Chaotic Sunday in Britain captured fans’ attention from start to finish.
SILVERSTONE, England—First, it was the best Friday practice, then it was pole position. On Sunday, Carlos Sainz Jr. made it a complete weekend. The Spaniard passed Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc with just a handful of laps to go in the British Grand Prix to win his first race in 150 attempts. In a wild battle for the next two positions, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took second just ahead of Mercedes Lewis Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz, Jr.: It’s amazing. First win, 150 races later, with Ferrari in Silverstone. I cannot ask for more. Lewis was on it I’ve heard, but we were able to stay on it, too. I struggled with the balance; it was not easy. But I stayed believing it could still happen. My very first race win (was here) in Formula 3, and 12 years later I get the same result in Formula One. It’s a special result for me.”
Sainz Jr. got off to a bad start as Series leader Max Verstappen took his Red Bull out in front. But the race was stopped when Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu struck Mercedes George Russell on the first turn, barrel-rolling into the gravel and ending up into the catch fence. Immediately seeing the danger of what just happened, Russell ran over to see if the Chinese driver was alright. Guanyu eventually was pulled from the car and taken to the hospital. He was soon released and returned to the circuit just laps from the finish.
But, unfortunately, Russell could not restart the race. It was the first time this season that the Briton failed to finish a race. The collision also caused others to retire on Sunday. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel struck Williams Alex Albon in the rear, putting the Thai driver out of the contest. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon damaged his right front in the melee, and Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was also impacted. Luckily, both could drive their cars back for repairs. Other retirements included the second Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas (engine issues) and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, who had damage on the opening lap incident and ended up colliding with Tsunoda.
When the race resumed after the lap 1 set of incidents, Sainz Jr. was able to hold off Verstappen for the lead. But after he passed Sainz Jr. on lap 11 at Becketts, the Dutchman began experiencing floor issues with his car, and that dropped him back tremendously. It was then Ferrari at 1-2, with Sainz Jr. now out in front and Leclerc in second. However, the battle between the Scuderia drivers gave Hamilton a chance to catch both. Leclerc was the faster of the two Ferraris, and the Monegasque took the lead when his Spanish teammate pitted.
Then, on lap 39, things changed when Ocon suddenly stopped his car at Woodcote after complaining of not being able to get out of gear, and that situation brought out the only safety car of the day. When the race restarted, it was Leclerc, Sainz Jr., and Hamilton in the top three. Sainz Jr. finally found his rhythm and passed Leclerc going down Hanger Straight, eventually widening his lead and getting the win.
But the battle for second was heating up. Perez got into the fight, moving up and catching Hamilton, and the two engaged in a fantastic battle. At that point, Leclerc, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, and McLaren’s Lando Norris were right behind them. With only a couple of laps left, the two-person battle subsided, and the final order of finish emerged. Perez, Hamilton, and Leclerc, who had dropped down the order after being passed by both, ended up second through fourth, with Alonso and Norris finishing fifth and sixth. Verstappen finished seventh, barely ahead of Haas F1’s Mick Schumacher, who took eighth and got his first points. Ninth went to Vettel, and Haas F1 scored double points with Kevin Magnussen in tenth.
The next race is scheduled this Sunday in the Styrian mountains of Austria. It will be Red Bull’s home race with television scheduled on the ESPN networks from Friday’s practices (ESPNU) through Sunday’s race (ESPN2).
