Lewis Hamilton took his fourth Formula 1 race win of the season on a chaotic Sunday afternoon at Silverstone. Behind the Brit came Charles Leclerc from Ferrari, who lost the lead in the last part of the race despite massive resilience.
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The British Grand Prix also marked the first time that season that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen clashed. While the former managed to keep his car running, the latter’s car was utterly destroyed and sparked the Dutchman’s second DNF in 2021.
Behind the duo came Valtteri Bottas, who recovered quite well from the crisis at the beginning of the season. Lando Norris managed to secure another top five finish for McLaren ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
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Chaotic race start at Silverstone
It was an incredible wheel-to-wheel battle between the two title contenders, but the worst was yet to come. It took Hamilton and Verstappen only 9 racing laps to cause their first incident of the season.
The league leaders suffered the worst when Verstappen landed in the guard rails and completely smashed his Red Bull. Fortunately, the Dutchman was doing well when he got out of the car safely.
Formula 1 F1 – Great Britain Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain – July 18, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leads at the start of the race in front of Lewis Hamilton REUTERS / Peter Cziborra. from Mercedes
Amid the chaos, Leclerc managed to take the lead and lead the race two laps behind the safety car before the stewards decided to mark the session with a red flag. Both Aston Martin drivers had a brilliant start, Vettel and Stroll made up a handful of places.
At the restart, Leclerc was able to pull away quite well, so that Hamilton no longer had any hope of regaining the lead. And then came the news that Hamilton had to serve a 10-second sentence.
First lap pit stops
Perez made the pit stop together with Raikkonen and Russell on lap 20. The Mexican finally managed to overtake the Alfa Romeo driver after getting stuck behind a car train.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo pitted on the next lap to enjoy a quick stop. His team-mate Norris was less fortunate, however, as the Briton had to survive a painful six-second stop after a problem with the right front.
Bottas saw an opportunity and pitted on lap 23. Unsurprisingly, the Finn made the much-needed jump onto Norris and slipped into P4. Similar to Norris, Alonso suffered a slow pit stop of 5.4 seconds and almost lost his position to Stroll.
Formula 1 F1 – Great Britain Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain – July 18, 2021 Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. during the REUTERS / Peter Cziborra race
On lap 28, Hamilton went to the pit stop to change tires and to discharge his penalty. Finally, after a 14-second stop at P5, Hamilton came back on the track. Then it was time for Ferrari to deploy their drivers, with Sainz being the first of two.
However, the Spaniard joined the list of slow stops, dropping his time by a mammoth 12.3 seconds. So Sainz lost his place to Ricciardo.
Fight for F1 victory
It was the game for Hamilton, serving his 10-second penalty, betting on a late attack on the cars in front of them. The first obstacle was Norris, who never tormented much.
Formula 1 F1 – Great Britain Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain – July 18, 2021 Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton during the REUTERS / Andrew Couldridge race
After overtaking the McLaren driver, the driver in front of him was his own team-mate Bottas, who rode on much older hard tires. In addition, Leclerc came under constant pressure as the Monegaske struggled with an engine mapping problem, resulting in significant performance degradation.
In the 41st round, Bottas was hit by team orders telling Finn not to fight Hamilton. The two Mercedes drivers rightly swapped positions before Turn 15.
Formula 1 F1 – Great Britain Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain – July 18, 2021 Mercedes Lewis Hamilton during the REUTERS / Peter Cziborra race
Then came the battle for victory. Hamilton repeatedly took a part of his lap time from Leclerc by winning almost a second on the Monegasque every lap. With a little more than two laps, the Briton finally made the much-needed step to become the leader.
Incidents during the race
It was only half a lap before Silverstone experienced its first incident. And the names were big – Hamilton and Verstappen. The latter showed an incredible defense against his title rival. It all went haywire when the duo got to Turn 9.
Formula 1 F1 – Great Britain Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain – July 18, 2021 Williams’ George Russell during the REUTERS / Peter Cziborra race
Hamilton was on the inside around the high-speed corner but couldn’t complete the move. In addition, Hamilton knocked on Verstappen’s left stern when he released the accelerator. This eventually led to Verstappen getting in their place.
When the safety car restarted, it was time for Vettel to spin. The German lost his rear end in the fight alongside Alonso and spun near the old pit lane entrance. After a tough battle at the bottom of the field, Aston Martin ordered Vettel to abandon his car on lap 42.
Updated F1 driver ratings
- Max Verstappen – 185
- Lewis Hamilton – 177
- Lando Norris – 113
- Valtteri Bottas – 108
- Sergio Perez – 104
- Charles Leclerc – 80
- Carlos Sainz – 68
- Daniel Ricciardo – 50
- Pierre Gasly – 39
- Sebastian Vettel – 30
- Fernando Alonso – Aug.
- Lance hike – 18
- Esteban Ocon
- Yuki Tsunoda – 10
- Kimi Raikkonen – 1
- Antonio Giovinazzi – 1st
- George Russell – 0
- Mick Schumacher – 0
- Nikita Mazepin – 0
- Nicholas Latifi – 0
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Updated F1 Constructor Ratings
- Red Bull Racing (Honda) – 289
- Mercedes AMG (Mercedes) – 285
- McLaren (Mercedes) – 163
- Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari) – 148
- Scuderia AlphaTauri (Honda) – 49
- Aston Martin Racing (Mercedes) – 48th
- Alpin (Renault) – 40
- Alfa Romeo Racing (Ferrari) – 2nd
- Williams (Mercedes) – 0
- Haas (Ferrari) – 0
Overall, Silverstone has once again achieved what it is used to – an eventful F1 race weekend, which also included the very first sprint race qualifying.
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And now the next stop is at Hungaroring, where F1 will return to its normal weekend schedule. So how interesting and unpredictable is the weekend in Hungary going to be?
The post British F1 GP Report: Drama all around as Hamilton wins with Verstappen after crash controversy first appeared on monter-une-startup.
