Drama started early at the start of the 2022 British Grand Prix, a huge melee ending the race on the spot for Alex Albon (Williams), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and local hero George Russell (Williams).
While Max Verstappen made a bullet start to take the early lead with Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso in his wake.
But in the heart of the midfield, all hell broke loose, with TV not showing replays at the time of writing as marshalls attended the knitting Alfa Romeo of Zhou, the car seen slithering across the track at high-speed upside-down.
The replays were shocking, the sheer violence of the collisions and Zhou’s Alfa Romeo caught miraculously by the trackside fencing. That Zhou and his peers survived without serious injury or worse, is a testament to the safety of this era’s cars.
Fate was smiling on F1 yet again, because it does not take imagination to realize what might have happened a decade or so ago…
Not long after, F1 confirmed: “Following an incident at the start of the race Alex Albon and Zhou Guanyu have been taken to the medical centre. Both drivers are conscious and continue to be evaluated. and added Following a crash at the start of the British Grand Prix.”
“Zhou Guanyu is conscious and now at the circuit’s medical center to undergo evaluation,” the FIA statement added.
The FIA also released a statement shortly thereafter: “The FIA advises that following the incident at the start of the race, emergency crews were immediately in attendance, and the drivers of Car 23 (Albon) and Car 24 (Zhou) have been taken to the medical centre. Both drivers were conscious and will be evaluated at the medical centre”
The crash began when Russell tagged the AlphaTauri of Gasly as he drifted to block it which triggered a chain reaction as mayhem ensued when other drivers came onto the scene unsighted, squeezed and into cars facing in all directions, prompting flashbacks of the Jody Scheckter triggered start chaos at the start of the 1973 race.
The governing FIA said emergency crews were quickly on the scene to extract Zhou, whose car skidded upside down along the track at speed before flipping over the barriers.
The rookie remained conscious and was taken to the medical center for further evaluation along with Williams’ Alexander Albon.
Mercedes’ George Russell was also involved in the incident and retired, the crash at Abbey ending the Briton’s run as the sole driver to have finished every race in the top five places this season.
Russell appeared to have been clipped from behind, then hitting Zhou.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon limped back to the pits on three and a half tyres, with the half flailing on a rim.
Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen had seized the lead at the start from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz while Mercedes’ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was in third place after a storming start from fifth.
The crash between Gasly v Russel v Zhou #F1 pic.twitter.com/be2n6Y75YW
— 
Rel’ 3⃣3⃣ (@xRelbug) July 3, 2022
Report in progress…
Below is the British Grand Prix preview we ran earlier:
The head says Max Verstappen will win the 2022 British Grand Prix, but the heart is pounding Carlos Sainz for the win at Silverstone this afternoon.
Let’s face it, wet or dry, Verstappen is the favorite to win his first British Grand Prix this afternoon. The Red Bull driver has been stellar all weekend; perhaps a slight blight being a spell of overdriving in the slippery conditions that prevailed, especially in Q3, where the trickiness ramped up even more, as well as the Charles Leclerc induced Yellow flag that didn’t help.
By the time the spray had settled Max was second, and out of literally nowhere Sainz stole it. But Verstappen knows he has a great car under him and, from second on the grid, is going to be hard to beat.
That’s the reality check for the romantic in me who would rather see Sainz finally nab his first win and how sweet would it be on the occasion of his 150th Grand Prix start?
If ever a driver was given a message, it was Sainz on Saturday. Don’t overthink it as you tend to do, don’t overdrive it as you tend to do, be a smooth operator and surprise everyone including yourself. Let it come to you!
The race at Silverstone this afternoon will not be a two-horse race
With Charles Leclerc starting third and Sergio Perez fourth, meaning that on the first two rows of the grid, one side will be the Red of Ferrari and the other the Blue of the Bulls. Anything can happen from there.
From fifth, Lewis Hamilton – eight-time winner of the British Grand Prix – has the best seats in the house and looks fired up to cause a surprise in front of his partisan home crowd, a section of which, showed scant regard for sportsmanship when Verstappen tried to speak of his qualifying in parc ferme.
That Abu Dhabi still lingers is sad for the sport and an insight into an increasingly ugly F1 fan landscape. It’s done and dusted, move on you losers!
Spoiler alert Lando Norris. Yes, The Kid was again precociously impressive, demolishing Daniel Ricciardo as is becoming custom and he is so ripe for a first F1 win, or at least a podium to add to his sixth would be sweet and deserving, not out of the question.
As for Dan… where are you, man?
In what is role reversal at Alpine, mega-veteran Fernando Alonso got the (much!) better of younger Esteban Ocon to plonk the blue car seventh on the grid, and can be expected to flex-it, send-it and go-for -it as only the veteran Spaniard can do.
