British Grand Prix – The best/worst of the editorial staff

At the end of this colorful Grand Prix, the MotorsInside editorial team gives you its top/flop and there is plenty to debate!

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Rédigé par Par

We had a lively weekend. New session format, heightened tensions between the two contenders for the driver’s title, close gaps in the pack, and presentation of the F1 2022 model.

There is plenty to write and debate about this explosive race. Everyone will form their own opinion on the crash in the first lap between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, but we will not go back to it here.

Let’s start with the three disappointments of this race – the flop 3.

Sergio Perez next to his sneakers

Slightly behind its leader in the timed lap exercise, the Mexican driver had to seize the opportunity of the sprint qualifying to move closer to the front positions.

It was not the case. The big blunder during this 17-lap race could have cost him much more.

With a lot of luck, he doesn’t crash his car, but his race on Sunday is in line with his start of the weekend: lack of pace and nervousness in some actions.

After Max Verstappen’s off-track excursion, he becomes Red Bull’s only hope of scoring points in the constructors’ championship.

He doesn’t bring back any, he finishes outside the Top 10 despite setting the fastest lap in the final moments of the race. He also stands out at the end of the race by excessively closing the door on Kimi Räikkönen. This results in the Finn spinning out and ruining his race.

A race to forget. However, it is necessary to quickly regain composure. His contract is only for one year, and other drivers are knocking on his door. Especially a certain Pierre Gasly.

The AlphaTauri are lacking pace.

The two drivers completed an anonymous race.

The new format has complicated the lives of the men from Faenza. Following FP1, the cars return to Parc Fermé procedure. No further modifications are possible during the weekend.

Lacking pace from the qualifying rounds, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda failed to reach Q3 in qualifying or the top 10 in the sprint race.

In the race, the Japanese driver secures the tenth place point by a hair’s breadth. Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly finishes 11th.

Misunderstanding of the new format or loss of rhythm beginning to set in towards the end of the season?

A pointless FP2 session

Between the Friday qualifying session and the Saturday evening qualifying race, the FP2 takes place on Saturday.

Given that the cars cannot be modified since the end of FP1, what is the purpose of this session?

A point to be reviewed in view of the adoption of this new race format.

The top 3

A new dynamic weekend format

Except for the FP2 session, this new way of approaching a race weekend has actually livened up the pace over the three days.

In 1 hour of free practice 1, drivers must adjust the cars for the remaining sessions.

Then the qualification comes very quickly, and for this one we experienced a great moment of suspense at each stage. The idea of imposing the softest tires gives the exercise of the fastest lap its full meaning.

The big positive point goes to this 17-lap race. Drivers are caught between two ways of acting:

– être agressif pour tenter de glaner des positions en vue de la course du lendemain, au risque de tour perdre comme Sergio Perez.

– être plutôt conservateur au risque de perdre du rythme et donc des places.

On Saturday, luck favored the bold. Alonso and Räikkönen, on red tires, managed to gain positions. Max Verstappen gave it his all to regain the lead.

In any case, we experienced a dynamic race, with overtaking, suspense, and audacity.

Charles Leclerc told Canal + microphone that he is more exhausted after a sprint like this than after the Sunday race while managing.

Charles Leclerc: opportunist and conquering.

Elected driver of the day by the fans, the Monegasque driver deserves this honorary title. He drove a perfect race.

From the start, he masterfully takes the lead from Valtteri Bottas to claim third place. Then he contently follows the Hamilton/Verstappen battle. It served him well, as he quickly seizes the lead at Copse without hesitation.

In the early stages of the race, nothing disturbed his calm while leading the race and having to hold off a Lewis Hamilton in search of success. Not even his regular engine cuts, which he managed perfectly with the help of his engineer.

Leading until two laps from the checkered flag, Charles Leclerc has to settle for second place, almost synonymous with victory.

His car was clearly slower than the Mercedes, especially on hard tires. He managed to secure a very impressive second place in a smart way. Important points gained for the Scuderia.

Lewis Hamilton untouchable at home

Winner 6 times in the last 7 editions, Lewis Hamilton once again proved that he is unbeatable at home. A rollercoaster, for a difficult race and in the end an eighth victory at Silverstone since the start of his career in 2007.

This year, he doesn’t necessarily have the fastest car on the grid, but he has on his side his determination, his skill, and his management of effort.

Despite a potentially catastrophic start to the race for his car (thank you red flag). And despite a 10-second penalty, imposed for being judged guilty of the accident with Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton was able to bounce back and wait for his moment to win.

Hamilton remained true to himself. Towards the end of the race, he was able to draw on his mental and physical resources to expertly take the lead of the race.

Well supported by an electrified audience fully committed to his cause, he achieves here a superb victory.

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