Another controversy or a race full of emotions: How did the British Grand Prix turn out?

The tenth race on the Formula 1 World Championship calendar is now behind us, and it was a very attractive Grand Prix indeed! We saw Max Verstappen’s horrific crash, problems in the pits and plenty of on-track battles. Who won in the UK?

At 16:00, all five lights went out and racing began at Silverstone, UK. It was a fantastic race from the very first lap, with tough and hard fought battles between two of the most serious players in the battle for the championship title.

A great sight for the eye of the beholder indeed. However, at the ninth corner of the second lap, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton came into contact with each other, culminating in a terrible accident for the Dutch driver.

A few moments after this collision, Toto Wolff (head of the Mercedes AMG F1 stable – ed.) reportedly sent a diagram to race director Michael Masi, which was supposed to show where the Formula One cars were supposed to be at the incriminated turn 9.

However, it was of no use to Wolff, and the sports commissioners subsequently ruled clearly – Hamilton received a ten-second penalty for causing the accident. Was it really a penalty? Or was it just a racing incident?

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is even leaning towards a harsher penalty. What kind? According to him, the seven-time world champion shouldn’t even start the next Grand Prix! “In normal sporting regulations you can’t do that. I don’t know what the maximum penalty would be, but such dangerous and reckless behaviour should be punished with a ban or something like that.”

The race was, of course, stopped by race management via red flags. Verstappen was then taken to a local hospital, but as far as we know only for further precautionary tests.

However, this tenth event on the Formula One calendar was thrilling right up to the very end, thanks to tyre problems. There were also some beautiful duels on the track.

Silverstone is a renowned circuit for really bad tyre degradation, after all, even the hardest specification marked in white was very worn out after almost twenty laps.

Despite a ten-second penalty, Hamilton drove to victory, a home win, it should be noted. Apart from 2018, the British driver has won here every time since the 2014 season. “It was a very physically demanding race. Of course, I accept the penalty for the accident with Max, but I am proud of my car and my team. And also how we were able to work our way back during the race.”

Hamilton took the race lead with two laps to go when he passed Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver described Sunday’s race as incredible. And no wonder, after previous Grands Prix, it was finally a race where the Italian Maranello stable produced a decent result.

“It was a really incredible race. I gave it everything, but it was still not enough to win in the last two laps. Anyway, I’m proud of my team, we’ve done a lot of work and we have a tough rest of the season ahead of us,” Leclerc said in a post-race interview.

Both McLaren drivers also had solid results. Lando Norris, who had problems fixing his right rear wheel during his pit-stop, finished fourth. Daniel Ricciardo eventually defended fifth position ahead of Ferrari’s second driver, Carlos Sainz.

So what is the final order of Sunday’s race?

1. Hamilton, 2nd Leclerc, 3rd Bottas, 4th Norris, 5th Ricciardo, 6th Sainz, 7th Alonso, 8th Stroll, 9th Ocon, 10th Cunoda, 11th Gasly, 12th Russell, 13th Giovinazzi, 14th Latifi, 15th Räikkönen, 16th Pérez, 17th Mazepin, 18th Schumacher.

In addition to Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin did not finish the race. Sergio Pérez is the fastest lap holder, Leclerc was voted driver of the day.

Source: F1 Live