Friday...
FP1:
Usually the drivers have 3 hours to perfect their laps for qualifying but with the new sprint format that is reduced to two sessions, one before qualifying and one before the sprint race. But with 90,000 fans in the stands, there were mixtures of papaya, navy, red and silver - there was plenty to do on this Friday FP1 session.
This weekend the C3, C2 and C1 tyres were brought out for the tyre killing tarmac - after seeing the tyre blow-outs last year the tyres had a stronger construction to keep the drivers safe which were tested in Austria and given the green light to be used.
Speaking of green lights, the session opened rather uneventfully- all drivers rushed out on track however for some fast laps. Luckily for the drivers, the track limits were not too much of an issue, the only corners being monitored the exit of Copse and Stowe with only a few times being deleted during the session.
During the session, Carlos Sainz had cold tyres and brakes and went for a spin and got him to face the wrong way- luckily he was able to limp back to the pits with flat spotted tyres and finished the session P6.
If you’re superstitious George is in for 7 years of bad luck as he ran over some kerbs rather aggressively and cracked his left mirror.
Fernando Alonso complained of understeer in “random” places on the track which was affecting his performance.
It is not unusual to see Max Verstappen topping the timing sheets but what was unusual was Lando Norris managing to finish second in the session on the mediums, while all other times were on softs. Max however was in a league of his own, ending the session nearly 8 tenths ahead of second place.
Q1:
We entered uncharted territory this weekend with the new sprint race format - with qualifying being on a Friday to set the grid for the sprint race.
A rather uneventful Q1, with no incidents and all drivers managing to get at least one time on the board, but the last minute or so did provide some high speed drama.
The checkered flag fell as George Russell crossed the line, and all eyes were on the Brit as he had ended FP1 last in his Williams. The question still remained- could we see George in Q2 or perhaps even Q3? His time was a very respectable 1.27.671, and as others crossed the line though he would get closer and closer to the elimination zone, luckily for George he managed to scrape through to Q2 in 14th ahead of Lance Stroll.
Another one getting nervous about the elimination zone was Yuki Tsunoda, however the Alpha Tauri cars were not exactly having a standout weekend. It got to the point where if Yuki didn’t improve, he would be eliminated. The latter happened with Yuki remaining P16 and unfortunately being on the verge of Q2 by 0.026 seconds, a disappointing start to the weekend for the young Japanese driver- but he had a chance to claw places back in the sprint.
The other eliminated were the usual Q1 suspects - P17 was Kimi Raikkonen, P18 was Nicholas Latifi, P19 Mick Schumacher and P20 was Nikita Mazepin.
Q2:
The British fans roared for Lewis as he crossed the line in P1- 4 tenths ahead of Max who was still out on track, the fans hoping for a sprint race pole position for Lewis.
At the checkered flag Pierre Gasly was very much in danger, crossing the line in P10 - on the verge of Q3. Lando Norris crossed the line just after Gasly and remained P9 but eventually Gasly was knocked out by Fernando Alonso.
All eyes were on George Russell though, with the former Formula One driver and Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle shouting in disbelief “look at Russell!” As George crossed the line and solidified his place in Q3, shooting up the order to P7- we thought the cheers for Hamilton were loud, however it reached a new level after George crossed the line, the crowd went wild for the young Brit. His second appearance in Q3 for Williams and he and the Williams team were absolutely delighted.
Our knocked out drivers were: P11 for Fernando Alonso, P12 for Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon in P13, P14 for Antonio Giovinazzi, and Lance Stroll in P15.
Q3:
If you could nail this lap, the sprint race pole was yours and the new “Pirelli Speed King” award would be handed to you.
It all came down to the last flying lap. Max and Lewis were trading fastest sectors all session but where it mattered was the final laps of Q3- the checkered flag had fallen and Lewis had the advantage. Lewis came out first for his last lap, purple first sector, purple middle sector and Max was 2 tenths down in sector one- it was seemingly going to be a perfect start for the British driver at his home Grand Prix. Yet as he came out of the Vale chicane the rear completely stepped out into a slide, leading to a steering correction and losing him a couple of tenths as he crossed the line- not improving on his previous time. It was all down to Max Verstappen, being a few hundreds of a second down on Lewis.
