F1 2020 British Grand Prix

© J. Francois Barnard – August 2, 2020

We are back in Britain and have a Silverstone race on the menu. The first of two back-to-back races at the same track. The Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020 is the fourth round of the 2020 season, and Lewis Hamilton is the defending race winner of the 2019 event.

During the first practice session on Friday, it was Max Verstappen who set the fastest time, followed by Hamilton and Stroll. To our surprise, The Hulk, Nico Hülkenberg, was back to stand in for Sergio Pérez who contracted the Coronavirus. He set the ninth fastest time. Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari had some intercooler issues, and he could not partake in the practice session.

In the second practice session, it was Stroll who topped the charts, followed by Albon and Bottas. Albon, however, had a spectacular crash into the barriers causing the session to be red-flagged. He was unscathed. Vettel missed out on this session too - this time with a pedal issue.

The third and last practice session on Saturday saw Bottas taking the lead, followed by Hamilton and Verstappen. Vettel's woes continued as his brake pedal prohibited him from running.

We expected some rain during the qualifying sessions, but none came. During Q1 Latifi spun on his last lap at turn 7. His teammate failed to slow down for the yellow flags brought out to safeguard the stricken Williams, and consequently received a five-place grid penalty.

In Q2, Mercedes, Red Bull, Racing Point and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc tried to get through to Q1 on medium compound tyres, so that they can start the race on a better compound. Hamilton spun off at turn 7, bringing out the red flags for the marshalls to clear the track. After the session resumed, both Hamilton and Bottas were a second clear of the rest of the field.

Q3 started with Stroll complaining that Ferrari released Leclerc unsafely. The stewards, however, decided that no action was necessary. Hamilton broke the track record by setting a time of 1:24.616. Bottas followed with only 0.15 seconds adrift. Then Hamilton broke his own record again with a time of 1:24.303, securing a pole position. Bottas was second, securing another Mercedes front-row lockout. Verstappen was third.

This pole position was Hamilton's 91st overall, and his seventh pole at Silverstone.

We thought we would see Nico Hülkenberg race again, but that was not to be. Racing Point could not get his car started as a clutch bolt was sheared off in the drivetrain.

Hamilton got away well from the start, but an accident at the back of the grid brought out the safety car. Albon attempted to overtake Magnussen who ran wide, they collided, and Magnussen was send off into the barrier. He was unhurt. Albon received a five-second penalty for causing a collision.

The racing resumed on lap six, and Albon came into the pits to change to hard tyres to try and go to the end.

Next was Daniil Kvyat to bring out a safety car. His right-rear tyre failed, and he crashed into the barriers. All the drivers, except Albon and Grosjean, came into the pits for new tyres. This strategy caused Grosjean to jump to fifth place.

After the restart, both McLarens overtook Grosjean, and the marshals waved white-and-black flags at him (unsportsmanlike conduct) for defending too aggressively as Sainz tried to go past him. Meanwhile, Albon could not proceed up the ranks further than 14th place when he had to pit again on lap 30. He served his time penalty and dropped to the back.

On lap 36, Stroll and Riccardo passed Grosjean dropping him to ninth place. The stewards investigated him again for aggressive defence but took no action against him. Grosjean pitted at the end of the lap, falling to the back of the field. Vettel dropped out of the points when Gasly passed him for the last point scoring position.

Towards the end of the race, Bottas complained about visibility due to severe vibrations. With three laps to go, Bottas front-left tyre delaminated. Verstappen passed him quickly, and he dropped out of the points. This incident was the opportunity Verstappen could use to promptly pit and fit soft tyres for an attempt to claim the fastest lap.

Next was Sainz who suffered a front-left tyre failure.

Mercedes gave Hamilton a stern warning to preserve his tyres. The warning came too late. On turn eight of the final lap, Hamilton suffered a front-left failure. Hamilton had a 30-second gap to Verstappen. This gap shrunk as Hamilton limped home, finishing the race with a 5.856-second margin over Verstappen.

Picture credit: Independent

Had Verstappen not pitted for "fastest lap tyres," he could have had first place.

Pirelli's post-race investigation on the tyre failures showed that too long stints on the tyres were to blame, as well as the increased pace of the 2020 cars. Hamilton disagreed. He said that debris from Kimi Räikkönen's front wing caused a puncture.

Another strange occurrence in this race: A chequered flag never flew as Hamilton won the race?

The race classification: