Race Report: Leclerc wins British GP

Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari its 250th grand prix victory at the British Grand Prix leading George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. A big 250th milestone weekend as America also celebrated its 250th birthday on a very fitting British GP weekend.

Ferrari might have had a 1, 2 had it not been for a plucky pit call by Mercedes to keep Russell out during the Safety Car while Ferrari boxed Lewis Hamilton ceding 2nd place.

Win

A win for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc who had a real reset and return to form at Silverstone. A pole position converted to victory as he led most of the race and didn’t put a foot wrong. There was a moment when he seemed a sitting duck as Kim Antonelli was pulling him in on fresher tires but Antonelli’s mechanical issue allowed Charles to secure the win. Hamilton had a yellow flag investigation that resulted in no penalty. Max lifted briefly, Lewis did not. Seems a bit like homefield advantage there.

A win for George Russell and Mercedes for making the right call to secure P2. George had a rough race going with a late-race slow puncture that he had to box for but the Safety Car period for Max Verstappen’s crash gave them a window to protect track position while Ferrari chose to box Lewis Hamilton. This gave George P2 and narrowed the gap to Kimi Antonelli in the championship.

A win for Lando Norris and Isack Hadjar to finish P4 and P5 respectively as Max’s crash gave them a decent result. McLaren struggled this weekend but Lando’s P4 is a decent result. Isack did a terrific job all weekend and made the most of Max’s exit from the race.

A terrific win for Racing Bulls who brought both cars home in P6 and P7 for Liam Lawson and Arvid Linblad respectively. They move ever closer to Alpine for best of the rest and finished ahead of both of them.

Still a win for Alpine for finishing both cars in the points minimizing the damage in the championship but with both Racing Bulls ahead of them, they did lose ground.

A win for Audi and Gabriel Bortoleto for a terrific P8 result!

Fail

A fail for Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli for the mechanical issues that may have cost him the win. He is delivering at such a high level but to have a mechanical cost you dearly in the championship and race victory, it’s a hard pill to swallow.

A fail for Oscar Piastri who fell afoul of an early race clash that prompted a wing change and left him languishing outside the top 10. A shame after last week’s good result.

A fail for Max Verstappen who crashed late in the race ceding a podium finish. A rare situation for Max and I would say his body language, comments after the crash and overall demeanor this weekend tells me that the rumors of his departure could be very real.

WTH

What is up with a software glitch prompting the confusion about when the Safety Car would end? I know there are a thousand moving pieces during a SC session and it isn’t easy but WEC and IMSA do a better job of managing a race and I think F1 needs to completely re-think their SC process.

I know Ferrari are taking heat for boxing Hamilton during the SC period but it was the right call because no one would have known how long it would take to remove Max’s car. I know, I’m a Ferrari fan, but I’d have made the same call.

David Croft had his Hamilton love engine on full chat this weekend… Wow!

Pirelli Report:

DARIO MARRAFUSCHI – PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR

All teams converged today on a single strategy, the same one our simulations had identified as the quickest. Up until the first Virtual Safety Car, therefore, the Grand Prix did not show significant variation from this perspective, aside from the timing of the switch from Medium to Hard.

The early pit stops by some drivers were also influenced by the level of tyre degradation, which in the opening phase of the race proved higher than observed in previous days, partly due to the higher temperatures recorded on Sunday.

With the first neutralisation, some attempted to take advantage of increased grip by fitting a new set of C2. However, it was the final Safety Car that not only introduced the widespread use of the softest compound, the C3, but also determined the order of the podium finishers.

George Russell was able to secure second place having already made his second pit stop due to debris, while the two Ferrari drivers stopped to fit Soft tyres, anticipating a restart that ultimately did not take place.

Pirelli’s commitment at Silverstone does not end today. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will return to the track, with the support of Mercedes and Williams, for two further days of development testing aimed at defining the construction of next season’s slick tyres.

British GP Results: