Back To Business As Usual As Mercedes Dominate At Silverstone

Following Max Verstappen’s brilliant victory for his Red Bull team at the beautifully located Austrian Grand Prix just a fortnight ago, the F1 circus moved on to the less scenic but more challenging high speed Silverstone track for the British round of this year’s Formula 1 world championship.

With the circuit’s owners, the British Racing Drivers’ Club, having just announced a new deal with Liberty Media to extend the future of the iconic British Grand Prix at the Northamptonshire venue for a further five years, all eyes were on Mercedes to see whether they could re-establish their total domination of this season prior to Austria and they did just that. Lewis Hamilton cruised to a sixth British Grand Prix victory, comfortably clear of his second placed team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

In the opening free practice session Haas driver Romain Grosjean had managed to even have an accident whilst leaving the pit lane, damaging his front wing and blaming it on cold tyres, and Kimi Räikkönen caused the action to be temporarily halted after grinding to a standstill at the entry to Luffield in his stricken Alfa Romeo. Bottas ultimately headed the timesheets until Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly stole the honour from the Finn late on.

Come Friday’s second practice period it was business as usual as Bottas and Hamilton went fastest, with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel the best of the rest. The tables were turned in final practice though as the Ferraris were quickest ahead of Hamilton and the pair of Red Bulls.

The red cars’ supremacy was shortlived though as the battle for supremacy in the final part of Saturday afternoon’s qualifying hour proved to be between the two silver arrows and, with Hamilton making an error on his first run, Bottas took provisional pole position for the following day’s Grand Prix.

When neither Mercedes driver improved after their second and final runs the position remained the same, with Bottas on pole by a mere 6/1000th of a second. Ferrari’s Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was suffering with turbo lag, claimed the second row on the grid. Vettel could only set the sixth fastest time after the German driver admitted afterwards that he failed to extract the maximum from his car, whilst adding more positively that he felt his race pace would be better.

Dark clouds hung over the circuit as the cars lined up on the grid for the start of the Grand Prix. The Mercedes and Red Bulls were set to leap into action on medium compound tyres whereas both Ferraris had opted to use soft tyres first. In theory this would give the cars from Maranello a small early performance advantage, but on the downside their tyres would be less durable.

So, when the red lights went out the sell-out 141,000 capacity crowd held their breath as the 52 lap race began and after a clean start Bottas led from Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen, with Vettel immediately gaining a position as he outsprinted Gasly off the grid.

Hamilton pushed his team-mate hard in the opening tours before taking the lead at Luffield on lap four. However, Bottas immediately fought back and regained the advantage out front. On the sixteenth tour the Finn pitted to switch to another set of medium tyres, meaning he would have to stop again later for an alternative type. This promoted Hamilton, who still had to make a stop, to the lead.

A pivotal moment in the race happened just four laps later when Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi had an off circuit excursion, bringing out the safety car. This triggered immediate pit stops for both Hamilton and Vettel as there is a time advantage to be gained from stopping during a safety car period compared to during normal racing and, as the cars rejoined the track, Hamilton led from Bottas, Vettel and Gasly.

When the safety car returned down the pit lane the two Mercedes cars started to gradually edge clear of the pack, with Hamilton looking increasingly comfortable ahead of his team-mate. Meanwhile, near the end of lap 37 Vettel misjudged his braking and hit the rear of Verstappen’s Red Bull, resulting in both cars flying off the track. Both rejoined, but the Ferrari driver needed to pit for a new nose and earned a 10 second penalty for his error.

As the Grand Prix edged towards its conclusion the Mercedes duo were well clear of the rest and, even though Bottas had to make that second pit stop, he still emerged comfortably ahead of third placed Leclerc, who in turn was followed by the Red Bull pairing. To their rear was a great scrap for sixth place between McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo, with the Spaniard ultimately reaching the chequered flag just ahead of his Australian rival.

So, Mercedes notched up another clearcut 1-2 victory, their ninth win in ten races this year, and Hamilton also gained the extra point for the fastest lap of the race, but at least Leclerc was voted as the official driver of the day for his spirited efforts from start to finish.

Next up in two weeks’ time comes the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, situated only a short drive from Heidelberg. The modern version of the circuit is interesting enough, if far less demanding and dangerous than its former self where the unfortunate double F1 champion Jim Clark died back in April 1968 whilst competing in a Formula 2 race for his Lotus team.

It’s the home Grand Prix of course for the German Mercedes F1 team, even if they are based in Brackley, UK, and they will so be wanting to impress in front of their fans, sponsors and the many senior Daimler parent company executives present. Always best to put on a good show in front of the team’s corporate bosses who sign off the large F1 expenditure cheques. I’ll let you know how things turn out.

2019 Formula 1 British Grand Prix

1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr21m8.452s
2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +24.928s
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +30.117s
4 Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) +34.692s
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +39.458s
6 Carlos Sainz (McLaren) +53.639s
7 Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) +54.401s
8 Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) +1m5.540s
9 Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) +1m6.720s
10 Nico Hülkenberg (Renault) +1m12.733s
11 Lando Norris (McLaren) +1m14.281s
12 Alexander Albon (Toro Rosso) +1m15.617s
13 Lance Stroll (Racing Point) +1m21.086s
14 George Russell (Williams) Lapped
15 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) Lapped
16 Robert Kubica (Williams) Lapped
17 Sergio Perez (Racing Point) Lapped
18 Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) Retired
19 Romain Grosjean (Haas) Retired
20 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) Retired

2019 Formula 1 Drivers Championship (after 10 rounds of 21)

1 Lewis Hamilton 223
2 Valtteri Bottas 184
3 Max Verstappen 136

2019 Formula 1 Constructors Championship (after 10 rounds of 21)

1 Mercedes 407
2 Ferrari 243
3 Red Bull 191