The race weekend attracted 350,000 fans with race day alone 141,000 fans as news of it’s future being rosy, another 5 years to host the event was like music to the ears of everyone in F1.
With British drivers Lewis Hamilton (Winner) along with Lando Norris and Alex Albon the pool of successful F1 drivers from the UK is looking very promising.
The race was slowed only once as Giovinazzi went off track causing the safety car to be deployed. This gave Hamilton a free pit stop as Bottas was just in when the safety car came out. Bottas returned from leading the race to be second, exactly where he finished up.
Leclerc, Gasly and Verstappen were chasing the podium position for sure as Vettel was close by in the group of four cars behind Lewis Hamilton. An anxious Vettel out-braked himself launching Verstappen into the kitty litter. Vettel regained position as Verstappen was chasing the pack down for a podium. This would eventuate in Vettel receiving a 10 second penalty onto his completed race time.
Lando Norris started well though after his pit stop went backwards at the rate of knots. Initially he was racing Ricciardo for 7th. Weather held off as the drivers raced on all compounds to gain any advantage possible.
Hamilton’s decision to change for hard tyres proved he is a true champion to finish on those tyres even though he was asked to pit near the end of the race. He took the fastest lap as well even though Bottas on used soft tyres raced as hard as he could to close the gap on his team mate.
007 celebrity Daniel Craig was present, Catherine Zeta-Jones, along with Mel B, Stormzy, and many other British comedians from TV land to cheer on Lewis Hamilton.
Renault and McLaren performed well as did Toro Rosso as the silly season has started with rumours of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg moving to other teams. Everyone denies the rumours of course.
Let’s see what surfaces when they race at Hockenheim Germany in two weeks time.
POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 52 | 1:21:08.452 | 26 |
2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 52 | +24.928s | 18 |
3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 52 | +30.117s | 15 |
4 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 52 | +34.692s | 12 |
5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 52 | +39.458s | 10 |
6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | MCLAREN RENAULT | 52 | +53.639s | 8 |
7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RENAULT | 52 | +54.401s | 6 |
8 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 52 | +65.540s | 4 |
9 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA | 52 | +66.720s | 2 |
10 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | RENAULT | 52 | +72.733s | 1 |
11 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN RENAULT | 52 | +74.281s | 0 |
12 | 23 | Alexander Albon | SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA | 52 | +75.617s | 0 |
13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 52 | +81.086s | 0 |
14 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 51 | +1 lap | 0 |
15 | 88 | Robert Kubica | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 51 | +1 lap | 0 |
16 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 51 | +1 lap | 0 |
17 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 51 | +1 lap | 0 |
NC | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 18 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 8 | Romain Grosjean | HAAS FERRARI | 9 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 6 | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results Source F1.com