Tag Archives: Silverstone

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton survives first lap collision with Verstappen & penalty to take 8th victory at Silverstone; Leclerc a noble P2 for Ferrari, Bottas P3; Verstappen taken to hospital after crash battling Lewis

The intense competition for the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship was inevitably going to get nastier than the forced public bonhomie between the two primary contenders for the title, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s superstar Mac Verstappen. On Sunday at the British Grand Prix in Round 10, things finally got properly unfriendly between two top contenders. After Verstappen won the first ever Sprint Qualifying race/non-race on Saturday to claim pole for today’s real race, Hamilton made no mystery of his determination to seize the top spot from the Dutchman early on. The two best drivers on the planet diced wheel-to-wheel from the moment the lights went out at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, the Mercedes man forcing Vertsappen to take unorthodox lines to keep Hamilton behind on the opening lap. The intense fight came to a head midway through Lap 1 when Hamilton tried an inside move heading into Copse at a rapid rate of knots. Verstappen, perhaps not believing Hamilton would stuff it in on the inside at that tricky section, appeared to lose sight of his rival and closed down to make the apex of the next corner, clipping Hamilton’s front left wheel/wing with his Red Bull’s rear right in the process. In an instant, the Red Bull’s rear right tire was off the rim and Verstappen went careening off the circuit through a very shallow and ineffective gravel trap and into a tire barrier sideways at nearly 180 mph. While Hamilton’s Silver Arrow suffered only very minor wing damage, Verstappen’s mount was essentially totaled and the unlucky Dutchman took an excruciatingly long time to emerge from his wrecked car. Young Max did eventually emerge under his own power but he was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons, probably to monitor any possible concussion symptoms after such a very high-G impact. In just one lap, Verstappen’s race was over and shortly thereafter Hamilton’s was also put at risk despite emerging from the contretemps unscathed.

After a long Red Flag period with the race restarting from a standing grid for a second time, the P2 Hamilton was immediately assessed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. While one can certainly debate the stewards’ decision to put the onus on Hamilton — it looked like a racing incident to these eyes — there was no arguing that Hamilton now would have a major time deficit to somehow make up. With the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc inheriting the race lead after the Hamilton-Verstappen shamazzle and driving confidently to maintain that P1, it looked like a big ask for Hamilton to catch the Monegasque when he came out of the pits down in P5, after serving the penalty during his first and only tire service on Lap 28, all the more so when  Leclerc held his lead after his own pit stop for fresh rubber on Lap 30. But Hamilton put his mind to the task, making short work of McLaren’s Lando Norris for P3 after gaining another position on pit rotation. That left only his Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas between him and Leclerc’s Ferrari. And with Hamilton closing down Leclerc’s Prancing Horse by nearly a second per lap, the team quickly gave Bottas team orders to let Hamilton through, which the Finn dutifully did on Lap 40 of this 52-lap contest. Unfortunately for Leclerc, it was then just a matter of time before the Mercedes’ superior pace saw the English seven-time World Champion right on his gearbox. And on Lap 50 Hamilton was able to sweep by Leclerc’s Prancing Horse, ironically with a nearly identical inside move through Stowe that had caused so much grief to Red Bull and Verstappen on that fateful opening lap. Perhaps fearing a similar fate, Leclerc ran wide and off the track momentarily and Hamilton flew away past him and on towards his remarkable eighth career British Grand Prix victory. Truly, Silverstone is a magic elixir for the seven-time champ.

For Red Bull, the results essentially could not have been worse. Continue reading →

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Sprint Qualifying results

Verstappen has better getaway to win debut Sprint Qualifying over Hamilton at Silverstone, take pole for British GP; Bottas P3

Formula 1 on Saturday introduced a limited Sprint Qualifying format for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix, where drivers started in their positions based on the usual three-round knockout qualifying, this time held on Friday evening, but the pole and other grid positions were determined by the results of this 17-lap mini-race. At the site of the first-ever Formula 1 race in 1950, the fabled Silverstone Circuit built on a former WWII bomber air field, the experiment saw Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton lose out to the ascendent Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Despite his front left brakes catching on fire while he sat waiting the start, Verstappen still got the better getaway than Hamilton when the lights went out for the Sprint Quali and easily went on to win it and the pole for tomorrow’s race, rendering Lewis’ superb fastest lap in Q3 on Friday evening not much more than a footnote. Hamilton will still line up in P2 alongside the Flying Dutchman for his home race, one which the superlative Mercedes man has won an amazing six times, but it is Verstappen who will sit on the pole, his fourth-in-a-row, by virtue of winning this mini-contest despite the fact the he was second to Hamilton in “qualifying.”