Max breezed through Vale and onto the Hamilton Straight giving it everything he had. In the end, Lewis managed to cling on by 0.075 seconds, a disgruntled Max having to settle for second after a run of pole positions.
Apart from our top two, there were notable performances, namely from George Russell and Charles Leclerc, lining up P8 and P4 respectively.
The top 10 would consist of: Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel.
“I was hoping that I could do my part in bringing something positive… what a fantastic way to end the day.” - Lewis Hamilton
“I feel like I was always a little bit down comparing to Daniel this quali, but I managed to put it all together for Q3 and that one lap that mattered.” - Lando Norris
“Damon Hill told me the crowd’s worth a second, I thought he was lying but maybe he was right!” - George Russell
Saturday...
FP2:
No we haven’t formatted this wrong, FP2 did come after qualifying- the session was definitely a quiet one for the fans but definitely a lot of learning for the teams, high fuel loads and medium and hard tyres being predominantly used.
As with FP1 Max topped the timing sheets, but unusually the two Ferraris lined up behind him. Charles Leclerc ended the session 2 tenths ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz. The Mercedes were turning heads for all the wrong reasons with Lewis Hamilton ending the session in P8 and his teammate right behind him in P9 - however these times were race runs and likely not representative of actual race pace.
Ocon has been having some issues recently, ending with no points in either Austria race and having been knocked out in Q1 twice- he needed a good weekend in Britain, especially with strong performances which are only improving from teammate Fernando Alonso. With a new chassis and some small changes, Ocon had a great session ending in P4 a couple of tenths astray of Sainz, hopefully he could convert this into good race pace and bag himself some much needed points.
But this was practice. Onto the sprint race, where one small mistake could ruin your weekend and give the advantage to your rivals.
Sprint Qualifying:
Lewis Hamilton set himself up well on Friday for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying, though Bottas as his immediate rival may have been a much more reassuring thought. Instead, he would have the championship leader and rival Max Verstappen those few metres behind but beside him. The crowd were certainly behind the British driver who had an astonishing record at his home circuit- 7 wins at the time, one of which came from the two Grand Prix events in 2020. Pole position was a supportive factor in his 2020 win, whilst in the next race (the 70th anniversary Grand Prix) teammate Bottas took pole and the two Mercedes drivers ultimately lost out to their Dutch competitor who had lined up fourth on the grid behind a stunning Nico Hulkenberg.
With the competition closer than ever this year, Lewis and Mercedes would see the first sprint qualifying of the year as crucial. Not only would the winner assume pole position on the Sunday, but they would also earn three additional championship points (whilst second and third would receive two and one respectively). Mercedes would also target a front-row lock-out in order to give Hamilton the best chance on Sunday if Bottas were to be used as a defensive buffer. Taking into consideration that Red Bull were leading the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship, the reigning champions knew that every point and position would count.
Hot weather seemingly made the mediums the more appealing tyre, but Mercedes took a gamble- or perhaps a measured risk- when they gave Bottas the soft tyre alongside only three other drivers: Alonso, Ocon and Raikkonen. A good start for Bottas might have given him the opportunity to displace Verstappen in the first few laps and allow Hamilton to extend a comfortable lead, whilst also providing the best start for Mercedes on Sunday with a full front row.
Away from Hamilton, there was plenty of support for Lando Norris and George Russell. The Williams man could now be known as Mr Friday as well as Saturday, after making Q3 once again but on this occasion at his home circuit in front of his home crowd. Whilst Russell was eager to fight the cars around him, Norris may have been briefed to take a more conservative approach, especially with his teammate Daniel Ricciardo immediately behind.
