi for 11th place.

Top ten in round 35: Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Perez – Norris – Alonso – Vettel – Verstappen – Windows – Schumacher.

On lap 37, Okon overtook Verstappen for eighth.

On lap 39, Okon’s car lost speed due to fuel pump problems and came to a stop in a straight line. The safety car drove away.

Leclerc in the lead passed the pit lane entrance and the others behind him except Magnussen switched tires. Leclerc stayed on the worn-out Hard, with five riders behind him on fresh Softs.

Top ten behind the safety car: Leclerc – Sainz – Hamilton – Perez – Alonso – Norris – Vettel – Magnussen – Verstappen – Schumacher.

On lap 42 a restart was announced. There were ten laps to the finish. The fate of the race was decided by a short sprint.

At the restart Sainz was ahead of Leclerc to lead the race, Perez overtook Hamilton.

On lap 43 Schumacher overtook Magnussen for tenth place.

On lap 46, Pérez and Leclerc battled for position as they were both overtaken by Hamilton, but Sergio and Leclerc overtook Hamilton again.

On lap 48, Schumacher overtook Vettel for eighth.

On lap 48 Hamilton overtook Leclerc for third.

Top ten in round 49: Sainz – Perez – Hamilton – Leclerc – Alonso – Norris – Verstappen – Schumacher – Vettel – Magnussen.

Schumacher pushed Verstappen under pressure until the last meters in the battle for seventh place, but Max stayed ahead.

On Saturday Carlos Sainz took pole for the first time and on Sunday he took his first career win in Formula 1. Sergio Perez climbed to the second step of the podium, Lewis Hamilton finished the race in third, leaving behind the best lap.

Mick Schumacher finished the race in eighth and earned his first career points.

Already next week the battle in Spielberg continues.

Race results

best lapTime: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:30.510 (lap 52, 234,312 km/h)

Reasons for leaving

Championship position : Individual

Championship position : Constructors’ Championship

Team		engine	Glasses
†	1 Red Bull Racing	Red Bull powertrains	328
†	2 Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	265
†	3. Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	204
†	4 McLaren Racing	Mercedes	73
†	5 Alpine F1 Team	Renault	67
†	6. Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN	Ferrari	51
†	7 Scuderia Alpha Tauri	Red Bull powertrains	27
	8 Haas F1 Team	Ferrari	twenty
	9. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes	eighteen
†	10 Williams Racing	Mercedes	3