Giles Richards's race report
That was a race that could alter the face of the season. Mercedes seemed to struggle in the heat and with Barcelona up next they don’t look quite so impregnable. A triumph for Verstappen and Red Bull.
Giles Richards’ report will follow shortly...
Updated
Peter van Balen: “Who would you say is the winner over the two legs of Silverstone races? Adding their times Verstappen was six seconds faster...”
Two fairly joyless Mercedes drivers in the flash interview with Martin Brundle.
HAMILTON: "Congratulations to Red Bull and to Max. They didn't have the blistering problems on the tyres that we had today. It's unexpected but I'm sure the team will work out what the issues have been. At the end I was driving with half a tyre"#F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/wFeHbanIpb
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
BOTTAS: “Very frustrating starting from pole and finishing third. My strategy was far, far from ideal. ⁰I was trying but as soon as I started to push at the end the tyres fell apart” #F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Mm5HYLuLx4
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
Max Verstappen speaks ahead of the champagne spaffing on the podium.
VERSTAPPEN: “We had a lot of pace in the car. We kept pushing. We had a great day… we had the right strategy. I tried to put the pressure on [Mercedes] and they had to pit"#F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/WPAcsSMUnc
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
Here’s the full result.
Career win No. 9️⃣ for @Max33Verstappen 💪#F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Fk3YEb5PtC
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
“You had no problems with your tyres?” asks Hamilton of Verstappen as they take on fluids.
Verstappen crowd surfs among his Red Bull mechanics as Bottas and Hamilton look pensive and draw attention to his tyres.
Updated
Here’s that top ten today.
🏁 END OF RACE (LAP 52/52) 🏁
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
TOP 10
Verstappen
Hamilton
Bottas
Leclerc
Albon
Stroll
Hulkenberg
Ocon
Norris
Kvyat#F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/zImr1I6MOa
“It wasn’t our day,” says Hamilton to his team.
“You delivered,” the Red Bull radio tells Verstappen. “What an amazing race,” says the driver himself. It’s been a triumph for him and his team.
Max Verstappen wins the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix!
52/52 Verstappen has time to joke with his team. This has been a triumph for the Dutchman and his strategy. He has driven with real pace but also management of his car and tyres. Mercedes will have to settle for second as Hamilton equals Michael Schumacher’s 152 podium finishes. Toto Wolff, meanwhile, looks gutted in the Mercedes garage.
Updated
51/52 Albon climbs into fifth in the Red Bull, overtaking Stroll. This has been a good day for the Red Bull team. Verstappen has this race in his grasp.
50/52 This is one hell of a battle but Hamilton takes Bottas at Brooklands. Target: Verstappen and the gap is under nine seconds. Bottas may be unhappy he wasn’t given chance to properly take the race to Verstappen.
49/52 “Keep it clean” is the advice to Hamilton from his team. They swiftly do battle. Hamilton looks for his chance again and again.
48/52 Bottas is told he is “free to race, just give each other space”. Good news for Verstappen, then. The gap between Bottas and Hamilton drops to a second.
47/52 Hamilton has five laps to hunt down Verstappen with Bottas in front of him. That will be an easier pass than Leclerc. Or will it? Bottas’ tyres look in a state. 8/7 seconds is the gap from first to third.
46/52 Kevin Magnussen abandons ship. Verstappen is told of the mounting pressure from Hamilton and pledges to floor it. The gap is under ten seconds.
45/52 Hulkenberg makes a tyre change on to softs. He is looking for a fastest lap. Hamilton being held up by Leclerc but after some wheel-to-wheel action at Stowe he’s through if ever so slightly delayed.
44/52 Hamilton sets the fastest lap, of course. He is blazing along, taking seconds off Bottas and Verstappen. Hamilton is patient in chasing down Leclerc.
Updated
43/52 Hamilton is flying along, as expected. He’s also worried about that pit stop but his team say he should be OK. Leclerc is in sight and slowing on a tired set of tyres. The podium beckons for Lewis but what about beyond that?
Updated
42/52 Hamilton pits and does so hurriedly, with a hint of panic over slowing to 80mph. Verstappen is leading, Bottas is second, Leclerc is third and in comes Hamilton behind them. Will Hamilton get a penalty for not slowing?
41/52 Verstappen is asked to push it along as Hamilton debates with his garage over those tyres. The gap is down to eight seconds here and Red Bull smell blood.
40/52 Hamilton’s advantage over Verstappen is ten seconds. Were he to pit he would likely drop to fourth. So it’s all on those tyres.
39/52 Leclerc is in fourth now, with Hulkenberg is in fifth. Vettel is in 13th and in problems with the stewards. A huge contrast for the Ferrari drivers.