Once the formation lap was complete and everyone had resumed their grid positions, the five red lights came on to commence the first sprint qualifying of the season. There was a brief moment of drama and even foreshadowing before the start when cameras cut to Verstappen with flames flying from the front left of his car- but that didn’t hinder the Dutchman. It was evident almost immediately that Max had a stronger launch and was alongside Lewis Hamilton on the straight, snatching the lead pretty quickly. In front of his home crowd, Hamilton refused to give up that easily, and there was a tight battle through Brooklands and Luffield though Verstappen emerged triumphant. Behind, the first lap 1 incident was minor as the two Haas cars touched and Mazepin spun, prompting the momentary wave of yellow flags. Yet further up the field Russell and Sainz also had contact at Turn 6 which provoked Sainz into a trip across some grass to cut the corner. Russell would unfortunately lose two places on lap 1 of his home Grand Prix- not the start everyone dreamed of. The star of the first lap would make up six places: Fernando Alonso in his Alpine on the soft compound. However there was much doubt he could hold onto his ascension to fifth place when the pace of his car, tyres, and that of those around him were taken into account.
Regardless, the Spaniard would put up a valiant fight ahead of Lando Norris in his McLaren who eventually succeeded in passing on lap 6 with an accurate dive into Turn 3. This battle wasn’t without controversy though- Alonso appeared to do some extravagant weaving on lap 4 and McLaren assured Lando that they had reported the driving to the race director. With a slower car and defence driven by determination, Alonso really backed the rest of the field up, and was lapping two seconds slower than Verstappen, Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc ahead.
The slowed pace didn’t make things safer at all- perhaps seeking an opportunity from behind, Perez committed to Maggotts and Becketts which ended with a spin into the grass on lap 5. When he returned to the track the only car behind him was Mazepin, who had come off worse from his lap 1 contact with teammate Schumacher. This would be far from ideal for Red Bull, who like always would be aiming for both cars at the front of the pack to provide Mercedes with strategy headaches.
The top four settled into the order of Verstappen, Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc, with the Ferrari waiting for an opportunity to present itself if Bottas’ soft tyres fell off. Leclerc’s teammate Sainz meanwhile was making a good recovery from his earlier incident with Russell, then being investigated. Carlos definitely took advantage of all the tyre degradation going on around him, with Raikkonen on the softs ahead of him, who he passed on lap 10. It wasn’t only the softs blistering as many of the medium runners found themselves managing their tyres as they began to reach the end of the sprint, such as Lando Norris.
At the front, Verstappen had a 3 second gap to Hamilton, something we are now beginning to be accustomed to. With a relatively comfortable safety net, the Dutch driver was instructed to avoid the curbs and get his Red Bull to the finish. Despite Hamilton eating into the gap which was 2.3 seconds on the final lap, which was more likely to be because of Verstappen’s instructions than an increase in Hamilton’s pace, Red Bull claimed another pole position. At the other end of the grid, Red Bull opted to retire Perez and the initial thoughts were because of damage. It later emerged through Christian Horner that it was “a tactical retirement”, and study this with Perez’s well-known tyre-management skills it looked like we would see a creative strategy from the team once again.
Mercedes had the option to be crafty on Sunday with both of their cars at the front and only one Red Bull. Then came Leclerc in the Ferrari, who later stated he had a lonely race, understandable by the large gap between him and the McLarens in fifth and sixth, who had a strong day overall. In their constructors’ battle with Ferrari, they certainly appeared better off with Sainz recovering to a decent P11. Williams could also be proud of their performance and look forward to Sunday. Although Russell went backwards from his starting position of P8, P9 could have given him another shot at points, and this time his target would be fuelled by a home crowd. However, he would be pushed down the order with a three-place penalty for his incident with Carlos Sainz.
That wasn’t it for the sprint! The circuit fashioned a laurel for the winner Max Verstappen, presented by Jenson Button, before the top three took a tour round the circuit on a vehicle. Though Hamilton was clearly happy to see the fans, his disappointment was visible, and at his home race he could be feistier than ever.
“I know that it was a sprint qualifying for you, but for me it was like a marathon...P5 was not our pace on track." - Fernando Alonso
"I think it's not so much us, we should go out and ask the people what they think. I think in the end we do this format in a way for them. Ask the people at home and ask the people in the stands if they liked it." - Sebastian Vettel
"It's not for us as drivers, it's for the fans, and it's the first time we've had all the fans back so if they've enjoyed it it's a tick in the box." - Lando Norris
Sunday...
The Race:
It was a blazingly hot Sunday afternoon, around 30°C, when 19 cars made their way to the grid. Sergio Perez had to retire his car on the Saturday in the sprint qualifying due to some issues and with those having been fixed, it forced him to start from the pitlane for Sunday’s race.
During the installation lap, Spanish driver Fernando Alonso lost control and ran off track. He managed to keep the engine running, but there was some damage to the diffuser. The Alpine engineers immediately started working on the car to make sure it was ready on time.
At exactly 15:00 GMT the 19 cars on the grid started the formation lap. Around 140,000 people, where amongst them were celebrities such as Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise, watched as the cars made their way around the track to line up for the start of the British Grand Prix.
After the first ever sprint qualifying on Saturday, Max Verstappen was able to line up on pole position, followed by Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the front row, and Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc behind them on the second row.
One by one the lights switched on, and then… It’s lights out and away we go!
All the drivers stepped on the gas, Perez joining the pack as they passed the pit lane exit. Both Verstappen and Hamilton had a great start, going almost side to side into the first corner. The Dutch driver was struggling to keep the lead, but managed to stay in front of the Brit as they went into Turn 2. Behind them, Leclerc had already passed Bottas, who again did not have a great start. Driving down Wellington Straight, Hamilton again placed his car next to the Red Bull. The Mercedes slightly got ahead of the Red Bull, but as Verstappen had the inside of the corner as they turned into Brooklands, he shot his car past Hamilton and managed to stay ahead. A slipstream helped the seven-time World Champion to stay right behind the Red Bull as they drove towards Copse Corner, the fastest corner on the circuit and one of the fastest in the world. Turning into Copse, Hamilton placed his car on the inside, in the gap Verstappen left. Verstappen, on the racing line, turned in following the perfect racing line for that speedy corner. Hamilton, who took a risk by taking a completely different line, missed the apex by 1.5 metres, had some oversteer, and the two cars made contact. His front left touched Verstappen’s rear right, causing the Red Bull to spin and the current championship leader clashed at 180mph into the barriers. A crash with an impact of, what we later learned, 51G.
Charles Leclerc found a way to pass the Mercedes of Hamilton, climbing to first place. But just a few seconds after the big crash of Verstappen, the red flag was waved and all cars returned to the pit lane.
After the crash, Verstappen climbed out of the car on his own. There were no visible injuries and, supported by the medical staff, he made his way into the ambulance that took him to the medical center. He did however look visibly shaken.
“He turned in on me man. I was giving that guy space.” - Lewis Hamilton
During the red flag and whilst the tyre stack was being repaired, the crash was the topic everybody was talking about. Everyone was discussing who was at fault, most saying it was Hamilton. His onboard radio right after the clash told us the Brit’s thoughts- Hamilton said that he was “ahead going in there man, fully alongside, that’s my line.” And he continued: “He turned in on me man. I was giving that guy space.”
Mercedes was prompt to defend Hamilton’s role in the crash, and Toto Wolff allegedly spammed FIA’s race director Michael Masi with several emails; when Wolff tried to bring this to Masi’s notice, he got badly trolled.
“I just sent you an email” - Toto Wolff
“I don’t access my emails during the race.” - Michael Masi
“I just sent you an email,” said Wolff to Masi. In response, Masi said: “I don’t access my emails during the race.” The reply by Masi initiated a wave of funny reactions by fans on social media. Wolff however kept insisting that Masi should read the email, as according to him something was wrong with the rules.
“Every driver that’s driven at this circuit knows that you do not stick a wheel up at the inside at Copse. And it was 100% Max’s corner.” - Christian Horner
Red Bull’s team leader Christian Horner also quickly got in contact with Masi, stating that every racing driver knows that Hamilton was never anywhere near alongside Verstappen, and that “every driver that’s driven at this circuit knows that you do not stick a wheel up at the inside at Copse. And it was 100% Max’s corner.” Full blame was laid on Hamilton, as Horner continued.
