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Lewis Hamilton took the win in controversial circumstances to round off an experimental weekend for F1 which tested the concept of a sprint qualifying session. Here are the biggest takeaways from round 10 of the 2021 F1 Championship.
Hamilton and Verstappen clash: Was it a racing incident?
For over 24 hours since title rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided at Copse corner on lap one, the debate has been ongoing of who was at fault. Many fans suggest that it was a racing incident whereas others say that it was the fault of either driver.
The duo have ran wheel-to-wheel with each other on the opening lap all season, so the unfortunate event of a collision would be a matter of when not if and it happened at Silverstone.
Both drivers’ onboard shot suggests that Verstappen did everything in his power to give Hamilton enough space to complete the overtake. The Dutchman moved to cover the inside line, as he did identically at the start of Saturday’s Sprint, however, Hamilton ducked further inside forcing the Red Bull man to move back to the left side of the track in order to give the Mercedes driver adequate room for the battle to continue.
Unfortunately, the battle only lasted a handful of meters.
As former F1 driver Karun Chandhok correctly pointed out in his analysis during Sky Sports F1’s broadcast of the race, Verstappen opened up his steering slightly to run wider to give the Brit even more room up the inside of turn nine.
ANALYSED@karunchandhok reviews the incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
?: @SkySportsF1
?: https://t.co/CkqLNAZAQx#SkyF1 #BritishGP ?? pic.twitter.com/CEnVaBzxzb— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 18, 2021
Alternatively, when presented with the aerial view of the accident, it shows that Verstappen slightly pinched Hamilton of space, which led to Chandhok concluding his opinion being that it was a racing incident.
Although the general consensus of many polls across social media was that it was the fault of eventual winner Hamilton, the debate continues to roll on and will do for some time.
The next huge talking point regarding the lap one incident was the severity of the penalty that alleged culprit Hamilton received from race direction. The Mercedes driver was dealt a 10-second penalty, which is the second smallest physical penalty a driver can be punished with, as well as having two penalty points awarded to his super-licence.
Some Formula 1 fans struggled to get their heads around this, as on the previous day during the Sprint qualifying, another British fan favourite, George Russell, was handed three penalty points and demoted three places for Sunday’s race after he locked up at turn six, resulting in an accidental collision with Carlos Sainz.
On the time-penalty front, many fans thought this was too little of a punishment as only a fortnight ago in Austria, Yuki Tsunoda received two five-second penalties for narrowly running wide of the pit-lane entry line. Fast-forward to Silverstone, Hamilton receives the same penalty for prematurely ending his championship rival’s race.
Sprint qualifying: Did it have a positive impact on the weekend?
Silverstone played host to F1’s inaugural sprint qualifying on Saturday evening where Verstappen took the victory, collecting three bonus championship points in the process by dominating the race after he breezed past Hamilton.
The opening lap saw Fernando Alonso gain six places which played a huge part in the Spaniard starting seventh for Sunday’s Grand Prix, ultimately saving his weekend.
On the other side of the fortunes, Sergio Perez’s mistake on the exit of Chapel saw him spin, dropping from seventh place down to plum last. The Mexican’s misfortunes continued overnight as he was forced to start from the pit lane as significant repairs had to be done to his Red Bull car, breaking parc-ferme regulations.
What fans enjoyed about the new format is that there was more racing on track without any form of pit strategy involved, which has often been the deciding factor in many races over recent years. For 17 laps, the drivers ran flat-out with a free choice of fresh tyres providing plenty of battles up and down the field, perfect for fans with shorter attention spans.
Also, each day that F1 were in action over the weekend provided an important session that played a large role in determining the outcome of Sunday’s race, but it also gave those drivers who had a poor qualifying on Friday to have another chance of starting higher up on the grid for the Grand Prix.
On the other hand, for some, it felt bizarre having the race grid decided by a separate race. This took away some excitement from the race as fans already had an idea how the race could pan out.
The next trial of this format comes during round 14 of the season in September at the Italian Grand Prix, where we’ll have seen Sprint qualifying at a high top-speed track as well as a high-downforce circuit and be able to draw comparisons of the two weekends.
Ferrari’s strong front-running pace
After the lap one collision between Hamilton and Verstappen, Charles Leclerc took the opportunity to inherit the race lead before the red flag was eventually bought out.
The Monegasque held the lead for 46 laps after the restart despite several power unit problems, before he was overtaken by Hamilton at Copse on lap 50.
Leclerc posted several fastest laps over the course of his time out in front and was continuing to pull away from the Brit until the pit stop window where the seven-time world champion observed his 10-second penalty.
Even still, the Ferrari man was maintaining a comfortable gap to Bottas in second, however, Hamilton upped the pace and got past his teammate before catching the Monegasque driver which in the end meant Leclerc had to settle for second place, his best finish so far this season.
His teammate Sainz had a good race himself after starting 11th. The Spaniard finished in sixth narrowly behind McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo but would’ve finished higher if not for an unfortunate pit stop mishap.
Although the Italian outfit have struggled to post many pole challenging laps, although Leclerc has taken two so far this season, the Scuderia have managed to string together strong laps in the races which has seen them finish in and around the top five as well as clinching two podium finishes.
Esteban Ocon returns to the points
After what has been a tough few weeks for the Frenchman after signing a three-year contract extension with Alpine, Ocon made a welcome return to the top 10.
The 24-year-old has endured a troublesome time lately, with poor qualifying results meaning he could only score two P14 finishes alongside retiring from two races.
Ocon’s form looks to be on the up after a solid outing at Silverstone, clinching Alpine’s first double-points finish since the Portuguese Grand Prix in April.
The Frenchman only lost out to Lance Stroll, who eventually finished eighth after starting in 14th, but Verstappen’s retirement meant that Ocon was able to finish in the points for the first time in five races.
It wasn’t quite to be for George Russell
Off the back of promising showings at Spielberg where the Brit narrowly missed out on a points finish, the Williams team and fans alike came into the British Grand Prix full of hope that Russell would finally score his maiden points for the team.
It looked promising for the Brit in Friday’s qualifying where he qualified in eighth for Saturday’s Sprint qualifying after an outstanding set of laps throughout the session.
Russell drove a heroic race, finishing ninth, but with the Brit’s unfortunate luck this season, the one race he finishes in the top 10, points were only awarded to the top three finishers.
The 23-year-old’s luck continued to get worse as he was later given a three-place grid penalty for a collision with Sainz, something that the F1 fanbase deemed ‘unnecessarily harsh and unfair.’
He started 12th for Sunday’s Grand Prix, however wasn’t able to replicate the previous heroics as he finished 12th.
Following a disappointing home race, Russell gave his thoughts to the Williams media team:
“We made a poor getaway initially on the first start but a really good one on the second.
“Sadly, we had already lost a few positions. When you have 50 or 60 laps in a race the true pace of the car comes out and realistically, we are still slightly slower than Alpha Tauri, Alpine and Aston Martin right now.”
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