38/52 Albon, in the other Red Bull, set the fastest lap. Bottas has taken two stops while Hamilton has taken one. Ructions in the Mercedes ranks seem possible.
37/52 Verstappen sets a fastest lap as he seeks to close out on Hamilton. It’s all on the tyres now.
36/52 Albon climbs into seventh, flying past Lando Norris. Hamilton is going for the one-stop strategy, it seems. After last week that very risky indeed.
35/52 Hamilton and Mercedes are discussing the tyres again. Are they going to leave him out on those tyres? The garage say there is rubber left. He does not seem nearly so sure.
LAP 34/52
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
Hamilton leads the race, but for how long - surely he'll have to pit soon with that tyre wear? #F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/mzmH69kTGA
Updated
34/52 Verstappen and Bottas battle for second. Hamilton has been complaining about his tyres again. The pit surely beckons as his tyres are looking akin to last week’s.
33/52 Verstappen is following command and sets the fastest lap. He comes in for a pit, as does Bottas. Hamilton is in the lead, but probably only on a temporary basis.
32/52 Ricciardo spins his car to drop down to 12th. Not his finest moment, as he came off Sainz in a battle for the final point on offer in tenth.
31/52 Verstappen will be two-stopping, it seems. He is told by the Red Bull team to rag the balls off his car to pull off as big a lead as possible.
30/52 The fastest lap is with Leclerc to suggest not all is bad with the Ferraris. Vettel the bad workman? Hulkenberg, the wild card, is in fourth. Hamilton is ahead of him in third.
29/52 Kevin Magnussen got a five-second penalty for some rather risky driving at the back of the field. Vettel rages at his team over the tyre strategy as he closes on Sainz. He has had a shocker this weekend.
28/52 Hamilton casts aspersions on Red Bull’s tyre pressure when talking on the radio. That would suggest he is somewhat rattled.
27/52 Verstappen pits and it is so close as he comes out. The Red Bull team failed to pull off a clean pit, and Verstappen loses first to Bottas for a brief moment before flying past Bottas on his medium tyres. He did it one corner. Bottas limps on. Great driving from Verstappen bails out his team.
Updated
26/52 Mercedes had led every lap until this race which has been very very different to last week, even if the tyres have been key again.
25/52 Hamilton says the middle and the back of his tyres are in trouble. Verstappen is told to push on by his team.
24/52 Verstappen is 17 seconds clear. Bottas thinks his rear tyres are jiggered. Mercedes are in an uncomfortable position. If Verstappen pits he would be clear of Hamilton, who is complaining about his front tyres.
23/52 Bottas has problem on his rear tyres and Hamilton has problems on his front tyres. Verstappen is still on his initial set. In the pits, Sainz and Ocon almost came to grief in the pits.
22/52 David Wall on Vettel: “Given the increasing number of driving mistakes that Vettel has made over the past few seasons, is it possible he has something approaching motor racing yips? Of course it’s not quite like the yips in that he can keep the car on the track, and function as a professional driver. But any time there is any kind of pressure (perhaps just from himself) he makes amateur-style errors. And if it is that kind of problem, is there any realistic possibility he might overcome it?”
21/52 The word is that the Mercedes tyres are in poor order. They are struggling in this heat. The garage tells them that Verstappen is the danger with those better tyres and a potential one-stop strategy.
20/52 Verstappen’s tyres look in decent order as Leclerc and Norris do battle for 10th and Leclerc is through. Mercedes lapping slower than Verstappen. Danger here?
Updated
19/52 Stroll and Leclerc into the pits. Albon and Gasly are at it again, with Gasly, whose tyres are in a state, holding off the Red Bull for now.
18/52 Lance Stroll will be coming in to push Bottas and Hamilton into second and third, which leaves just Verstappen, who needs a one-stop strategy to have a chance of winning this one. No sign of him pitting yet.
17/52 Bottas and Hamilton are into third and fourth now, ominously moving up. Bottas has the fastest lap. Vettel overtakes Grosjean as he reclaims the 11th place he started the grid on before his spin.
16/52 In goes Hulkenberg, as Hamilton flies past Leclerc to go into fifth. Verstappen is clear of Stroll by over ten seconds.
15/52 Hamilton’s pit is done and he comes out sixth behind Leclerc. That means he has serious traffic to deal with. Bottas is fourth now, his tyres giving him real pace.
14/52 Hamilton is in the lead now, and Bottas drops down to sixth. Verstappen should be in the lead by the end of this lap and will be as Hamilton pits.
13/52 Hamilton’s tyres are blistered so he will come in soon or disaster may await. Verstappen is hounding him for second. Hamilton has a battle on his hands for once. Bottas pits.
12/52 Mercedes’ tyres are being prepared and Verstappen is on the tail of Hamilton with DRS to play with. Hamilton’s tyres are coming apart at the seams and Verstappen is gaining on him.
Updated
11/52 Gasly rounds Raikkonen, the old soldier, with Albon on his tail. Albon had to go wide round the not-so flying Finn. Verstappen is told to back off by his garage - they are worried about his tyres - but he wants to race on.
10/52 Mass pitting, with Williams’ pair both doing so. Albon, after his pit, is chasing down Gasly for 15th.
9/52 Leclerc, moved up due to Albon’s pit, is chasing Norris in seventh. Verstappen is closing the gap on the lead pair on those hard tyres. He waits for them to cut each other’s throats.
8/52 Verstappen is sitting pretty in third as has been habitual, and waiting for errors or tyre problems from Mercedes, as happened last week. He’s on harder tyres than them at the moment.
7/52 Alex Albon has gone in for a change of tyres. As does Pierre Gasly, which suggests some strategising over the tyres. The heat is central to strategy.
6/52 Bottas seems concerned about the heat of his tyres. He’s still leading and his advantage is up a tenth of a second or so. But we do have a race on our hands at the front, which makes something of a change.
Updated
5/52 Albon is taking on Norris in the battle for eighth. Beyond Vettel, it’s been a less exciting start than last week at Silverstone. In turn, Leclerc, in tenth is chasing down Albon. Vettel has made up a couple of places.
4/52 The gap between the leaders is less than a second. Bottas has to put in the defensive drive of his life here. Hamilton and him are already blazing clear of the rest.
3/52 Bottas took the fastest lap. Vettel tries to get back on to the field. He span it during the start and came off the side of the track. That’s driver error. Not the best look for a man looking for a new job?
2/52 Vettel is dead last, the smoke was coming from the wheels of his Ferrari which wouldn’t turn. This has been a horror of a season for Ferrari and Vettel in particular. Bottas is a second clear of Hamilton as DRS can be switched on for the third lap.
And away we go....!
1/52 Bottas ahead of Hamilton, and Verstappen takes Hulkenberg immediately. Vettel has problems. There’s smoke in the air. Bottas and Hamilton are hard at it. Stroll overtakes Ricciardo to take fifth.
Updated
Here comes the formation lap. No dramas like the last two weeks with Max Verstappen and Nico Hulkenberg’s races against time. It’s hot out there. Trackside it’s 44 degrees celsius.
Formation lap 👉👉👉 #F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/7gDENHp2VP
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
Updated
The gap between Bottas and Hamilton is 30 points at the top of the drivers championship. Should Lewis win this one then it has to be expected that he will be collecting his seventh world title. It’s all on the start where Bottas can occasionally be hesitant.
Updated
Some heady names here.
WORLD CHAMPION CONSTRUCTORS 🏆
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
A special roll of honour on our 70th Anniversary weekend#F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/IFQoJYD4xj
On the grid, and after a slight delay, the UK national anthem is sung. The cars are in situ on the grid now, and the drivers are taking to their cars ahead of the parade lap.
Updated
The finishing touches are being put in place in the garages as the teams await on the grid.
Take a further trip down memory lane with Giles Richards.
Bit of pre-race controversy with the Racing Point team penalised 15 points in the constructors championship. They are not taking it lying down.
Racing Point co-owner, Lawrence Stroll responds to the protests made by other F1 teams.#F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/h5isG6mHHC
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
This event, unscheduled as it originally was, now serves as a celebration of 70 glorious years of Formula One.
Preamble
We’re back at Silverstone and perhaps things might be different to last week. First up: the weather. It is blisteringly hot in England and even with a touch of cloud cover it is going to hit temperatures of 29-30 degrees during the race. Were there to be crowds at the fabled Northants venue, there would be no such thing as the traditional car-park swamp.
And this week Lewis Hamilton is second on the starting grid, behind Valtteri Bottas, who outpaced his Mercedes teammate on Saturday in qualifying. Hamilton was not impressed with his own performance.
The most exciting performance in qualifying was by Nico Hulkenberg. Having jetted in last week to replace Covid-19-positive Sergio Perez and then suffered from his Racing Point car breaking down ahead of the British GP, he blasted his way to third on the grid in front of Max Verstappen. Not bad for a spare driver. He drove like he is, someone with nothing to lose.
The battle for mid-table is likely to be where all the intrigue lies but Hamilton learned some lessons last week, having crawled home with a puncture when his tyres gave out on the last lap. A one-stop strategy seems unlikely so pitting strategy is likely to be crucial today.
The race goes at 2.10pm UK time. Join me.
Here's how they line up today 👀#F170 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/UlLhbbjyDa
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 9, 2020
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