While the team principals were busy blaming the other team for the crash, the engineers worked on the cars to prepare them for the restart. Duct tape works miracles, something that was shown again by Mercedes. Hamilton’s car had considerable damage from the touché with Max Verstappen. "The rim was badly damaged at the point of contact," technical director Andrew Shovlin told Autosport.com. According to Mercedes, the British driver wouldn’t have been able to finish the race if it had not been stopped. The engineers worked their magic on the car and, with help of some duct tape, car number 44 was ready to race again when the FIA announced that they would restart the session.
Still awaiting the result of the investigation, and with everybody speculating on what the penalty would be, the cars followed the Safety car on track. After another formation lap, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc placed his car in pole position, in front of Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris.
For a second time that day the drivers lined up on the grid, and then…
It’s lights out and away we go… again.
The 19 remaining drivers fought their way through the restart, contending for the best possible position. Leclerc managed to stay in front of Hamilton, therefore still leading the race. Bottas saw Norris pass by and had to settle in fourth position when going into the first corner. Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso battled for fifth place during the first moments after the restart. Ricciardo managed to stay ahead of the Spanish driver and tried to overtake Bottas by taking the inside in the third corner. Bottas defended his position well, forcing Ricciardo to stay in fifth.
Alonso then had to defend his position to Sebastian Vettel, who decided to take the outside in Luffield. Vettel accelerated a bit too early, spun and fell back to the rear of the field.
The Alpine of Alonso made his way past Ricciardo’s McLaren, but immediately gave back the position as the Spaniard went wide in the corner when overtaking Ricciardo.
On lap 7 the FIA announced the penalty that Lewis Hamilton would receive for the crash with Verstappen: a ten second time penalty for causing a collision. The penalty had to be served during the next pit stop, forcing the strategists of Mercedes to do a lot of maths and calculate when it would be best to bring the Brit in.
The crowd were unsurprisingly vocal in expressing their displeasure as boos echoed round the circuit. Horner was fuming at the decision, describing the punishment as “light”, the incident a “professional foul” and scathing in his condemnation of Hamilton for putting another driver’s life at risk afterwards.
Amongst journalists and on social media the topic of discussion switched from “who was at fault” to “is this a fair penalty?”
Many people argued that it was not heavy enough, saying that a ten second stop-and-go penalty would be more suitable. Others even pleaded for disqualification of the Brit, Helmut Marko amongst them.
Unfortunately all of the discussions in the media are useless in this case. The FIA had decided and according to them, the ten seconds time penalty was enough. They later stated that penalties were chosen to fit the severity of the incident, not the severity of the result, something Red Bull were keen to press.
“Max is okay." - Jos Verstappen
Right around the time the penalty was announced, the Dutch television crew caught Jos Verstappen near the Red Bull hospitality, and asked him for an update. “Max is okay,” Jos said, explaining that they would take his son to the hospital for a CT scan, but that he was doing well under the circumstances.
Focusing back on the race itself, Leclerc was surprisingly still leading the race with 45 laps to go. Hamilton was closing in on him, taking fastest lap. A bit further down the field Perez made his way through the field on hards, and was on lap 10 already in P12.
On lap 15 a panicked Leclerc told his engineer over the board radio that his engine had stopped, but then started working again. The Ferrari engineers had already spotted the problem and told the driver to change some of the engine settings. Leclerc was told that with those setting fixes everything should be fine again. Two laps later the same issue happened again, and Leclerc shouted frustratedly at his engineers, as he saw Hamilton closing in even more.
In that same lap Pierre Gasly received a black and white flag, an official warning for going over the track limits too many times.
The first drivers came into the pits, and on lap 22 it was Norris’ turn. The McLaren team had a set of hards ready for the young British driver, but struggled to get the right rear tyre on. After three tries the car was cleared and Norris made his way back to the track after a pit stop of 6 seconds.