I’m not sure I get the logic of this format, however much of a sugar rush it is, as fastest one-lap pace has ever been the determining factor for pole positions in F1 and this Sprint format seems to cheapen the accomplishment of hooking it all up perfectly in Q3, as Hamilton did on Friday. And, while Hamilton’s Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas kept it clean to finish where he started (and thereby start where he finished) in P3, Verstappen’s stablemate, Sergio Perez, showed the dangers of the Sprint for both driver and team when he spun out in dirty air, had to then pit for a new wing and eventually retired his Red Bull prematurely so the team could make changes to the car out of parc fermé conditions. After “qualifying” P5, Perez was classified dead last in the Sprint and will start from the rear or the pits tomorrow and his team will have a lot of extra work overnight to fix whatever is ailing his mount, not to mention engineering a strategy to get the Mexican back to the front. For all of the F1 brass’s stated desire to save money and control costs, adding an additional 17 racing laps to the Grand Prix weekend, with all the attendant competitiveness on the track that entails, seems like an odd way to economize.

This was the top 10 Sprint Qualifying Grid based on Friday’s “qualifying” results (complete grid available via Formula1.com):

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:26.134
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:26.209
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:26.328
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:26.828
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:26.844
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:26.897
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:26.899
8 63 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:26.971
9 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:27.007
10 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:27.179

And these are the results for the top 10 of the Sprint Qualifying to set the grid for tomorrow’s race — as you can see, if F1 wanted to jumble things up from where the drivers “qualified,” they did succeed in that  (complete Sprint results also available via Formula1.com):

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 17 25:38.426 3
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 17 +1.430s 2
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 17 +7.502s 1
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 17 +11.278s 0
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 17 +24.111s 0
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 17 +30.959s 0
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 17 +43.527s 0
8 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 17 +44.439s 0
9 63 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES 17 +46.652s 0
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 17 +47.395s 0

Tomorrow’s British Grand Prix airs live beginning at 10AM Eastern of ESPN here in the States. With today’s stunt, er um, Sprint out of the way let’s see if Hamilton and Mercedes have anything for the dominant looking Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Hope to see you then for the real race to find out how it all shakes out!

F1 Debuts New “Sprint Race” Qualifying Format at Silverstone

The powers that be in Formula 1 have decided to tinker with their highly successful qualifying format, debuting a new 17-lap “sprint race” on Saturday at Silverstone to determine the starting grid for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix. Moving the normal three rounds of knock-out “qualifying” to Friday evening, those results only determine the starting spots for the sprint race not the pole or race day grid order. Instead, today’s sprint race will determine the actual starting spots for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

Without having yet seen the sprint race quali, I have some serious misgivings about this new format. Why debut it in the middle of the season? Has the impact on the teams’ resources and personnel been considered thoroughly vis a vis having to prep for an entirely separate min-race in addition to the full GP the next day? Racers being racers, will we see some drivers taking each other out in the heat of competition for those precious grid spots during the sprint qualifying? And how are penalties going to be assessed for things like changing  gear boxes and other elements, since F1 have essentially forced the teams to risk more frequent damage to the cars?

While it’s clear that F1 brass want more unpredictability and passing by making pure one-lap speed not solely determinative of grid position and increasing the odds of multiple cars being out of position when the GP begins, why introduce this smack dab in the middle of a championship already 9 rounds old? Is that really fair to the competitors who have been playing by one set of rules for the first part of the season? Lastly, as the adage goes: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. F1 qualifying is already compelling as is and rewards the fastest cars with the best grid positions. Yes, everyone is always moaning about the perceived lack of passing in the races but except at a circuit like Monaco this is a bit if a canard, especially this season we have seen fine competition at the front of the field thanks to the highly competitive Red Bull challenging Mercedes’ usual supremacy, as well as a very tight midfield battle for points where teams like McLaren, Ferrari, AlphaTauri, Aston Martin and Alpine duke it out for positions on a weekly basis.

