Carlos Sainz has won the British Grand Prix ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. Lewis Hamilton returns to the podium for the 11th time at Silverstone, with Charles Leclerc 4th. It was a dramatic race hindered by a red flag after a horrific crash, safety cars and even protestors.
Championship leader Max Verstappen could only manage 7th place after sustaining damage, one spot ahead of Mick Schumacher who claimed his first ever points. Only 14 cars of the 20 car field managed to finish the race, with damage also on the cars of several of the finishers.
It is the first win for Carlos Sainz in 150 starts after also claiming his first pole position in yesterdays qualifying. It was as equally an impressive drive for Perez, who at one point sat in last place of the runners after needing a front wing change.
The race lived up to its potential and then some, in front of the record 142,000 people crowd. The final few laps saw some great racing between the top seven drivers, with the podiums being open to half of running field until the penultimate lap.
Verstappen pipped Sainz off the (first) start, with Hamilton moving up to third before a frightening incident at turn one immediately brought out a red flag.
George Russell, Alexander Albon, Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda were all caught up in the crash, which saw Guanyu sliding upside down across the the track and into the sand, wedging his car deep in the tyre wall against the metal barrier. Russell and Albon also immediately withdrew, with Ocon and Tsunoda managing to limp back to the pits needing extensive repairs.
Russell immediately jumped out his his car to check on the Chinese driver, his concern at rushing to help showing the severity of the impact the Alfa Romeo. Guanyu was trapped in his car for a period of roughly 15 minutes in a confined space between the barrier and a tyre wall, requiring an extraction team to remove him from the vehicle before receiving medical attention.
A tap on Russell’s left rear by Pierre Gasly sent him left into the path of Guanyu, immediately rolling the Alfa Romeo at high speed, skidding down the straight into the turn one gravel before rolling and jumping over the tyre wall and barrier and wheel first into the catch fence protecting the crowd.
The initial contact between Gasly and Russell was the result of the Mercedes of Russell veering slightly left as Gasly tried to pierce a gap between the Chinese driver and the Brit. Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon were unfortunate passengers and caught up as the pack consolidated behind or other cars spun into them.
Mercedes attempted to re-enter Russell into the race during the red flag, as they believed they would be able to repair the car. A visibly shaken Russell discussed the incident, saying he had only got out to check on a fellow driver, and damage on his car was minimal.
He had advised the marshals not to touch the car whilst he went to check with his team how to get it restarted, and returned to find it on the back of a flatbed. The FIA unfortunately rejected their pleas as the car had received outside assistance by this point.
The red flag thankfully thwarted a protest, with at least four people storming the fence and sitting down on the track ahead of the field in an attempt to stop the already stopped race.
A standing start finally got things back underway an hour later, with the grid returned to its original starting positions. Sainz got a better start this time around, and took the lead by squeezing Verstappen to the right of the track. Perez and Leclerc made side-on contact at turn four, with Leclerc emerging ahead and nearly repeating the incident with Verstappen a few corners later.
Perez pitted on lap 5 with damage as a result of the contact with Leclerc, a front wing change putting him at the rear of the field. Leclerc also received minor damage to his front wing, which caused minimal impact to the pace of his Ferrari.
Sainz pulled out to a lead of nearly two seconds, which Verstappen clawed back by lap 8. The Ferrari went wide onto the grass at Becketts on lap 10, allowing the Red Bull to pass. The two Alpha Tauri’s of Gasly and Tsunoda also spun each other on this lap, moving them both down the order in a miserable afternoon for the team.
The lead changed once again on lap 12, with a puncture for Verstappen giving Sainz back the lead. The Dutchman was lucky enough this occurred near the pit lane, and only cost him 5 places as he returned to the track in 6th. Running over debris, which caused the puncture, left him with bodywork damage and affected the cars performance for the remainder of the race.
This left the two Ferrari’s with a solid lead over local drivers Hamilton and Norris. Pitting Sainz on lap 20 gave Leclerc the lead and protected the team from a fast approaching Hamilton in third. Valterri Bottas was the fourth driver to retire from the race at this point, with mechanical issues forcing him to return to the garage.
Hamilton got within DRS range of Leclerc on lap 25, which Ferrari countered by pitting the car, giving the 8-time race winner the lead. Gasly was shown the black and orange flag the very next lap, and ultimately retired from the race with damage.
Sainz gave P2 to Leclerc following team orders on the 32nd lap of the Grand Prix as the Spaniard was hindering the faster Monegasque drivers pace. Hamilton remained in the lead at this point but had yet to make a stop.
This changed on lap 34, with a slow pit stop for Hamilton seeing him reemerge behind the Ferrari’s. This saw Leclerc retake the lead ahead of his teammate.
Ocon was another casualty of the race at this point, and brought out a safety car after a fuel pump failure brought him to a stop on the old pit straight on lap 39. Unfortunately for Leclerc, he had passed pit entry by this point and was unable to capitalise on the slow down to proceedings. Sainz and Hamilton both stopped for softs, as did Perez who had regained ground to sit 4th.
Leclerc lost the lead to Sainz on the restart, with Perez also taking the final podium spot off Hamilton. The Red Bull continued on to battle with Leclerc and both cars ran wide, allowing Hamilton to sneak through for second. This changed again a few corners later, with Perez forcing Hamilton wide allowing both cars to take back their positions.
Fernando Alonso and Norris, who had run quiet races until this point, arrived on the scene to create a five car battle for second through sixth position on the final few laps.
Sainz had pulled away during this battle, comfortably cruising at this point for his first win, ahead of Perez in 2nd and Hamilton in 3rd.
