With the scare of the accident at the start of the 2022 Formula 1 British Grand Prix still present, Carlos Sainz achieved the first and historic victory of his life in the highest category of motorsport thanks to an incredible performance. The driver from Madrid climbed to the top of the podium at the Silverstone circuit after benefiting from the final strategy, in which he rode a set of softs to overtake his team-mate, Charles Leclerc.
With tears and smiles in the Maranello box to see the Spaniard win for the first time, the new winner of a grand prix got rid of one of the biggest weights he had since he debuted in the 2015 season with Toro Rosso.
Carlos Sainz was accompanied on the podium by Sergio Pérez, who with a very good comeback overcame all his rivals in a fratricidal fight with Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who wanted to get a place to uncork the champagne.
The battle ended with the local Mercedes driver in third place, while Charles Leclerc retained fourth position, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris.
Behind, Max Verstappen had to settle for seventh position, as his Red Bull did not have the speed to fight for victory, but they are still good points to continue at the top of the world championship standings. The Dutchman was followed by Mick Schumacher, who scored the first points of his life in Formula 1 with the Haas, Sebastian Vettel, who recovered with the Aston Martin, and Kevin Magnussen closed the top ten.
Formula 1 British Grand Prix 2022 Race Results at Silverstone
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Km/h | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
52 | – | 25 | ||
| two |  Sergio Perez |
 |
52 | 3,779 | 3,779 | 18 | |
| 3 |  Lewis Hamilton |
 |
52 | 6.225 | 6.225 | 16 | |
| 4 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
52 | 8.546 | 8.546 | 12 | |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
52 | 9.571 | 9.571 | 10 | |
| 6 | Lando Norris |
 |
52 | 11.943 | 11.943 | 8 | |
| 7 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
52 | 18.777 | 18.777 | 6 | |
| 8 |  Mick Schumacher |
 |
52 | 18.995 | 18.995 | 4 | |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel |
 |
52 | 22.356 | 22.356 | 2 | |
| 10 |  Kevin Magnussen |
 |
52 | 24.590 | 24.590 | 1 | |
| see results | |||||||
Formula 1 British Grand Prix 2022 race summary at Silverstone
Locura en la salida con un brutal accidente de Guanyu Zhou
The 2022 Formula 1 British Grand Prix began with a huge scare due to a multiple accident between several drivers in the rear, and it is that just a few meters after the start, George Russell crossed the path of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri , causing Guanyu Zhou’s Alfa Romeo to end up upside down and sliding into the fence that separates the public from the track.
As a result of the crash, Race Direction decided to raise the red flag, which paralyzed the test until the Chinese driver’s state of health was known, although in the midst of the moments of tension, both his team and the category itself confirmed that he was fine. at the medical center.
In the incident, Zhou himself, Russell and Alex Albon with the Williams were left out with no chance of returning, as did Yuki Tsunoda, who lost his front wing, and Esteban Ocon, whose Alpine mechanics were able to fix his front arm. from the right direction during the red flag.
Regarding the start in the front zone, when the traffic lights went out, Max Verstappen’s soft tire allowed him to overtake Carlos Sainz, who was defending the first pole position of his life, while Fernando Alonso took advantage of the general confusion to move up positions to fifth place.
However, as the drivers did not cross any sector when the FIA raised the red flag, they decided to apply the regulations to return to the same starting positions, so the Spaniard from Ferrari regained first place, with Verstappen second and Charles Leclerc third.
So, at 15:56 local time at Silverstone (16:56 in Spain), the drivers got back on track for the rest of the 50 laps with a start from the grid in which Carlos Sainz retained the first place, but the mess came from behind, since the Red Bulls were put in parallel with Charles Leclerc.
It all ended in a spectacular battle for podium positions, with the same places going through the first lap after the restart, but with the front wing touched on Sergio Pérez’s car, while Fernando Alonso fell one place in favor of Pierre Gasly, who played it with the soft tire.
The Mexican was losing pace due to the touch, and that caused him to be attacked by Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, who passed him when he entered the pits to repair his car, as did Alonso, who passed Gasly in Stowe after opening the DRS . The British fight continued in the following laps, and the Mercedes moved ahead of the McLaren, opening several seconds in a short time.
