Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz grabbed his maiden F1 race victory in a thrilling British Grand Prix in 2022 that included plenty of on-track drama, high-speed crashes and a breath-taking safety car restart. Sainz grabbed the Grand Prix win after passing his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc during the safety car restart on fresher tyres, and the Spaniard finished ahead of the Red Bull of Sergio Perez in P2 and hometown hero Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.
It was a frenzied weekend of action at Silverstone that culminated in an incredible 10-lap showdown that saw five cars from five different constructors fighting for P2, and here are the four things we learned from the 2022 British Grand Prix.
View this post on Instagram
The mega first-lap crash at the 2022 British Grand Prix involving five cars provided another sobering reminder of the brutality of the sport of F1 and the extreme risks the drivers take when entering the cockpit. However, the star of the show on Sunday was once again the Halo device, which protected Zhou Guanyo as he spun upside down at high-speed after being hit by George Russell and was lodged in between the tyre wall and fencing at turn one.
The Halo previously prevented major accidents for Charles Leclerc (Spa 18’), Nico Hulkenberg (Abu Dhabi 18’), Romain Grosjean (Bahrain 20’), and Lewis Hamilton (Monza 21’), and the safety feature did its job again to protect the Alfa Romeo driver at Silverstone. There was plenty of pushback from F1 drivers and teams when the Halo was introduced in 2018, but following another miraculous intervention, we can all be glad of the developments made by F1 and the FIA to ensure the drivers’ safety.
View this post on Instagram
In a race that saw each of the top three in the driver’s championship – Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Charles Leclerc – suffer lasting damage to their car, Carlos Sainz seized the opportunity to grab his maiden victory in F1. The Ferrari driver becomes just the second Spaniard to win an F1 race after Fernando Alonso and the first racer since Pastor Maldonado in Barcelona 2012 to convert their maiden pole position in Formula One into their first victory.
Sainz has been one of the most consistent drivers on the grid in the past few years, and after starting 150 races across seven seasons, the Spaniard deservedly took his place on the top step of the podium. Despite taking pole on Saturday at Silverstone, Sainz struggled in his first stint in the race, unable to match Leclerc and Hamilton’s pace on the medium tyres. However, the Spaniard kept himself in the contest and grabbed his opportunity during the safety car restart, passing Leclerc on newer tyres and storming out in front to give Ferrari their first win in the 2022 F1 season since the Australian Grand Prix.
View this post on Instagram
For the third race in succession in the 2022 F1 season, a Mercedes driver found themselves on the podium. The Silver Arrows showed plenty of promise in Canada and Azerbaijan, and the Mercedes was arguably the fastest car on the grid at Silverstone. Although George Russell’s incredible run of finishing in the top five in every race ended with his lap one crash, Lewis Hamilton picked up the slack. If not for a slow pit stop, the seven-time World Champion could have been on the top step of the podium, and the Mercedes driver showed enough raw pace to be battling with Ferrari and Red Bull at the top of the grid.
View this post on Instagram
After six Red Bull race victories in a row, Ferrari were presented with the perfect opportunity to reduce the points gap to the championship leaders after both Verstappen and Perez suffered damage to their cars in the opening stint of the British Grand Prix. However, the strategy from the prancing horse once again left a lot to be desired. The team failed to make a swift decision and enforce team orders to let Leclerc pass the struggling Sainz in the opening stint of the race, resulting in both cars losing time to Lewis Hamilton in P3. To make matters worse, Ferrari failed to react quickly and pit Leclerc during the safety car period despite having 11 seconds to make a decision, causing the Monegasque to be a sitting duck on the restart and miss out on a podium place.
In a Grand Prix where Ferrari should have feasibly taken the maximum points on offer, the scarlet car had to settle for P1 and P4, just 13 more than what Red Bull managed in their worst race since Melbourne.
[Featured Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool]
Shivaan Shah