As a reply on this failed pit stop, Mercedes called in Bottas. It had to be a perfect pit stop, in order to overtake the Brit. The Mercedes pit crew did as told, and after a perfect pit stop, Bottas joined the track again in P5, right before Lando Norris.
Leclerc created a 4 second-gap between him and Hamilton, and informed his team that his tyres were still doing pretty good.
Hamilton complained about his front left tyre, and almost immediately after that went into the pits. He served his ten second penalty, and after a 14.2 second stop, made his way back. He joined the track again in fifth position, after Leclerc, Sainz, Bottas and Norris.
If it was up to the people in the Ferrari garage, the race would have ended in that same lap, as they saw both cars running ahead of everybody else.
Unfortunately for them, that lead didn’t last long, as both drivers still had to pit.
On lap 29 Sainz pitted, and rejoined the track in P6 after a long pitstop (12.3 seconds). Immediately after, Leclerc dove into the pits. Luckily for the Monegasque, the pit stop was a lot more successful than his teammate’s stop, and after only 2.6 seconds Leclerc was on his way to the track again. He rejoined the race in P1, maintaining the lead of the race!
Hamilton, in P4, closed in on Norris in lap 31 and right before going into Copse Corner, Lewis placed his car next to Lando’s. Everybody held their breath as they witnessed Lewis commit to the same move as he did with Max earlier on. Luckily, Norris gave the Mercedes driver plenty of space and Hamilton was well ahead of the McLaren going into Copse.
In the midfield, Sergio Perez had already made his way into P8, but was called in for a second pit stop and fell back to P17.
Gasly received another warning for not respecting the track limits, and his engineer on the radio told the French driver to stay within the lines.
Sainz and Ricciardo battled for fifth place, as Norris was told that Bottas (still in P2, before Hamilton) was struggling with his tyres and that a P3 finish was within reach for the McLaren driver on a roll.
As the temperature rose to 30°C in Silverstone, Bottas complained over his radio that he wouldn’t make it to the end of the race if he had to keep up his pace.
Hamilton in the other Mercedes was still the fastest man on track, making his way round the track in 1:30 minutes, where all the others drove laps of 1:32.
He easily closed the gap to Bottas, who received the message to not fight Lewis and “invert the cars into turn 15” of lap 40. Bottas made way and saw Hamilton fly by into P2.
On lap 41, Sebastian Vettel had to retire his car because of an issue that was most likely caused by his spin earlier on. He was the first driver to retire after the restart.
With only 11 laps to go, the statistics showed that Hamilton would be on Leclerc’s tail within 9 laps, giving the Brit 3 laps to make a move on the Ferrari driver, if the statistics were correct. Still noting down lap times of 1:30, Hamilton gave everything to get on that highest place on the podium.
The Ferrari engineer told Leclerc to switch to “mode race to push to the end”, hoping that they would be the first car to see the checkered flag.
Hamilton increased his speed to a lap time of 1:29, and saw the gap to Leclerc shrink to 3 seconds by lap 46.
A bit further down the field, Räikkönen and Perez touched, causing the Alfa Romeo to spin. Räikkönen rejoined the track and was able to continue the race.
Gasly had a puncture which forced him into the pits again to switch to new tyres.
By lap 48, the gap between the number one and two in the race was only 1.7 seconds, and in the following lap, Hamilton was in DRS-distance of Leclerc.
That same lap, Perez was called into the pits. Many thought it was because of an issue with the car, but later it turned out that he pitted for a set of softs. Red Bull sent him out again, trying to get the fastest lap on his name. And so he did, on lap 51 Perez put the fastest lap on his name, taking away that point from Hamilton. He wouldn’t get any points himself, but later on in the Championship this might be a crucial point that was now taken away from the Mercedes driver.
As the statistics had predicted, Lewis Hamilton was indeed on Leclerc’s tail in lap 50 coming out of Turn 8. Driving towards Copse Corner, Hamilton was looking for a gap and he placed his car alongside the Ferrari. For the third time in this race Hamilton used the same move in the same corner to try and overtake the car in front of him.
