Round 12/24: Review of the British Grand Prix Race

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Lewis Hamilton won a record extending 104th grand prix and a record 9th victory at Silverstone in an enthralling dry-wet-dry race ahead of a charging Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. Lando Norris finished P3 after leading for most of the race, looking increasingly likely to clinch victory but for McLarens poor strategy call during the second pit stop. Oscar Piastri who looked equally likely to either win the race or finish P2, ended up finishing in P4 after another poor call at the first pit stop while Carlos Sainz finished in P5.

The strategy for the race was wide open with rain expected 25 minutes after the start in a 52 lap race. Most of the drivers started on mediums with Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon opting for softs while Sergio Perez started on the hards. Perez was starting from the pit lane after opting for an engine change while Pierre Gasly who was also looking to start from the back after receiving a 50 place grid penalty, stopped after the formation lap due to a gearbox issue.

At the start, the top four drivers got away good but as Norris attacked Hamilton going into the second corner, he went slightly off line which left Verstappen the door to overtake the McLaren getting into P3. Both the Mercedes drivers controlled the pace well initially while Verstappen had to fend off McLarens who were within the DRS range. By lap 14, Norris started attacking Verstappen who surprisingly seemed a bit too slow losing nearly 1 second per lap over the leaders. Norris managed to make a clear overtake on the Red Bull on lap 15, while Piastri did the same on lap 17.

With rain in the mix by lap 16 for a short burst before an even longer burst later on, it was about holding out on the medium tyres for the leaders instead of pitting for inters immediately while the drivers in the back took risk to put on the inters which proved to be a wrong call. Perez, Charles Leclerc, Ocon and Guanyu were the ones who suffered due to this, and Leclerc who was in P7 at that point of time had his race completely destroyed finishing P14 in the end. Meanwhile, Hamilton managed to overtake Russell on lap 18 but the McLarens were flying in the slightly wet conditions.

Norris overtook both the Mercedes by lap 20 while Piastri managed to do the same and a little bit more by putting pressure on Norris for the race lead. Verstappen meanwhile was falling rapidly from the top three and Sainz was in his DRS fighting for P5. It all changed on lap 27, when Verstappen made the call to pit onto inters with a longer spell of rain around this time which was projected to last till lap 40. On lap 28, Norris, Hamilton and Russell pitted with Mercedes opting to double stack while Piastri was left on the track for one more lap, which ultimately proved suicidal for the Australian as he could never recover from that. By the time Piastri pitted Norris was almost on his tail, while Verstappen who pitted a lap earlier could split the Mercedes.

For the next few laps with a steady rain, the top four held position with Verstappen falling slowly away from Hamilton and towards Russell. Russell though had a water system issue on lap 34, and he was forced to retire his car. By lap 38, it started drying and it was more into the slicks territory and on lap 39, it was Hamilton and Verstappen who opted to pit while Norris pitted only on lap 40 losing his P1 to Hamilton. Norris and Hamilton were on softs while weirdly Verstappen was on Hards with only 13 laps to go. However, this turned out to be a very good advantage for the Red Bull driver, as he chased Norris down and overtook him on lap 48, and nearly got to Hamilton too.

Elsewhere, Haas finished in P6 once again with Nico Hulkenberg putting in a stellar show in the upgraded car. The Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finished in P7 and P8 while Alexander Albon and Yuki Tsunoda finished in P9 and P10. Perez finished two laps down on his teammate and with a test drive for Liam Lawson in the RB20 next week, the summer seems to be getting a bit more exciting in the Red Bull corner.

POS DRIVER CONSTRUCTOR TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 01:22:27 25
2 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT +1.465s 18
3 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES +7.547s 15
4 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES +12.429s 12
5 Carlos Sainz FERRARI +47.318s 11
6 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI +55.722s 8
7 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES +56.569s 6
8 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES +63.577s 4
9 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES +68.387s 2
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT +79.303s 1
11 Logan Sargeant WILLIAMS MERCEDES +88.960s 0
12 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI +90.153s 0
13 Daniel Ricciardo RB HONDA RBPT +1 lap 0
14 Charles Leclerc FERRARI +1 lap 0
15 Valtteri Bottas KICK SAUBER FERRARI +1 lap 0
16 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 2 laps 0
17 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 2 laps 0
18 Zhou Guanyu KICK SAUBER FERRARI 2 laps 0
NC George Russell MERCEDES DNF 0
NC Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT DNF 0

References

  1. Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
  2. Thumbnail Image Credits: www.motorsport.com
  3. Timing Sheet Credits: www.formula1.com