As far as British grands prix go the 2022 edition will live long in the memory. And no one else will remember it more vividly or fondly than Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari driver, in his 150th race, has finally climbed to the top step of the podium. It wasn’t a straightforward march to victory by anyone’s measure, but it is a popular one up and down the paddock.
Saturday had already proven to be a stand-out day for Sainz who secured his first pole position is tricky, changeable conditions. Max Verstappen would pounce quickly at the race start however and snatch the lead at the outset.
But the racing action was short lived as moments later race control red flagged the race. A horrific crash for Zhou Guanyu saw the Alfa Romeo barrel roll it’s way across the turn 1 gravel trap and slam into the catch fence that lines the perimeter of the track. There were anxious moments as everyone waited for news on Zhou’s condition. The delay in updates was because the extraction team was taking some time to remove the driver from the wreck. Nevertheless, testament to the safety of F1, and the HALO, Zhou escaped a horrifying incident without any injuries. Further down the field a second crash off the start line pitched Alex Albon into the concrete pitwall and necessitated a pre-cautionary trip to the hospital for the Williams driver. Ultimately, Albon too escaped injury.
The first-lap melee also lay claim to George Russell. The Merc driver, with significant damage to his car, climbed out of his cockpit and ran over the the Guanyu’s wreck. Russell’s car was transported back to the pits on the back of a truck. And try as he might he could not convince the FIA to allow him to re-start the race. The regulation clearly states that any car that receives outside assistance, in this case the flatbed truck, will not be permitted to restart the race. Ironically, Russell has teammate Hamilton to thank for this rule. It was after Hamilton himself was craned back onto the track at the 2007 European Grand Prix that this particular rule was introduced.
Nearly one hour later the race commenced in the original starting grid order. The reason for this being that the field had not yet reached the second safety car line. This time Sainz was able to maintain the lead, but teammate Leclerc scrapped with Checo Perez for third place. Both cars lost some bits and pieces off their front-wing, but Perez seemed to be worse off and was forced into the pits for a replacement wing. It dropped the Mexican driver to dead last.
Meanwhile, Verstappen clearly the quicker car was tenths away from Sainz and seemingly primed for an overtake. He didn’t have to work hard though as a slight mistake from Sainz, in the Maggots-Becketts complex, allowed Verstappen into the lead. But his ascendency would short-lived as Verstappen pitted with what he thought was a puncture. He emerged well down the field with a car her termed “100% broken” and ultimately held on for a lowly seventh place finish. As it were, floor damage is what felled the Red Bull.
As Ferrari took their time to figure out a strategy between their two drivers Hamilton was closing, from third, on the pair of them. The solution was to put Sainz on lap 20 thereby releasing Leclerc. Five laps later Leclerc pitted from the lead while Hamilton pitted on lap 33. Meanwhile Ferrari had released Leclerc from behind Sainz and the Monegasque was making hay. Despite quite a bit of damage to his front-wing, from the opening lap, Leclerc was easily extending the gap over Sainz and Hamilton.
But a few laps later the safety car was deployed to enable the recovery of Esteban Ocon’s stricken Alpine. In true Ferrari fashion Leclerc was left out on old hard tyres while Sainz and Hamilton both fitted new softs. It was a non-sensical but unsurprising decision by Ferrari who has made somewhat of a tradition of bad strategy calls. The restart saw Sainz take the lead of the race and head off towards a welcome first career win.
Behind the dice between Perez, Leclerc, and Hamilton sent the capacity crowd into raptures. As the three swopped position turn after turn it out on display the absolute finest of F1 racing.
While Sainz cleared off in p1 Checo Perez completed a stunning comeback from last place to second. Hamilton secured a fine third place while Leclerc held on to fourth. I’m fight was Fernando Alonso with Lando Norris in sixth. Max Verstappen just held on to seventh from a feisty Mick Schumacher in eighth. Schumacher’s eighth place secure his first points in F1. On his birthday Seb Vettel was ninth ahead of Kevin Magnussen in tenth.