So, in my opinion, the Sprint Race Qualifying seems like a bit of a gimmick that one would find trotted out in a lower form of the sport to drum up interest and not at its highest level, as well as a solution in search of a problem, especially since it is being introduced mid-season. I think it would have been better deployed next season when the chassis will be theoretically spec and quasi-identical and the need to create performance uncertainty will be greater. But we’ll see how it works out in actuality today and perhaps I will be eating my words. More to come…

2020 F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix — Results & aftermath

Verstappen pays off superior Red Bull strategy with thrilling victory at Silverstone; Mercedes’ Hamilton & Bottas forced to settle for P2 & P3

Faced with the normally intimidating might of Mercedes for a second consecutive week at the high-speed Silverstone circuit Max Verstappne and his Red Bull team once again threw a strategic spanner in the works of putative Silver Arrows domination. After only qualifying P4 on Saturday for the first and last ever 70th Anniversary Grand Prix and with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton locking out the front row from pole and P2 respectively, Verstappen was also the only elite runner to start the race on the Hard compound Pirrelli tires. But that “hard” label was really a misnomer, as Pirelli had dropped all their offerings down a notch on the hardness scale so that this week’s Hard was equivalent to last weekend’s Medium tires. It proved a brilliant strategic decision for Verstappen, especially under particularly warm and dry conditions this Sunday in Northamptonshire, which seem to be the Mercedes W11’s only real Achilles’ heel. So with the Red Bull’s downforce advantage sparing the wear and tear on their tires compared to the Silver Arrows brute force attack and with Max running the more durable yet still quick Hard compound, it rapidly became apparent that Verstappen’s strategy was to run longer stints than both Mercedes drivers and thereby gain track position and hold it. In the end the game paid off and the superlative Dutch driver pulled a coup.

Verstappen had a good getaway from the start, making quick work of Racing Point’s fill in driver, Nico Hulkenberg, who perhaps overachieved in qualifying to start P3. So right off the bat Verstappen was on then tails of the two Mercedes men, who held station after getting away cleanly with Bottas P1 and Hamilton P2. However, both of the Silver Arrows’ tires began degrading rapidly and first Bottas on Lap 13 then Hamilton on Lap 14 were forced to ditch their Medium tires for a new set of Hards. Meanwhile, Verstappen stayed out on his original set of Hards all the way to Lap 26, racking up a big lead in the process. Continue reading →

2020 F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Bottas fights back for pole for second consectuve Silverstone race, besting P2 Hamilton; temp driver Hulkenberg qualifies a wonder P3 for Racing Point

After the massive disappointment of last weekend’s late race tire blowout that dropped him straight out of the points like a stone, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas roared back to take pole for the second consecutive race at the venerable Silverstone circuit in two weekends. Bottas showed his determination to rebound by pipping his teammate and championship points leader Lewis Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second to take the top spot in tomorrow’s one and only Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at the same track where it all started back in 1950. While Hamilton was no doubt briefly let down by having to settle for P2 on the grid, the English 6-time World Champion can no doubt take solace in his big points lead over his Finnish teammate after Hamilton survived his own tire delimitation on the final lap last weekend at the British GP yet still limped home to victory. And, as Bottas knows all too well from his years as the clear Number 2 at Mercedes, out-qualifying Hamilton is one thing and beating him a race is quite another.

Perhaps a bigger story than the seemingly inevitable Silver Arrows 2020 front row lockout was the amazing qualifying effort of Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg. After starting the season out of a job Hulkenberg was drafted into the team around ten days ago due to their regular pilot Sergio Perez’s positive COVID test. Hulkenberg looked decent enough in last weekend’s qualifying but could not even make the race when his car mysteriously failed to start. But this Saturday Hulkenberg wrung the neck of his Racing Point to score the third fastest lap of the day ahead of the usually superlative Red Bull of Max Vertsappen. With fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong to again prevent Hulkenberg from starting tomorrow, it should be very exciting to see how the German veteran performs and if he really does have the pace to keep Verstappen behind him and score his first ever career podium in 177 starts. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton limps to victory on 3 tires just ahead of Verstappen as Pirelli failures scramble end of British GP; Bottas plunges out of the points elevating Leclerc to a lucky P3

