F1
Silverstone Marred By Max Crash
Checo finishes P16 and fastest lap, as Max has first lap crash to end his British Grand Prix.
Max’s hopes of scoring a sixth win of the season at Silverstone were over within moments of the start of the British Grand Prix when a collision involving Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton saw the Dutch driver crash out of the race and bring out the red flags. Hamilton was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision and was the eventual home race winner.
Lights Out And Away We Go
© Getty Images
Starting from pole position, Max made a good getaway at lights out and took the lead as the field streamed through the first corner. Hamilton, though, was quickly on the attack and Max continued to hold the lead, particularly with a move through Woodcote.
The Mercedes driver then went for the overtake once again on the high-speed run to Copse. The Brit went down the inside of Max and as he turned in, the Mercedes clipped the right-rear wheel of the Dutchman’s RB16B and the Bull span off at high speed, hitting the wall in a huge impact, destroying the left-hand side of the car.
Fortunately, Max managed to climb out of the car by himself, however, following an assessment by the trackside doctors at Silverstone Circuit Medical Centre, the Dutchman was taken to a local hospital for further precautionary tests.
With the tyre barrier severely damaged the race was soon red flagged. The race stewards quickly placed the incident under investigation while Max was taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary checks, following what was later reported as a 51G impact.
Under the red flag, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was in first place, the Ferrari driver having passed Hamilton on track in the immediate aftermath of Max’s crash. And after a 35-minute stoppage the cars formed up on the grid once again.
When the lights went out, Leclerc made a good getaway from pole position to maintain the lead ahead of Hamilton, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas third ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
At the back, Checo took the restart from P19 on the grid but he was quickly on the march and within a handful of laps he had climbed to 12th place and was chasing down AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. At the front, Hamilton was hit with a 10-second time penalty by the race stewards.
Perez On The Charge
© Getty Images
Sergio continued to chase Gasly but with Räikkönen less than a second ahead of the Frenchman and getting DRS from the Finn, the Mexican couldn’t get close enough to attack.
He then chose to make his first pit stop on lap 19 and after taking on medium tyres he was soon back up to P12, a little under nine seconds behind the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda who had yet to pit for fresh tyres.
At the front, Leclerc was experiencing difficulties with his engine and that gave Hamilton hope that he might attack for the lead but the Ferrari driver managed to solve the issues with the aid of his pit wall.
Hamilton then made his way to the pit lane on lap 28 and served his ten-second time penalty, where he switched to a set of hard tyres and re-joined in P5. Leclerc made his stop soon after and he was able to resume in the lead.
Gasly made his sole pit stop in the same phase and when he emerged, it was behind Checo who rose to P9 as the pit stops played out.
Checo In For A Pit Stop
© Getty Images
Once again, though, Checo found himself in another DRS train with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll around eight tenths ahead and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso about the same distance in front of the Aston.
The result was that Sergio pitted again on lap 39 for another set of mediums and dropped back to P17. That became P16 as he swiftly powered past Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and eventually made his way up to P12.
At the front, Hamilton had overcome his penalty and was pushing to catch Leclerc. The Monégasque driver resisted as hard as he could, but with two laps remaining Hamilton, armed with fresher tyres and more pace, powered past to claim the lead and then the race win.
Checo Claims The Fastest Lap
© Getty Images
With Sergio looking likely to finish outside the points, the Team chose to bring him into the pit lane for a final change of tyres. This time he was given a set of soft tyres and in the closing moments he grabbed the fastest lap of the race, with a 1:26.617. However, due to finishing outside the top 10 it didn’t earn him a point.
Behind Hamilton and Leclerc, Bottas took third place ahead of Norris, with Daniel Ricciardo fifth in the second McLaren. Carlos Sainz fought back from a slow pit stop to finish sixth in the second Ferrari, while Fernando Alonso took P7 for Alpine. Lance Stroll finished eighth for Aston Martin ahead of Esteban Ocon and the final point was taken by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
What Was Said
Checo
I’m very disappointed with my weekend and my performance.
“I’m very disappointed with my weekend and my performance. I wasn’t able to make as much progress as expected and found myself in a very difficult position with the tyres. As soon as we were in the DRS train it was impossible to overtake people. I think P7 was possible today, with a couple more laps I think I could have got Lance and Fernando but in the end for strategic reasons we decided to stop to take the fastest lap.
It’s a weekend for us to forget, but the most important thing that Max is okay.
"It’s a weekend for us to forget and we lost a lot of ground in the Championship, we need to regroup, work hard and come back as strong as possible in Hungary. I need to re-watch the incident with Max and Lewis as I haven’t seen it, but the most important thing that Max is okay.”
Christian Horner
We are all just thankful Max was able to walk away from the car, despite later being taken to hospital for precautionary checks.
“This is an incredibly difficult way to end the British Grand Prix weekend and it goes without saying that we are all just thankful Max was able to walk away from the car, despite later being taken to hospital for precautionary checks, where he currently remains for observation. I have reviewed the footage many times and still cannot help but feel that putting a wheel up the inside at Copse, one of the fastest corners in this World Championship, was ill-judged and a huge risk by Lewis to both drivers. He was not significantly alongside Max as you can see from the point of contact, Lewis’ front left to Max’s right rear. The move was never on and resulted in a 51G impact for Max. We are in contact with Max and Jos and will provide an update later today.
All this weekend will do is add fire to our Championship fight.
"For Checo, it was also not an easy afternoon and after starting from the pit lane and making early progress through the field he was stuck in a mid-field DRS train creating high tyre degradation. We therefore opted to pit him towards the end of the race in order to secure fastest lap. We come away with a slim lead in both Championships and you can be sure that once we have had time to reflect on today, all this weekend will do is add fire to our Championship fight.”
British Grand Prix Top 10
Position
Driver
Team
1
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
3
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
4
Lando Norris
McLaren
5
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
6
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
7
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
8
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
9
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
10
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
…
…
…
16
Sergio Pérez
Red Bull Racing Honda
DNF
Max Verstappen
Red Bull Racing Honda