History for Hamilton, fun for the fans.
With some help from a fortunately timed safety car, Lewis Hamilton took a record-breaking victory at the 2019 British Grand Prix.
Having been pipped to pole position by his teammate Valtteri Bottas on Saturday, Hamilton came out of the blocks quickly and looked thoroughly determined to make amends. After a few laps getting increasingly close to the Finn’s gearbox, Hamilton made his move with a clever cut-back through Brooklands and looked to have the job done. But Bottas had other ideas. With the passionate home crowd still roaring, he pulled back alongside Hamilton and regained the lead into Copse Corner.
That was to prove the championship-leader’s best opportunity as he spent the rest of the first stint generally between 0.5 and 0.8 seconds behind. But when Bottas pitted on lap 16, Hamilton and his team saw an opportunity to mix up their strategy. He stayed out as long as he could, knowing that Bottas would need to stop again, with the aim of a one-stop race and the hope for a safety car. The latter duly obliged. By that point however, Hamilton had already put himself into a commanding position.
Even without a safety car, he was about to pit and rejoin a couple of seconds behind his teammate. Hamilton could then have sat behind Bottas, waiting for him to pit again and he showed just how much extra pace he had when he set the fastest lap on the last lap of the race, despite being on 30-lap-old hard tyres.
Bottas was actually fortunate to retain his 2nd place as those behind him had also pitted under the safety car and he was the only driver in the top six that needed to pit again. As it was, some antics from those following made his job far easier.
The Action Behind the Mercedes
Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen picked up where they left off in Austria and this time the young Ferrari driver was going to make sure he gave as good as he got. He defended magnificently – at times towards the boundaries of acceptability, but always within them – lap after lap, in a battle that will likely be remembered for a long time to come and continues what is shaping into a fantastic rivalry. However, for all his excellent work, the Red Bull team produced a quicker pit stop which edged Verstappen out in front. Leclerc was not done though and immediately seized on a mistake by the Dutchman to regain his position. They then continued their fight until the safety car, where a delayed stop for Lelerc left him down in 6th.
Sebastian Vettel benefitted the most from the safety car and found himself up in 3rd on a weekend where he had been consistently off the pace. Verstappen, having been let past his team mate Pierre Gasly, began to close the gap on Vettel and on Lap 37 he made a move around the outside of Stowe. He was ahead but had ran slightly wide which allowed the German to close back up as they approached the chicane at the end of Vale. Vettel aimed for a small gap that was barely there and, once Verstappen had fully closed it off, was over-committed and had nowhere to go but into the back of the Red Bull. In desperation, he locked up and slammed into Verstappen’s gearbox, sending him flying sideways over the chicane.
Verstappen impressively kept the car moving through the gravel and would recover to 5th, whilst Vettel had damaged his Ferrari more significantly and, once a ten-second penalty had been added on, would finish dead last.
It is another high profile mistake from the four-time world champion and will increase the pressure on him even further as we approach the German Grand Prix – the scene of his infamous crash last year that caused a swing in the championship he would never recover from and marked the beginning of this series of mistakes that has now run the length of an entire season. His young teammate has seemingly rectified his qualifying issues – having said he had changed his approach after the Canadian Grand Prix – and is now looking thoroughly the stronger Ferrari driver. Indeed, despite the issues with strategy and slow pit stops that were out of his control, he recovered to finish 3rd after the drama had unfolded ahead of him, and described it as “the race I enjoyed most in my F1 career”.
More Drama Throughout the Field
The action was not limited to the front six cars. Lando Norris continued his excellent form to run as best of the rest early on in the race, having passed the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo and then held him off impressively. However, it was his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who was the biggest benefactor of the safety car in the midfield, with it promoting him to 7th place, having started 13th. The Spaniard then did well to hold off an eager-to-divebomb Ricciardo for the final few laps and inherited 6th after the Vettel-Verstappen incident. The safety car sadly had the opposite affect on Norris who was left in the same situation as Bottas – but without a Mercedes to recover the lost time of a second stop – and ended 11th.
Haas had another weekend to forget. Amid ongoing dramas with their joke of a title sponsor, Rich Energy – seriously, they formulate tweets that read like a Donald Trump parody account – their two drivers crashed into each other on the first lap and were then soon forced to retire. What looked a promising season, when they qualified in 6th and 7th at the season-opener, has turned into a nightmare. They are now on average the second slowest car, particularly on Sundays as they continue to struggle with the tyres, and Romain Grosjean is surely wearing his team’s patience paper-thin with his current run of errors – even managing to spin into the wall at the pit exit during Practice 1.
A Few Extra Shout-Outs
The sheer amount of action in the race has left little room for much more analysis, so just a few quick words for those who deserve them.
Pierre Gasly had a long-overdue but nonetheless much-improved weekend. With the aim of helping him find some form, the Red Bull bosses decided he would be given Verstappen’s setup, with just the ability to tweak a few aspects to his liking. It seems to have worked wonders as he was the faster Red Bull through the practice sessions, came much closer to matching his teammate in qualifying and then finished a season-best 4th, having been in amongst the action of the top 6 throughout the race. He now needs to keep this up to reduce the rumours around his seat as silly season heats up.
Daniil Kvyat, having been somewhat put in his place on Saturday by teammate Alexander Albon, slowly but surely made his way up from 17th on the grid to finish an impressive 8th. Albon though was unfortunate on Sunday and further enhanced his reputation through the weekend on a track where he took the victory in F2 last year.
Speaking of last year’s F2, the 2018 champion, George Russell, continued his clean sweep over Robert Kubica on Saturday and then converted that to a best-ever finishing position of 14th in the race. Williams are slowly closing the gap on the midfield and it is Russell who is generally passing any cars that drop near him.
Although Hamilton’s 26 points were the only ones gained by British drivers at the British Grand Prix, Norris, Russell and Albon are all showing that British motorsport – or Thai-British motorsport in Albon’s case – has a very bright future.
Answering the Burning Questions
Can Red Bull and/or Ferrari take momentum from their performance in Austria and challenge Mercedes again? Ferrari looked closer earlier on but come race day it was Red Bull who may have challenged, had Verstappen been able to pass Leclerc. Mercedes were most likely in a class of one again though.
Will there be another controversial stewarding decision to make? The Vettel penalty was pretty much a slam dunk and the fact nothing between Leclerc and Verstappen was even investigated is pleasingly consistent.
Will McLaren continue to cement their place at the front of the midfield? Yes. Norris was unfortunate whilst Sainz was fortunate. Renault were certainly closer but it’s McLaren who came out with the most points.
Is Gasly capable of a decent result that would alleviate at least some pressure? Yes!
Can Hamilton make amends for last year’s British GP disappointment and send the home crowd wild? And if so, will he crowdsurf again? Yes and yes.