A rather boring procedural contest at Silverstone turned into a thriller in the final act when unpredictable tire failures put the cat amongst the pigeons and scrambled what seemed to be a preordained Mercedes romp to glory at Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton, dominating from the front all race long, suffered a left front failure of his Hard compound Pirellis on the final lap of this 52-lap contest and had to limp home on three wheels, barely holding off the rapidly oncoming Red Bull of Max Vertsappen. In a second-guesser’s delight, Verstappen had boxed on Lap 50 for fresh rubber in order to set the fastest lap while Mercedes inexplicably kept Hamilton out after their second driver, Valtteri Bottas, who had been comfortably cruising behind him in P2, suffered the first of the day’s serious tire failures. In a heartbreaking twist of fate for Bottas, the Finn had just passed the pits when his left front delaminated and he had to crawl around the full 3.6 miles of the circuit before getting fresh rubber, plummeting down the order as the front of the field zipped by him. By the time he got back to the team for the necessary tire change Bottas reemerged all the way down in P12 and could only climb back up to P11 before the laps ran out. With Hamilton able to limp to the win when he suffered his own delimitation Bottas being cruelly cast out of the points so late in the race was essentially the worst case scenario for his slim title hopes. One does wonder why Mercedes did not pit Hamilton for new tires once the issue with Bottas had reared its ugly head, especially since it seemed like Hamilton’s tires were the ones that started blistering first. The question also has to be asked if Red Bull would have better off leaving Verstappen out when Hamilton did not pit in the hopes that what did eventually happen to his tires might happen. No doubt if Vertsappen had stayed out and assuming his own tires were healthy to the end he would have lucked into the win at Hamilton’s expense.

Photos courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The beneficiaries of Bottas’s misfortune were many, none more so than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had been running a rather lonely race in P4 but was promoted to a happy P3 on the podium instead. Likewise, Renault had their best race of the young season with Daniel Ricciardo driving steadily and with terrific composure to pick off numerous other contenders and come home P4 and teammate Esteban Ocon a strong P6, personal best finishes for both in 2020. Lando Norris took P5 for much improved McLaren but their other driver, Carlos Sainz, was also bit by the tire failure bug on the final lap and by the time he limped to the finish line had fallen out of the points down to P13. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly drove a splendid race showing genuine race pace to take P7 ahead of the man who took his seat at Red Bull last year, Alexander Albon, who finished P8. Still it was a very good recovery drive for Albon, who tangled with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap and then received a 5-second penalty when the stewards dubiously judged him for being at fault for ending Magnussen’s race in their clash. The young Thai driver has got to start qualifying better, though, so that he can avoid those sorts of tangles with the midfield runners and start nearer to his peerless teammate Verstappen at the front of the grid lest he also get bounced from his coveted spot with the big team.

Rounding out the Top 10, Lance Stroll salvaged some points for Racing Point in P9 but it was hardly the result the team envisioned. Their usually powerful car looked surprisingly uncompetitive and they couldn’t even get their second car, which was supposed to be driven by Nico Hulkenberg as a substitute for the COVID-19 positive Sergio Perez, to start the race. A bad and perhaps ominous weekend for a team that had heretofore looked like giving Red Bull and Ferrari a run for their money. And speaking of disappointing, Sebastian Vettel held off Bottas to take the last point in P10 but it was hardly a great result for the four-time champion. The growing discrepancy in pace between he and Leclerc is a real head-scratcher and one wonders if Vettel is mentally checking out knowing that he won’t be with the Scuderia next year. Still, Ferrari can take some cold comfort in the fact that they had both their cars finish in the points while Mercedes only had one, albeit with Hamilton’s Silver Arrow in the only position that really matters.

Top 10 finishers of the British Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 1:28:01.283 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +5.856s 19
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +18.474s 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 52 +19.650s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 52 +22.277s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 52 +26.937s 8
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 52 +31.188s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +32.670s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 52 +37.311s 2
10 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 52 +41.857s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time and from this very same Silverstone circuit — the new minted and one-time only F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. With Pirelli slated to bring a softer set of compounds to that event than this week’s look for tire issues to once again be a potential factor and probably the only potential obstacle to total Mercedes domination. Hope to see you then to find out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Qualifying results

Mercedes-Hamilton juggernaut rolls on with record pole at Silverstone, Bottas P2; Red Bull’s Verstappen qualifies 3rd

