Superb Sainz defies team orders to earn maiden F1 win in incident-packed British GP; Perez storms back to P2 as Verstappen falters to P7; Hamilton bests Leclerc for final podium spot in wild Silverstone action

In a race that had to be seen to be believed, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz emerged form the chaos and unpredictability of Sunday’s British Grand Prix with his first Formula 1 victory. The ostensible number two man at the Scuderia defied a late post-Safety Car strategy call by the Ferrari pit wall that would have had the Spaniard act as a blocker to his teammate Charles Leclerc. Instead, having come in for fresh Pirelli Soft tires under the full course yellow on Lap 39 of this 52-lap contest at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, and knowing that Leclerc had stayed out for some inexplicable reason on his old, well-worn Hard tires, Sainz vetoed that plan and quickly made short work of his stablemate to recapture and keep the lead of a race from which he started on pole.

Today was a reminder that F1 remains a high-speed, high-risk sport that is always right on the edge.

We are so thankful to the advances in safety that mean both Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon are safe and well. pic.twitter.com/BJ8PPDG2av

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 3, 2022

By the time Sainz claimed that vital first F1 win, the start seemed like a million years ago. On the opening lap on a reasonably clear and sunny day at Silverstone, there was a horror shunt between Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyou, Mercedes’ George Russell and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. With numerous drivers bogging down at the start due to many closing to do their first stint on the west grip Hard Pirellis, that led to a big shuffle in the field between the quicker cars on softer rubber and the slower runners. Gasly thought he saw an opening between Russell and Guanyu and made for it. But the door quickly closed when Russell jinked to the left, causing the front of the AlphaTauri to strike both the flanking cars rear wheels. That sent Russell into a spin but the rookie Guanyu was upended and flew into a scary barrel roll at high speed across the gravel trap, eventually hitting the catch fence with some force before coming to rest in the space between the tire barrier and the actual concrete wall behind. Wedged in as he was, the Alfa Romeo rookie remained trapped in his car for some time as the medical teams and marshals worked the problem, with Russell sprinting over to see if he could lend a hand. After what seemed like an eternity, the young Chinese driver was successfully extracted and put in an ambulance to be taken to the on site care center for further evaluation. Thankfully, it turned out that Guanyu was not seriously injured. But he, Russell and the Williams’ of Alex Albon, who was also peripherally involved in the mayhem and speared sharply into the pit straight wall, were all out of the race before the first corner had been successfully navigated. Gasly also sustained damage that would eventually end his race on Lap 28. Additionally, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda all sustained some degree of damage in that midfield melee.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Understandably, the clean up from the resultant debris field and the several stranded cars, as well as Guanyu’s extraction, required an extensive Red Flag period of about 45 minutes. Lost in all that drama was the fact that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had overtaken the pole-sitting Sainz rather easily heading into that eventful Turn 1. However, as the race was stopped before even the first sector could be completed and timed, everyone went back to their original grid positions when the contest was finally ready to restart, officially on lap 3 after a second formation lap behind the Safety Car. The second time proved the charm for Sainz, as he held off Verstappen’s deja vu challenge. Meanwhile, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez had acquired front wing damage at some point, presumably on this second restart, and the team felt it was severe enough to call the Mexican in and have a full front wing change on Lap 5. That dropped Perez down the order like a stone. Interestingly, Ferrari’s Leclerc had similar front wing end plate damage but the team seemed unconcerned by it and Leclerc was able to stay in contact with Verstappen as well as his race leading teammate without issue. While Leclerc looked on from P3, Verstappen began building his speed as his tires came up to temperature and harassed Sainz for the lead. On Lap 10, the pressure got to Sainz, as it has seemed to do more than a few times this season, and he ran wide and off track at the Hanger Straight, gifting Verstappen the lead of the race.