Verstappen closes gap on Sainz in battle for victory (lap 10 of 52)
The Dutchman’s pressure on the Madrid native had an effect on the links between Maggots and Becketts , since Sainz left the track, leaving the Red Bull man free to escape and release both Ferraris from the DRS area, although there could have been a car security to regroup the group, as the AlphaTauri touched each other.
Despite the accident between Tsunoda and Gasly, nothing out of the ordinary happened to prevent the single-seaters from competing, except for a five-second penalty for the Japanese, and that is what Ocon did, who with the softs recovered positions until he was behind Alonso in seventh place.
But fate had a theatrical blow in store for the lead on lap 12 , as Max Verstappen suffered a puncture, as reported on the radio, and that forced him to pit, leaving the Ferraris in the lead again. However, when he returned to the track, the Dutchman acknowledged on the radio that “his car was 100% broken”, something that was confirmed by the message from his engineer immediately afterwards.
After the stop of the world champion, he fell to sixth place, but the focus was on Leclerc’s complaints to his team to let him pass because he had a little more pace than Sainz, and saw how Lewis Hamilton was approaching them , just three seconds away with his Mercedes.
Team orders appear at Ferrari with the threat of Hamilton (lap 19 of 52)
Before the indications of the Sainz engineer to increase his speed, the Briton cut back to the fast lap rate, and that caused the first movement of Ferrari in the pitlane. The man from Madrid entered to mount a new set of hard tires, leaving Leclerc alone, who was asked to push when the Englishman from Mercedes was less than a second and a half away.
Shortly after, on lap 24 , Max Verstappen stopped again to put on the hard tires and go to the end, although he admitted that he had no grip. Leclerc copied the Dutchman’s strategy, but in his attempt to get ahead of Sainz, he failed and returned to the track two seconds behind, with Hamilton now the next race leader.
At Mercedes they dreamed of winning a grand prix after many months, and the pace of the Briton at home was enough for it, although he still had to make his pit stop. Alonso, for his part, also had to stop, but as he was riding fast in fifth position, Alpine decided to lengthen his stint with the mediums.
At that moment, Ferrari gave its drivers absolute freedom to fight, with the risk that this entailed while Hamilton escaped in the lead. Starting from lap 30 , the red single-seaters got into a battle on the asphalt and over the radio, since there was a crossover of declarations for the engineers to act with a team order, and that is what happened, since that Sainz let Leclerc pass to see if he had more speed.
On lap 34 , Mercedes called Hamilton to make his mandatory stop, and although there was the possibility of putting on a softer rubber, he mounted a set of hard ones to try to cut what he lost in the team’s bad stop, where they left more than two seconds with respect to the Ferrari. The covered was Sergio Pérez, who with the arrest of Fernando Alonso was placed fourth after a spectacular comeback from the bottom of the grid for his touch in the second start.
Last effort to climb to the top at Silverstone (lap 37 of 52)
The two Ferraris disputed the victory in the final stages, but Leclerc’s pace was much faster than Sainz’s, since the Monegasque escaped more than three seconds, and the real risk was now Hamilton, who was in his wake.
The seven-time world champion cut back with fast laps, so the prey in his fighter was within range of DRS, while Max Verstappen lost his particular battle with Esteban Ocon in what was more a wounded lion than a Red Bull to win the race. However, the Dutchman responded to the Frenchman a lap later when his Alpine stalled in the middle of the circuit, prompting a safety car to come out.
Race Direction decided to impose the Safety Car system, which opened the option of stopping for Sainz and Hamilton, who put on the soft tires, as did Pérez. Alonso also opted to stop for softs and go for Lando Norris, but McLaren’s numbers failed and the Englishman fell behind the Spaniard.
It was finally on lap 42 when the safety car again left the way open for the Ferraris to fight, and that was what happened, as Sainz took the lead on the restart, while Checo Pérez took the opportunity to pass on his softs to Hamilton and Leclerc, under pressure from Alonso, who was fifth.
Leclerc’s pace was not too fast, and he was acting as a stopper in a fight between the Monegasque, Hamilton, Pérez, Alonso and Norris, which ended with the Mexican in second position, followed by the Briton from Mercedes, the one from Ferrari , the Spanish and the McLaren.
Thus, Sainz took the weight off his shoulders and achieved the first victory of his life, followed by Pérez, Hamilton, Leclerc, Alonso, Norris, Verstappen, Schumacher, Vettel and Magnussen.