Anyone hoping that the pursuing teams had made up their deficit to mighty Mercedes in the fortnight between the Hungarian GP and this weekend’s British Grand Prix got a hefty dose of reality following Saturday qualifying for the fourth round of the 2020 Championship at the venerable Silverstone circuit. If anything Mercedes seem to be pulling away from their ostensible nearest pursuers, as the battle for pole at this pan flat high speed track was only between reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton and his long suffering number two, Valtteri Bottas. But with the cash on the table, it was Hamilton who smoked both his teammate and the rest of the field, covering the 3.66 mile lap created out of a former WWII bomber airfield in a blistering track record 1:24.303. It was a commanding recovery for Hamilton who had spun somewhat embarrassingly to bring out the Red Flag and halt Q2 just about midway through for a clean up when he brought excessive gravel back onto the track with him. But the English 6-time champion loves his home circuit and he dominated Q3 en route to setting his record 7th pole for a British GP. And however miffed Bottas must have been to miss out by a mere  3-tenths the teammates’ 1-2 results gave team Mercedes the edge over fabled Ferrari for the record for coveted front row lockouts, 66 to 65.

Unfortunately, Ferrari do not look like they will be reclaiming that particular record anytime soon either. Red Bull’s sublime Max Verstappen pipped the Prancing Horse of Charles Leclerc for P3 as the checkered flag flew to end the final qualifying session. But Leclerc’s P4 starting spot looks positively spectacular compared to that of his veteran teammate, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel has clearly struggled with his SF1000 all race weekend so far and could only muster the tenth fastest lap. With Vettel already fated to leave Ferrari at the end of this season and his F1 future uncertain one wonders where exactly the German 4-time champion’s head is at that he is getting trounced so badly by his young Monegasque teammate so far this season.

Likewise for Alexander Albon, Vertsappen’s Red Bull teammate, Saturday qualifying was bit of a disaster. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton continues mastery at Silverstone with lucky win, hard-luck Bottas P2 after missing out during Safety Car; Leclerc salvages P3 for Ferrari as Vettel collides with Verstappen

In a barnburner of a British Grand Prix on Sunday Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a mid-race Safety Car period to duck into the pits for his one and only tire change and gain an advantage on the race leader and his teammate, Valtteri Bottas. Worse still for Bottas, he had already stopped for a like-for-like tire switch for another set of Medium Pirellis, meaning the Finn would definitely have to stop again for the mandatory second tire compound. So Hamilton not only got a relatively “free” pit stop under the greatly reduced Safety Car-induced speeds of his competitors but also gained the race lead via that maneuver. It was one he would never relinquish as both Mercedes pulled away from the field when the Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of Lap 23. The pole-sitting Bottas was doomed to make another stop on Lap 46 for fresh rubber during fully green flag track conditions costing him in the neighborhood of 20 seconds as Hamilton, who had shrewdly gambled on holding out for a one-stopper, raced around the course. And even though Bottas went onto the Soft Pirrelli’s Hamilton still maintained that gap of over 20 seconds and even set the fastest lap for the extra point on his won Hard tires en route to his record 6th British GP victory at Silverstone. Once again, the fact that Formula 1 does not immediately close the pits and force the drivers to bunch up together before the pits do open when a full course caution occurs like so many other top series do — IndyCar, IMSA, NASCAR — led to a driver at a fortuitous position on the track gaining a major advantage over his competitors. Bottas will feel hard done by the way his strategy failed to play out amidst the roulette-like luck of the Safety Car deployment. But Hamilton and his home fans were jubilant as the victorious Englishman grabbed a Union Flag from one of the marshals after finishing first, happily driving it around and wearing it proudly on the podium for all to see.