Leclerc had to run slightly wide to avoid another collision. He was in front of the Mercedes turning into the corner, but went off track after oversteering when going over the curbstones. He quickly rejoined the track, but Hamilton had a good exit of Copse Corner and saw the Ferrari now in his mirrors.
The British fans on the grandstands went crazy as they saw the British World Champion take over the lead. With only two laps to go, Hamilton sped towards the finish line and was, after 52 laps, the first one to see the checkered flag. Leclerc didn’t stand a chance to keep up with the Brit, and had to settle in second. Then followed Bottas in third, Norris in fourth, and Ricciardo in fifth- his best result with McLaren so far.
"Lewis, we never give up. This season is far from over." - Toto Wolff
Hamilton showed his excitement and happiness on the board radio, as did Toto Wolff. "Lewis, we never give up. This season is far from over," Wolff told Hamilton on the radio. "That's damn true. Let's go for it!" Hamilton replied.
Lewis picked up a Union Jack and held it above his car as he made a lap of honour, getting as close as he could to the fans in the grandstands.
“This means so much to me,” an emotional Hamilton said over the radio. He took his time to celebrate, running towards his fans after parking the car. Knowing that he could not hold up the podium ceremony for too long, he ran back towards the podium.
“Max is very aggressive...I was completely next to him and he didn't give me enough space." - Lewis Hamilton
In the interview held right before the podium ceremony, Hamilton said that he did not feel guilty about his crash with Verstappen.
“Max is very aggressive," he said, "I was completely next to him and he didn't give me enough space."
"It is very difficult to enjoy this result 100 percent...I gave not 100, but 200 percent today. I gave everything, but it just wasn't in it. My congratulations are to Lewis, he did a great job today." - Charles Leclerc
"It is very difficult to enjoy this result 100 percent," said Charles Leclerc, who lost his lead to Hamilton two laps before the end. "I gave not 100, but 200 percent today. I gave everything, but it just wasn't in it. My congratulations are to Lewis, he did a great job today."
Stepping for the 99th time on that highest podium step, Hamilton celebrated extensively. His team, family and his guest Tom Cruise joined the festivities. While his fans celebrated on the grandstands and in the fan zone of Silverstone circuit, the Verstappen fans -and everybody who disagreed with the penalty- let their frustration out. I’m sure that many chats and social media accounts are full of opinions on how light that penalty was and that Hamilton did not deserve to win the British GP.
“[Lewis] was completely alongside – obviously he misses the apex slightly and moves into Max, but Max also keeps turning in, and he’s taking a huge risk doing that at Copse Corner....It’s a tough one, a really tough one. I could have seen it as a racing incident, both racing each other so hard.” - Jolyon Palmer former Renault F1 driver
Even amongst the experts, and former and current drivers the opinions are mixed.
Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver says: “[Lewis] was completely alongside – obviously he misses the apex slightly and moves into Max, but Max also keeps turning in, and he’s taking a huge risk doing that at Copse Corner.
“It’s a tough one, a really tough one. I could have seen it as a racing incident, both racing each other so hard.”
Charles Leclerc, the driver that was on the front row when the collision happened, also thinks it’s a racing incident and that it’s very difficult to put the blame on only one person.
Fernando Alonso states that Hamilton couldn’t just disappear, “It looked quite close, Lewis had more than half a car alongside Max.” he said.
“So, in a way, Lewis could not disappear from the inside line, it’s not that you can vanish. It was an unfortunate moment of the race, but nothing intentional or nothing that any of the two drivers did wrong in my opinion.”
The McLaren drivers leant a bit towards the “Lewis is to blame”-side, although they don’t explicitly say that.
“Going to the inside there is a very difficult thing to do, especially because when you come in at such a high speed on the inside it is such a tight angle. It is easy to do it, Lewis did and understeer. I guess he misjudged it a little bit. It is racing. I don’t know, I don’t want to say anything.” Lando Norris said in an interview afterwards.