It was to be a short lived moment of elation on what turned out to be a highly frustrating day for the Dutch points leader. On Lap 12, Verstappen slowed precipitously with what seemed to be a puncture or some sort of rear suspension damage. The Red Bull pit wall were forced to call Max in to change tires and assess the damage. Eventually, they realized that Verstappen had damaged his floor by running over debris at some point, compromising a vital piece of the puzzle for this year’s ground effects-dependent design. While it would thankfully not prove to be terminal, it did doom his chances of winning the race or even stepping on the podium. Instead, Verstappen was forced into a defensive midfield effort and had to settle for a P7 finish after a race-worth’s of frustration being vented back to the team via his radio. That left the two Ferraris now fighting it out at the front, with the P2 Leclerc clearly the quicker car and the P3 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton biding his time while closing in on the top two Prancing Horses. With Sainz unable to sustain the necessary pace, the team split their strategy and pitted the Spaniard on Lap 20, going from Mediums to the more durable Hards, as Leclerc stayed out and assumed the lead, Hamilton now in P2. On Lap 27, Leclerc made his stop for the same Medium-to-Hard Pirelli tire switch but Hamilton was feeling good on his Mediums and decided to go long. He want all the way to Lap 34 before making his first stop in anger, also opting to change onto the Hards with those extra laps potentially giving hime the advantage over the Ferrari duo at the end.

In anticipation of that eventual overcut by Hamilton, the Scuderia’s braintrust ordered Sainz to allow Leclerc to overtake him for the lead, again due to Leclerc’s superior pace and the need to keep a large enough gap to Hamilton to maintain at least P1 and preferably both top spots ahead of the Mercedes man after his stop, which they did when the everything had cycled out. However, the best laid plans of all the teams were undone when Esteban Ocon’s Alpie slowed to a crawl and then a dead stop on the old pit straight on Lap 39, necessitating another Safety Car for the retrieval of the Frenchman’s stricken car. Crucially, Leclerc did not pit when the full course yellow was thrown but Sainz and Hamilton both dove in for fresh rubber, both drives coming out on the quickest Soft tires with 12 laps to go. Perez came in a lap later and chose to doff his long running Mediums for the maximal performance of the Soft tires, as well, and Verstappen followed him in for the same switch, which proved no better on his damaged Red Bull than any other tire compound. When the Safety Car ended in the latter part of Lap 42 it was game on for the podium positions at the front and for points up and down the field. Sainz was told to give Leclerc “breathing room’ upon the restart by holding up Hamilton and Perez. But the Spaniard refused to play the team game this time, knowing his fresh tires would certainly give him superior speed. In the face of this mini mutiny the team relented and Sainz proved his point by quickly gobbling up his teammate to retake the lead midway through Lap 43, as Perez closed in on and eventually passed Hamilton for P3. With DRS again enabled on Lap 46, Hamilton then made a spectacular move to nab both Perez and Leclerc but it wouldn’t stick and they returned the favor on the seven-time champ almost right away. With Sainz sailing away in clean air, Perez was able to make a decisive move on Hamilton for P2, a terrific recovery for Checo after dropping all the way down to P16 due to that early front wing change.

But Hamilton salvaged his own podium place by passing Leclerc for P3 on Lap 48, the Monegasque’s tires giving up the ghost after such a long stint. So, for Ferrari it was a very good day, with Sainz asserting his own right to win and finally putting his name in the history books as an F1 race winner after some 150 Grand Prix starts. While Leclerc was dejected to come home P4, he still gained on his rival Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings, although it is the canny Sergio Perez who now sits in second in that championship hunt, with Sainz closing up behind his teammate after today’s 25-point race win. For Mercedes, it was a good enough day on a track that helped them out as it is billiard smooth and not conducive to the porpoising that has so bedeviled them this season, and, despite Russell’s unfortunate DNF, Hamilton was able to add another podium finish at one of his favorite circuits. It was the Englishman’s second P3 in a row and, in fact, he also set the fastest lap of the race for the bonus point. With a few more tweaks, it’s possible the Silver Arrows may just have something for the Prancing Horses and Red Bulls. Stay tuned — the season is only hotting up as we hurtle into the summer months.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

There’s hardly time to catch one’s breath after that amazing British barnburner — the next race is in but a week’s time, the Austrian Grand Prix from the Red Bull Ring. With the title hunt heating up and suddenly looking like there are at least four legitimate contenders, it will be must-watch TV to see who emerges triumphant in Austria on July 10th, even as the excitement that went down at Silverstone continues to reverberate. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!