Sainz Takes First F1 Win In Extraordinary British Grand Prix
Calum Gill 18:01 03/07/2022
Carlos Sainz earned his maiden Formula 1 victory in a sensational British Grand Prix as championship leader Max Verstappen struggled with a wounded Red Bull to seventh place and Charles Leclerc finished only fourth amid curious Ferrari tactics.
The critical moment of the race proved to be a late safety car period prompted by Esteban Ocon’s stricken Alpine, when Sainz and Lewis Hamilton in second and third place decided to make a stop for softs while race leader Leclerc stayed out on his hard tyres. Leclerc had been waved through on Sainz earlier in the race but not before a lengthy team order debacle in which an increasingly frustrated Leclerc couldn’t find a way through on Sainz and that allowed Hamilton to enter the lead fight. But on the final restart, Hamilton struggled for tyre warm-up and Sergio Pérez - who had battled back from picking up damage on the first lap in a clash with Leclerc - pounced and picked up third place and halted Hamilton’s victory bid. Meanwhile, Sainz wasted little time in using his fresher tyres to overcome Leclerc through Brooklands on the first lap of the restart. Sainz bolted clear while Leclerc, Hamilton and Pérez duelled for the two remaining podium places.
Those positions swung back and forth between the trio with Pérez eventually winning out - but not without a forceful move on Hamilton into Village which prompted the stewards to note it. Sainz remained unchallenged at the front and brought his Ferrari home for his first win in F1, over seven years after making his F1 debut. Pérez took second but could face a post-race investigation, while Hamilton’s home victory hopes faded with the late safety car. Leclerc took fourth ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who earned his best result of the season so far and the McLaren of Lando Norris who had a quiet run to sixth place. Verstappen was in contention for the victory early in the race but he soon developed a bodywork issue that Red Bull was unable to rectify. It led to him consistently losing up to two and a half seconds a lap to his team-mate Pérez.
With a forceful defence in the final laps - and at the final corner of the last lap - Verstappen held off Mick Schumacher to salvage seventh place. Eighth place marks Schumacher’s first points in F1 while Sebastian Vettel picked up ninth for Aston Martin and Kevin Magnussen made it a double points finish for Haas in 10th place. The race had been red flagged on the opening lap for a monster multi-car collision that included 2022’s sole rookie Guanyu Zhou being flipped upside down and sent over the barrier, sandwiching him between the fence and the barrier. Zhou was pitched airborne in a three-way clash with George Russell and Pierre Gasly. Russell retired while Gasly was able to take the restart when the race resumed almost an hour later.
Zhou was extracted and deemed to be unhurt while Alex Albon has been taken to hospital for further precautionary checks, though isn’t thought to be seriously injured. The Thai driver was later cleared and released. Albon was rear-ended by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel as drivers checked up to avoid the crash in front of them and retired along with Zhou and Russell. Yuki Tsunoda spun while trying to pass his AlphaTauri team-mate Gasly and ended up collecting Gasly and earned a five-second time penalty. Gasly retired shortly afterwards while Tsunoda finished in a lowly 14th place behind Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll. During the red flag, police also had to remove a group of protestors who had invaded the track ahead of what would have been the race’s second lap but for the stoppage.
