F1 || Race 10 || Great Britain Review
Racing was a bit different this weekend with Formula 1 trialling a new race weekend format. It's fair to say that Friday's have never gained my attention but this week it did with the traditional qualifying moving to late afternoon which would set the grid for Saturday. This move allowed an additional sprint race (of 17 laps) to happen on Saturday which would set the grid for the main event on Sunday. This new format also adds an opportunity for drivers to gain a few extra points with Saturday's Sprint Race awarding 3 points to the winner, 2 points to 2nd place and 1 point to 3rd.
Qualifying
Friday was another close affair with Verstappen and Hamilton typically fighting for Pole Position - Hamilton winning this weekend's battle by 0.075s with Bottas taking 3rd and Leclerc in 4th.
The Sprint Race
The Sprint Race got off to an absolute flyer - Verstappen getting a much better start and taking the lead before the 1st corner. With Hamilton all over the back of Verstappen, the Dutchman defended aggressively and ended up leading the race and winning comfortably from the Brit.
Further back, Alonso also got off to a flyer and found himself as high as 5th (before finishing 7th). Carlos Sainz had an unfortunate coming together with George Russell to drop the Spaniard back to 18th (and then recovering to 11th), also earning the Brit a 3 place grid penalty.
Perez was the biggest loser on the day though, spinning his Red Bull and deciding to retire the car meaning he'd start in the pit-lane. This gave him the benefit of being the only car allowed to change its set up before the main race but the obvious disadvantage of starting after everybody else.
The Grand Prix
If Saturday provided drama, it was nothing compared to what would come on Sunday. With Verstappen and Hamilton starting on the front row, they fought from the 1st corner. Verstappen defended even more aggressively than the Saturday, giving absolutely nothing away. Which in my opinion proved his downfall. Hamilton managed to get up alongside Verstappen going into Copse Corner and knowing that Verstappen wouldn't yield (and knowing this was his best chance of forcing a move) backed out a bit , but not fully. Verstappen inevitably cut across Hamilton who'd left a front wheel in which burst Verstappen's rear tyre and sent him flying into the wall. It was a crash that seemed inevitable to me - the stewards (and most drivers and commentators) deeming it Hamilton's fault, earning him a 10 second penalty. Charles Leclerc took the opportunity to overtake them both and take the lead before the red flag came out.
If the start of the race gave us the explosive drama, the rest of the race was a slow boil - Hamilton somehow needing to overtake Leclerc. Leclerc led for nearly the entire race as Hamilton served his penalty in the pits but with 10 or so laps to go, Hamilton started to close what seemed an impossible gap at the rate of 1 second per lap - catching and overtaking Leclerc on the penultimate lap. An incredible comeback and win for Hamilton which has significantly closed the gap for the championship - leaving the Red Bull team and Verstappen in particular very unhappy with the day's events.
You sense this isn't over yet though with Red Bull's Christian Horner suggesting that a further punishment is required, possibly in the form of a suspension. With the fans being given a closer Championship Title race, I can't see the FIA doing this but we'll wait and see.
Race Highlights
Final Result
- Hamilton
- Leclerc
- Bottas
- Norris
- Ricciardo
- Sainz
- Alonso
- Stroll
- Ocon
- Tsunoda
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I watched the race with my husband, I think Hamilton had to receive a penalty more in line with the ones he did to Max since at the first corner Hamilton took his direct rival out of the race.
As I would have wanted Charles Leclerc to win the race, but despite Hamilton serving his penalty, the Mercedes was better than the Ferrari, although I will not deny it, Hamilton and Max are the best drivers today, but Lando Norris has a very promising future as he surpasses his teammate Daniel Ricciardo by a lot of difference in each race.
I think that's what sometimes makes the penalties unfair. If that accident had happened between Mazepin and Latifi (for example), it would probably only have been a 5 second penalty. The penalties almost never seem to fit the crime when somebody crashes out.
I'm amazed Leclerc didn't go on to win. I know there was an issue with his engine but I think Ferrari thought they were so far ahead that Lewis would never catch up (and then overtake).
Of all the other young drivers, I think it's George Russell who's a future world champion. He's doing this with the Williams that drivers in far better cars aren't doing. I'm a big fan of Lando too (being British, we hear a lot from him) but once Russell goes to Mercedes, he'll be at the top for a while.
It was a different weekend, what they want maybe is to give more excitement to F1, in your opinion who was to blame in that crash? I think it is very difficult to determine, they were going at very high speed, I think it was something fortuitous ... it was something normal one wanted to go to the front and the other did not want to leave.
I agree with you and it looks like the finger's firmly pointed at Lewis Hamilton for that one. I thought that the way Verstappen was weaving around and being so aggressive made an accident inevitable so I've little sympathy but most drivers and experts have said that's not a point on the track that you try to overtake so I've got to agree with them.