George Russell has been somewhat subdued on his first visit to Silverstone as a Mercedes driver; the local hero overshadowed by the other local hero, Hamilton in the sister car. But as a nine-time in a row top-five finisher, watch out for #63 car.
George said earlier this week that he wants a podium at his home track, the top step being his aim. It’s a big race for the young Mercedes driver in many ways as he cements his future with Hamilton’s team.
Good work by Latifi and Zhou to get into Q3 in those conditions
Shout out to Nicholas Latifi for putting the Williams into Q3 and out-qualifying teammate Alex Albon on a day where mistakes were punished. He made none as he delivered his best qualifying performance in the top flight in the un-upgraded FW44.
Also impressing was Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou who gets better and better with every race. Getting the better of vastly more experienced teammate Valtteri Bottas on a day like Saturday was impressive stuff.
It would be fair to say that Zhou is proving to be a diamond in the soil of not-so-impressive rookies that have popped into F1 in recent years. The Chinese driver delivers well beyond his pay grade.
On the other side of the coin, what is going on at Aston Martin?
Across the road from where they will build Lawrence Stroll’s wonderland Aston Martin F1 HQ, the home team were laughable as they got everything wrong.
Lance Stroll, normally handy in such conditions, was the slowest of them all with four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel only slightly quicker; 18th and 20th makes for horrible reading, a joke actually.
Beyond that, a look at the grid suggests that unless something happens at the front, the guys in no-man’s land are expected to remain there with Bottas and Ricciardo probably out of position and looking to move forward.
And finally, the real wild card, the fickle Silverstone weather. While the official prediction is a dry race under cloudy skies, I will venture rain will play a role no matter what the expert weather people and that, of course, will throw it wide open…
This report will be regularly updated at the end of the race. Please refresh page and enjoy the 2022 British Grand Prix.
Formula 1 statistics for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Round 10 of the 22-race 2022 Formula 1 World Championship season:
- Lap distance: 5,891 km. Total distance: 306,198 km (52 laps)
- 2021 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull – grid set by result of sprint qualifying.
- 2021 race winner: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes
- Race lap record: Verstappen, 2020: One minute 27.097 seconds.
- Start time: 1400GMT (1500 local)
- Sunday’s race will be the 73rd British Grand Prix.
- Hamilton has won the British Grand Prix eight times and could become the first driver to win the same race nine times. He shares the record with Michael Schumacher (eight at the French Grand Prix).
- He has also been on pole seven times at Silverstone and on the podium 11 times. No driver has been on the podium more at a home race.
- Mercedes, underperforming this year with a bouncing car, have won eight of the last nine British Grands Prix.
- Every winner has started from fourth or higher since 2000.
- Three current drivers have won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone: Hamilton (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021), Sebastian Vettel (2009, 2018) and Fernando Alonso (2006, 2011).
- Verstappen won the 70th anniversary race at the circuit in 2020, the first time Silverstone hosted two races in a single season.
- The British Grand Prix, with Italy, is one of two ever-present races on the calendar since 1950. This year’s race will be the 56th British GP at Silverstone.
- Ferrari have won the British GP 17 times.
Race Victories
- Red Bull have won seven of nine races this season, and the last six in a row.
- Verstappen has won six and teammate Sergio Perez one.
- Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has won the other two.
- Hamilton has a record 103 wins from 297 starts. He has yet to win this year, now his worst start to a season since 2009, and his most recent success was in Saudi Arabia last December.
- Ferrari have won 240 races since 1950, McLaren 183, Mercedes 124, Williams 115 and Red Bull 82.
pole position
- Sainz will start the 2022 British Grand Prix from Pole Position.
- Leclerc has been on pole six times this year, Verstappen twice, Perez and now Sainz once.
- Hamilton has a record 103 career poles, most recently qualifying fastest in Saudi Arabia last year.
Fastest laps
- Leclerc took the fastest lap bonus point in the first three races, Verstappen in Imola and Miami, Perez in Spain and Azerbaijan, McLaren’s Lando Norris in Monaco and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Canada.
2022 F1 World Championship Points
- Verstappen leads Perez by 46 points and is 49 clear of Leclerc.
- Red Bull lead Ferrari by 76 points in the constructors’ standings.
- Mercedes’ George Russell is the only driver to have scored points in every race this year and all in the top five.
Milestones
- Hamilton has now gone 10 races without a win. If he fails to win on Sunday it will be the first time in his F1 career that he has gone 11 races without a victory.
- It is Carlis Sainz’s 150th Grand Prix weekend.