His teammate Daniel Ricciardo was a bit more outspoken, but still politically correct: “Ultimately Lewis went in too hot for the given level of grip and that’s where you see he just drifted up into Max. Completely unintentional, but just the nature of the aero on these cars and you just have to allow a little more, but I’m certainly not going to sit here and judge and say he should have done that or that.”
Hamilton himself of course stayed with his initial statement that he was not 100% to blame for this crash. In an interview with Dutch television, the British driver said he felt sorry to hear that Max was taken to the hospital, that his thoughts are with the Dutchman and that that was not something he wanted to happen. But they were both racing and not giving in, as he continues, and such incidents then can happen. Upon the question of what he thought of the penalty, he answered that he just had to accept it, and get on with his job.
And we all know that ended...
“Wauwww Mercedes. What a picture. And the other driver is in the hospital.” - Jos Verstappen on twitter
“Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on”. - Max Verstappen
After all the discussions during the red flag, the mud-slinging continued on Social Media.
The Mercedes team posted a photo of a celebrating Lewis Hamilton on Twitter, on which Jos Verstappen replied “Wauwww Mercedes. What a picture. And the other driver is in the hospital.”
On his socials, Max uploaded a picture of himself climbing out of his car after the crash. The caption reads:
“Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on”. He then unfollowed Hamilton on Instagram.
Later that evening the Dutchman shared a selfie in which he was smiling next to his father on his social media channels, saying “Cleared from the hospital after all the checks were ok.” He thanks everyone for all the get well messages.
In a statement, Red Bull confirmed that the driver was indeed released from the hospital without any major injuries. They don’t talk about any minor injuries Verstappen has, but looking back at the crash and the 51G impact, he will most likely have several bruises and will need a lot of physiotherapy the coming days to get back into shape for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Monday morning, the day after the crash, it was still the main topic in all media related to F1.
The “who is to blame” and mud-slinging between the teams was widely discussed, until Mercedes uploaded a statement. After winning the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was subjected to racist abuse online. Facebook confirmed that it had removed a number of abusive comments on Instagram.
Formula 1, the FIA and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team have therefore come up with a joint statement.
"During and after yesterday's British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was subjected to multiple incidents of racism, as a result of a crash during the race. Formula 1, the FIA and Mercedes condemn this behavior in the strongest possible terms," it said.
“These people have no place in our sport and we urge that those responsible should be held accountable for their actions.
“Formula 1, the FIA, the drivers and the teams are working towards a more diverse and inclusive sport, and such unacceptable cases of online abuse should be discussed and eliminated."
Shortly after uploading the statement, other teams stood by Mercedes’ side to form one front against racism.
Red Bull Racing uploaded a statement to it’s socials, distancing itself from the abusive comments and emphasizing that this behavior will not be tolerated.
“While we may be fierce rivals on-track, we are all united against racism. We condemn racist abuse of any kind towards our team, our competitors and our fans.
“As a team we are disgusted and saddened to witness the racist abuse Lewis endured yesterday on social media after the collision with Max.
“There is never any excuse for it, there is certainly no place for it in our sport and those responsible should be held accountable,” the statement reads.
Similar statements followed from Honda Racing, McLaren and Aston Martin.
As the only black F1 driver, Hamilton has been fighting against racism for a long time. These racist comments must have been extra harsh, as he and the Hamilton Commission published a report earlier on that week, advocating for more diversity in the sport and providing several recommendations from the roots of motorsport upwards.
A lot has happened during the British Grand Prix. The first sprint qualifying in Formula One, a different planning for the whole weekend and a spectacular race on Sunday, followed by a lot of discussions. Draw up your own conclusions on the success (or not) of the new format, on who was to blame for the collision, if celebrations were fair and if the penalty was too light or not.
This Grand Prix will go into the books as an interesting one, a weekend that won’t be forgotten any time soon.
With the Verstappen-Hamilton battle added to the list of illustrious title fights, we will start counting down for the next race weekend. In Hungary we might see how Hamilton closes the 8 point gap in the championship standings, or maybe Verstappen will get his revanche on track and we'll see that 8 point gap grow again. That, we hope, will arrive with the Hungarian Grand Prix in two weeks.
Komentáře