One of the scariest starts in history becomes one of the very best F1 races of all time! Let’s review the 2022 British Grand Prix!
Well, where do we even start with that?!
After the rain-washed qualifying we had a bit of a mixed-up grid with Carlos Sainz on Pole from Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
Max got the better start on alternate soft-tyres strategy but an absolute horror crash involving multiple cars saw Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo Sauber grind upside-down on its Halo after a collision with George Russell, through the gravel, and flip over the barrier into the safety fence.
Amazingly, and in huge credit to the safety in modern F1, Zhou walked away completely unscathed; and after another crash in F2, Halo has undoubtedly saved 2 lives this weekend!
A lengthy red-flag period eventually lead to a standing re-start with Sainz back on pole, since a full racing lap had not been completed. Max had switched to mediums during the stop, and that allowed Sainz to stay ahead from the start and pull out.
On lap 10, after leading since the restart, Sainz ran wide through Maggots which allowed Verstappen to take the lead. However, just 2 laps later Verstappen ran wide through Copse, smashed the floor of his Red Bull off the kerb, and allowed Sainz and Leclerc through. The damage relegated Max to finishing a lowly 7th after an entralling late battle with Mick Schumacher, who scored his first ever F1 points in 8th.
With Leclerc pushing in, Sainz boxed early to release Charles to get clear of Lewis, but the Monegasque couldn’t pull a significant gap before boxing himself. On newer tyres, Leclerc was much faster and Sainz eventually had to give way; with Charles eventually pulling a sizeable gap to his teammate.
Hamilton tried going long but a slow pitstop kept him behind both Ferraris when he rejoined!
Late on lap 39, Esteban Ocon grounded to a halt just before Copse, bringing out the Safety Car. Ferrari left Leclerc out but pitted Sainz, with Hamilton following him into the box, both for soft tyres.
Lap 43 saw the racing resume with Leclerc fighting a bit too hard against his teammate on softs. Sainz got through eventually. Hamilton, unusually, was caught napping on the restart and was mugged by Perez. Leclerc fought well on old tyres but eventually the hards gave up the ghost, with Perez & Hamilton passing him, relegating him to finish in 4th.
Carlos Sainz pulled enough of a gap to win his first ever Grand Prix after 150 starts, with Sergio Perez recovering very well from an early front-wing break to finish 2nd, and Lewis Hamilton delighted his home crowd by coming home 3rd.