Formula 1 - British GP in Silverstone - Horrific Crash & Insane Racing!

After being sick for a week I am happy being back again! And what better way is there, to start off again, rather than with one of the most classic Formula One races out there? The British Grand Prix of Silverstone is the oldest one in the F1 calendar and has a lot of tradition buried in it! It is the home of British motor racing and was in the past one of the most spectacular race tracks in the season. Who doesn’t remember the big 50g crash of Max Verstappen last year or the very controversial win of Michael Schuhmacher in the pitstops back in his Ferrari days?

This time around we have very interesting storylines to look at. Going into this race the reigning World Champion Max Verstappen has a comfortable lead. His contenders: Sergio Perez (Red Bull as well) and Charles Leclerc are trying to minimize the gap. While Lewis Hamilton, George Russel and Carlos Sainz are trying their best to get back into the championship. It will be a home race for the British drivers Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and George Russel who will try their absolute best to get a podium in this race. Furthermore, we are expecting more drama in the midfield teams and it will also be interesting how the teams will react the new rule changes regarding the porposing.

All in all, the British weather will have its role on this weekend again, and I am very excited to see how this classic race will unfold itself!

Qualifying – Sainz & Latifi Surprises All

Moving into qualifying, the British weather striked again! It was very rainy and accordingly very difficult to drive. One of the highlights was definitely Max’s 360 spin, which he played off as “heating up the tires”. For the teams of Aston Martin and Hass, it was again a very disappointing qualifying. Both teams were out in Q1. The biggest surprise of Q1 and Q2 was Nicolas Latifi! The Canadian driver in the Williams was able to get himself into Q3 which is his first appearance there in this season. Not only that, but he is yet to score some points for his team which will make his final placement in P10 a good starting point.

The next big surprise that we need to talk about is Carlos Sainz. It seems like he finally put away his respect towards Charles Leclerc away and is ready to drive for himself. Already in the Canadian Grand Prix he showed his talent and secured himself a podium and was able to secure himself the pole position in this race! He will be starting from P1 in front of Max Verstappen in P2 followed by Charles in P3 and Perez in P4. Now we have to admit, that he only got the pole position because Verstappen had to slow down because of a yellow flag. But this fact will not be important in the race and it will be interesting to see whether Carlos will manage to defend his P1 from the start.

In their home race, Hamilton, Russel and Norris will start from P5, P8 and P6. It will be an interesting fight for the crown of Britain, but I think everyone would agree that Lewis Hamilton will do anything to underline his last years dominance. In my opinion his car is doing small imporvments, giving him increasing chances to fight for at least podiums again. It will be also interesting to see whether Mr. Consistency George Russel will be able to finish in the top 5 yet again or whether his streak will end in his home race.

The Race – Horrific Crash & Top Tear Racing!

This race will be remembered, that is for sure. It all started in lap one turn one. The thrilling start had everything! Verstappen started on soft tires and overtook Sainz, Hamilton was able to sneak into P3 but all of this was overshadowed by a horrific crash! The Chinese Alfa Romeo driver Zhou collided with George Russel. This collision lead to the Alfa car spinning in the air and sliding on its roof. After crossing the gravel it even spined again and flew over the barriers into the safety fence. The red flag was immediately waved and the race had to be stopped after the first turn. Fortunately, all drivers that were involved in the incident were healthy! Unfortunately for the winners of this start, the gained positions were obsolete because the red flags were waved so soon after the start.

The new start had the same positions. The difference now was that we had three drivers less and a new chance for Carlos Sainz to defend his pole position. The new start was as equally tense as the first one. Both Ferraris and Red Bulls were fighting for P1. Carlos managed to stay ahead while Perez lost parts of his front wing and had to pit. After a few laps, Sainz made a mistake and lost his position to Verstappen but shortly after reported a puncture and went into the pits. The problem with this was that Verstappen did not have a puncture but a problem with this rear floor. This will ultimately cost him the race and he was out of the podium battles! This left us with both Ferraris in P1 & 2 followed by a very strong and motivated Lewis Hamitlon in P3.

This now put Ferrari in a very difficult situation. From Lap 18 on Carlos started to lose his pace. Charles wanted to overtake but was not allowed to while Lewis Hamilton was catching up. His initial 5 seconds gap was down at around 1.5 second by the end of lap 24! During the whole time Leclerc tried to make clear that he is clearly faster, and he was to be honest. After lap 24 Ferrari decided to pit Carlos, giving Charles the chance to prove himself. Unfortunately, it did not work as planned because he lost too much time on Carlos braking him down. Lewis was too close and so Leclerc had to go into the pits one lap later. This meant that Hamilton was now leading his home Grand Prix!

A few laps later, the Ferrari swap finally took place. The team finally realized that if they want to win the race, they had to switch the drivers, which they ultimately did. In Lap 34 Hamilton pitted and so the positions were now: Leclerc P1, Carlos P2 and Hamilton P3. In the meantime Verstappen has fallen back to P9 and Perez was sitting in P6.

The real game changer happened then in Lap 39. Ocon had troubles with his car and had to leave it on the start-stop straight. This inevitably meant a Safety Car and lots of cheap pit stops. Every driver went into the pits, other than Leclerc. It was probably the single worst mistake that Ferrari could have done and is not understandably to me, why they would not pit their number one driver. With this being said, the restart in lap 43 had following set up: Leclerc was sitting like a lame duck in P1 with his old hard tires. Carlos, Lewis, Perez, Norris and Alonso had all soft tires and were ready to attack! The next few laps were the most exciting racing laps I have ever seen in the past few seasons! Perez attacked Hamilton while he was attacking both Ferraris. In the meantime Norris and Alonso tried to squeeze trough as well. After countless overtakes, attacks and counters Carlos managed to get into P1, followed by Perez in P2. The third place went to the fighting Brit Lewis Hamilton followed by the disappointed and angry Charles Leclerc. He really missed a chance here to get back into the World Championship and has every right to blame his team for this once again.

Closing Thoughts

I am very excited for Carlos Sainz as he managed to get his first win in his 150th race! Of course it was only possible due to several poor decisions from Ferrari’s side but in a few year nobody will care about that! Furthermore, Mick Schumacher managed to score his first Formula One points which should now definitely relieve some pressure from him.

The battle for the British crown went without a doubt to Lewis Hamilton while the championship battle is now getting tighter once again. Perez manages to come closer to his teammate Max Verstappen and Hamilton as well as Carlos are now in striking distance to P3. Charles managed to close some distance towards Max but his anger and disappointment will be bigger because there was certainly more in for him on this day.

This championship is far from over and I am very curious to see how Ferrari will handle his fuming number one driver. It is also very great to see that Mercedes managed to get onto the podiums for a consecutive second time! I am very excited to see the teams on the next Sunday in Austria when Red Bull will have its home race!

Published by ga38jem on
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On 3rd July 2022