Safety Car shenanigans aside, the race itself was undoubtedly one of the best of the season with battles all over the field and fierce whee-to-wheel jousting. While Mercedes eventually showed their clear superiority, the battle between the Ferraris and Red Bulls was race-long and decidedly intense. Ferrari’s Chalres Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen renewed their door-banging acquaintance of two weeks ago in Austria for lap after lap to open this race. They even took it into the pits with Verstappen muscling his way past Leclerc after both cars had been serviced on Lap 14 for a momentary advantage. But Verstappen struggled with grip on exit and Leclerc immediately passed the Dutchman back on track, maintaining his P4 position with authority. When Alfa-Romeo’s Antonio Giovinnazi beached it in a gravel trap on Lap 20 bringing out that fateful Safety Car Leclerc pitted again for Hard tires but still emerged in front of Vertsappen. But once the race went green again Verstappen was able to dispatch Leclerc and his own teammate Pierre Gasly, who was finally running a competitive race, for P4. This puts him directly behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen set about hunting the German down. In short order Vertsappen was on the Prancing Horse’s tail and on Lap 36 he made a forceful pass for P3 streaking into Stowe. But as Verstappen decelerated for the upcoming corner, Vettel, certainly keen to retake the position, failed to slow enough and rammed into the back of the Red Bull bouncing Vertsppen’s car off the track with some force. Amazingly Vertsppenn’s mount was intact and able to continue. Vettel, however, was forced to pit for a new nose due to his miscalculation, a race-destroying own goal by the 4-time champion that saw him drop from a possible podium to a lowly P16 finish. Once again the formerly peerless Vettel committed an unforced error with dire consequences for his championship aspirations.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Leclerc was able to take advantage of the Verstappen-Vettel melee and zip on by both cars to inherit the P3 position that the Monegasque would never relinquish. It was Leclrec’s fourth consecutive podium finish and the young driver is surely looking like the future at Ferrari. Gasly also took advantage of his teammate’s misfortune to seize P4, the young Frenchman’s best finish of the season. The stricken car of Verstappen was badly wounded but still managed to drive home P5. If Red Bull can stay this close to Ferrari on performance for the remainder of the year there should be plenty more great battles to come between these four closely matched drivers.

Further back in the top 10 McLaren’s Carlos Sainz stayed out fo trouble and patiently worked his way up to a solid P6 finish. The two Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Huilkneberg both finished in the points in P7 and P10 respectively. And the veteran Kimi Raikkonen showed his savvy and skill at Silverstone by willing his overmatched Alfa Romeo up to P8, while Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat also did well to come home P9.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 1:21:08.452 26
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 52 +24.928s 18
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +30.117s 15
4 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +34.692s 12
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +39.458s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 52 +53.639s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 52 +54.401s 6
8 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 52 +65.540s 4
9 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 52 +66.720s 2
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 52 +72.733s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time — the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. Hopefully the action at the British Grand Prix is a harbinger of good things to come as the battle between Ferrari and Red Bull heats up even more. And of course Bottas will be looking for retribution against his championship leading teammate Hamilton. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Qualifying results

Bottas steals Hamilton’s thunder for pole at Silverstone; Leclerc to start P3, Vettel P6 for perplexing Ferrari

Seeking to add to his record 6 pole positions at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, Lewis Hamilton was instead thwarted in Saturday Qualifying by his Silver Arrows’ teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who bested the Englishman in front of his home crowd by a minuscule .006 seconds. Atypically, the last flying laps were not the quickest of the session and neither Hamilton or Bottas could better their times from earlier in Q3. So the Finn’s quickest attempt held up against Hamilton’s and the entire top 10’s best efforts to better it and gave him the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s race. It also marked a bit of a resurgence for Bottas, who closed the points gap with Hamilton by out-finishing him P3 to P5 in red hot Austria two weeks ago on what was an off weekend for both Mercedes as a whole and Lewis specifically. But the Silver Arrows looked back on form at cool and overcast Silverstone so we’ll see which of the teammates can prevail if that return to the usual Mercedes supremacy holds true in tomorrow’s GP.

Ferrari had a confusing day in the saddle after looking blindingly fast in the practices leading up to Qualifying. It seemed the longer everybody ran and rubbered in the rather green track with its newly re-paved surface the more the Prancing Horses slowed. After looking like the fastest man at various points throughout the day and going purple/fatstest in the first two sectors on his final flying lap Charles Leclerc had to settle for the third fastest time overall, about 8-tenths behind P2 Hamilton’s pace. Worse still for the legendary Scuderia, Sebastian Vettel’s pace never really presented itself and the German 4-time champion could muster no better than a P6 qualifying lap. Vettel’s mystifying drop off will be of serious concern and is another headache in an already challenging season. Both he and the team have less than 24-hours to pinpoint the issues and try to get more out the car to be competitive in tomorrow’s race.

Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen was also slower than he would have liked and apparently suffered from a fairly rare turbo lag issue. The winner in Austria two weeks ago qualified in P4. His teammate Pierre Gasly had perhaps his best all around qualifying effort of the season slotting in just behind the heralded Verstappen in P5. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo will line up behind Vettel in P7 and he seriously out-qualified his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who could do no better than the tenth fastest time. Lando Norris continued his strong run by placing his McLaren up in P8 on the grid and Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon, another rookie, also did well to set the ninth fastest time. Both young drivers were well ahead of their more experienced teammates, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:25.750 1:25.672 1:25.093 21
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:25.513 1:25.840 1:25.099 17
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:25.533 1:25.546 1:25.172 18
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:25.700 1:25.848 1:25.276 21
5 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:26.273 1:26.038 1:25.590 21
6 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:25.898 1:26.023 1:25.787 19
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:26.428 1:26.283 1:26.182 21
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:26.079 1:26.385 1:26.224 21
9 23 Alexander Albon SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:26.482 1:26.403 1:26.345 24
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:26.568 1:26.397 1:26.386 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on EPSN2 here in the States. Can Bottas give Hamilton a run for his money at a circuit where the Englishman has always felt at home? Or will Leclerc earn his first ever F1 win at Mercedes’ expense? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Britain — Results & aftermath

Vettel victorious at Silverstone, Raikkonen P3 as Ferrari push their advantage; Hamilton salvages P2 for Mercedes after first lap spin

The Mercedes factory team were desperate to put their disastrous double-DNF in Austria behind them. And everything was looking up after their ace Lewis Hamilton took the pole on Saturday and seemed set for another superlative Silverstone run come race day, a contest he had won four times on the trot. But all went sideways for the English pole sitter on the opening lap of his home British Grand Prix. After spinning his wheels when the lights went out leading to a slow getaway he lost the lead to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, his chief title rival and Hamilton also saw his teammate Valtteri Bottas get by him dropping him to P3. Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen smelled blood and made a move on Hamilton going into the tight Village complex. It didn’t come off and instead the veteran Finn pitched Hamilton into a spin. Fortunately for the English title contender his Silver Arrow was undamaged and he didn’t stall. But Raikonnen’s impetuous move saw Hamilton plunge all the way down to 18th in the order as the field hurtled past him, a long fall from grace from his top starting spot. From being favored to win Hamilton’s race was now about damage control but the four time World Champion set about that task brilliantly.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

First Hamilton ran longer than the two Ferraris, coming in for Medium tires three laps later than the Prancing Horses on Lap 25. He was also helped by a 10-second time penalty to Raikkonen for causing their first lap incident but it still didn’t look like it would be enough to get Hamilton back into podium position. However, a lurid crash by Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson on Lap 33 brought out a Safety Car (the Swede was unhurt) and while both Ferrari and Red Bull decided to pit yet again for fresh rubber Mercedes gambled and stayed out. While that trick hasn’t worked out too well this season for the team — see the debacle at Austria that was obscured by their twin mechanical failures  — it did this time, as both Hamilton and Bottas made up buckets of track position. After the stops were done Vettel’s Ferrari came out sandwiched between Hamilton in P3 and Bottas in P1. And while Hamilton voiced his doubts he and Bottas’ older tires were helped yet again by another Safety Car on Lap 38-39 when Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’ Romain Grosjean came together leading to a big accident (again, both drivers were unharmed).

Even with these respites under caution, Bottas was not up to the challenge of holding off Vettel on old rubber despite his best efforts. The German’s Ferrari finally made a strong pass for the lead on Lap 48. Bottas’ tires appeared to be spent, as next his teammate Hamilton got by him for P2 on the following lap. And then Raikkonen, who had an excellent dice to pass Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and really drove a storming race to recover from his penalty, picked off his fellow Finn for the last place on the podium. That’s how it stayed until the end of this 52-lap contest, as Vettel could never be caught, bringing his Prancing Horse home over 2 seconds in front of Hamilton’s Merc. Along with Raikonnen’s P3 finish that extended Ferrari’s lead in the Constructors’ points to 20 and Vettel’s victory saw him extend his Drivers’ lead to 8 over Hamilton. Ferrari have the momentum but it is hardly decisive at this stage of the season and Hamilton did well to recover for that valuable P2. Mercedes have two weeks to figure out how to maximize their race pace and defend what they regard as their rightful possession in this turbo-hybrid era — the Formula 1 Championship — from Maranello’s spirited 2018 onslaught.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 52 1:27:29.784 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 +2.264s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 52 +3.652s 15
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 52 +8.883s 12
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 52 +9.500s 10
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 52 +28.220s 8
7 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 52 +29.930s 6
8 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 52 +31.115s 4
9 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 52 +33.188s 2
10 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 52 +34.708s 0

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time, the German Grand Prix at Hockenhiem. Hope to see you then see how it all shakes out!