F1 British GP: 3 Big Things
Oh my days. Thrills, then spills, then thrills. Silverstone is my favorite track for a reason.
1. Sir Lewis Hamilton does it again
It just HAD to be him, right?
No.
If there’s any lesson to be learned over the last 945 days, it’s that this sport is as brutal and unforgiving to the best as it is to the rest. There had been a couple near misses over the past couple seasons but there would be no miss today.
I wasn’t sure Lewis would keep Lando behind in the final stint. With both drivers on softs, I expected Lando to keep close and then use the tire life the McLarens are so good at extending to force the issue at the very end.
The softs were the wrong call for Lando and the tires went away from him too quickly, ceding second place to a rapidly-closing Max Verstappen who was making the hard compound sing. I am not objective in any sense. I wanted Lewis to win and I was desperate for him to prevent Max from getting into DRS range.
It went my way, which I haven’t gotten to say much in the past couple years. What a win for Lewis and for the team. Back-to-back wins for Mercedes is an excellent return, despite losing one of their cars today…
2. Two British drivers let down
The oldest British driver won the race but the other two suffered. George Russell was forced to retire with a suspected water pressure issue - a difficult end for the driver who started on pole and was fresh off a race win in Austria.
Lando still managed a podium but there could and should have been more. The soft tire wasn’t the right call for the final stint and he was left out one lap too long. In the cooldown room after the race, it sounded like he said his softs were pretty much gone with quite a few laps to go. Mediums may have allowed him to push to take the fight to Lewis on the softs but I think they definitely would have given him the pace to defend from Max and solidify second.
3. Haas resurgent
Nico Hulkenberg brought a Haas home in P6 for the second straight race. You can’t say enough about Haas’ performance under Ayao Komatsu this year.
They’re on 27 points this year.
They finished with 12 last year.
Realistically, the only things separating Haas from a second consecutive double points finish was a Williams being driven capably by Logan Sargeant and Yuki Tsunoda with another points finish in a VCARB.
Haas have three times the points total of the next team down the grid, Alpine, and are only four points out of sixth place(!) in the constructors standings. The team has well and truly stepped back into the midfield this season. If they can challenge for sixth place this season, it will be on the back of getting the balance in resources between developing this car and building next year’s platform over the rest of the year.
I think we need a break and we’re getting one. We’ll see you in Hungary in a couple weekends. Get in there.