BRITISH GP – Carlos Sainz takes a maiden win after fending off Sergio Perez despite more questionable decisions by Ferrari
Carlos Sainz has taken his maiden win after fending off Sergio Perez after overtaking the Red Bull driver with ten laps to go to win the British Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver overtook is teammate Charles Leclerc with ten laps to go following heated discussions about strategy, in the closing stages of the race.
On the restart on lap-forty-two Sainz was able to stay with his teammate Leclerc with the team deciding to allow them to race in the closing laps of the race. As Leclerc made the restart, Sainz was able to stay with his teammate and made the move at the end of the Wellington Straight before making the move stick at Brooklands. Sainz was then able to open almost a four-second lead over Sergio Perez.
The race was suspended on the opening lap following a five-car crash at Abbey with the Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou flipped and rolled into the gravel. The accident also saw the Mercedes of George Russell hit off, but despite the Englishman trying to recover the car there was no way he could re-join the race, along with Alex Albon.
Zhou was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks and was released before the end of the race. While Albon was flown to Coventry Hospital for precautionary checks after he was involved in a separate accident, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel punted him into the pit wall.
Ferrari, although they took victory made questionable decisions about whether to release Leclerc, but he was told they were racing. The team finally swapped the positions, allowing the Monacan to set a series of fastest laps as he pulled away in the lead.
Lewis Hamilton finished third the Mercedes driver showing a big step forwards for the team, looking in contention all weekend but during the ten lap sprint for the podium following the final lap.
With Leclerc stuck behind Sainz, the Mercedes took advantage of the Ferrari’s pit stops to extended the stint. Hamilton stopped with 20 laps remaining and seemed in great position to hunt down the Ferraris.
However, hopes of a record ninth win at Silverstone disappeared when Hamilton lost out to Perez at the restart, while the Ferrari’s sailed off. But for Hamilton, it was still his equal best result of the season.
As Leclerc made a mistake through Luffield the Ferrari slide wide allowing Perez and Hamilton to close up and overtake Leclerc in the closing stages of the race. Leclerc had been frustrated by Ferrari’s strategy throughout the race and team boss Mattia Binotto was seen having a stern word with him afterwards, although both tried to play the encounter down.
Fernando Alonso brought his Alpine home fifth continuing the team’s consistent run of results finishing a second behind Leclerc. The Spaniard again showed the car is a strong midfield car as he finished two seconds ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
In the opening laps, Verstappen got the better start taking the lead before the start was abandoned because of the crash. The grid reset for the second start, Sainz appeared to learn from his mistake, with him retaking the lead from Verstappen. The dual continued as Verstappen was re-overtaken by Sainz before pitting, though it then became apparent he had fundamental car damage and eventually did well just to finish the race, let alone score points.
Mick Schumacher scored his first points finishing eighth three seconds behind the Dutchman. Schumacher managed to challenge the Red Bull driver, he attempted to overtake the champion on the final lap. As they approached the final corner, he attempted a bold move at Club before backing out to score his first points in F1.
That decision allowed the German to finish ahead of his mentor Sebastian Vettel, who split the two Haas’s finishing ahead of Kevin Magnussen by two seconds as they rounded out the points.
Lance Stroll brought his Aston Martin home eleventh finishing ahead , of Nicholas Latifi and Daniel Ricciardo. They were the final finishers from what was a dramatic race.
Pierre Gasly was forced to retire after contact with his Alpha Tauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The Frenchman was spun around Tsunoda lost the rear pitching him into a spin and that earned his teammate a five-second time penalty.
Related
- British GP – Qualifying Result
- BRITISH GP – Carlos Sainz Takes Maiden Pole Beating Max Verstappen By Seven Hundredths In Changeable Conditions
- BRITISH GP – Carlos Sainz Tops Second Practice Going A Tenth And A Half Faster Than Lewis Hamilton
- BRITISH GP – Valtteri Bottas fastest in wet first practice half a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton
- F1 Today – British Prixview – 30/06/2022
- PRIXVIEW – British Grand Prix
