Silverstone offered a spectacular race, with Carlos Sainz the winner for the first time in his career. Sergio Perez finished in front of home hero Lewis Hamilton, as title challengers Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen were further behind.
Carlos Sainz – 9.5
This weekend set the stage for his maiden pole position and career win, finally living the joy of a race victory after 150 starts.
Sainz came out of nowhere to set the fastest lap on Saturday and earned himself the number one grid slot. He was aggressive at the start and appeared to have that particular will to win, which he sometimes lacked in his career.
The second part of the race was tough, with the team looking to move Leclerc in front. The safety car allowed him to box for soft tyres, as he was in the right place to take the win, with more grip than his teammate aiding a race winning overtake.
Embed from Getty ImagesSergio Perez – 8
The late Safety Car promoted him to P2, after the Mexican had dropped to last. He suffered contact in turn four, with Leclerc damaging his endplate and forcing him to a stop.
Perez was then trying to make up ground, lapping at times faster than the Ferraris, but most likely obliged to stop twice.
He could pit under the Safety Car and returned close to the leaders, making up two places with overtakes to Leclerc and Hamilton.
Embed from Getty ImagesLewis Hamilton – 9
The seven-time world champion was back to his best, with a fine race that kept the fans hoping would end in a win.
He was quick all weekend, trying to challenge the Ferraris and the Red Bulls, qualifying a promising fifth. His pace on medium tyres was scintillating, as he made up the ground lost after Perez and Lando Norris held him up, to catch up to Leclerc.
Hamilton suffered a slow stop and could only remain in third after the final Safety Car restart, losing out to Perez, before finally making a move on the Monegasque for his third podium of the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesCharles Leclerc – 7.5
The Monegasque will be gutted, as he looked set to take a win, before a team decision to stay out for the safety car cost him dearly.
Leclerc lost a shot to take pole on Saturday, spinning on his last attempt, and damaging the car on the opening lap by making contact with Perez.
However, his pace appeared to be intact, as he looked to close up on Sainz and earned himself the race lead when the team decided to swap cars.
By finding himself as the only car on hard tyres in the final laps, Leclerc couldn’t defend and dropped from first to fourth in quick succession, despite going down with a hard fight.
Embed from Getty ImagesFernando Alonso – 8.5
Fernando Alonso finally scored big points this season, with misfortune abandoning him at Silverstone. The Spaniard played the long game against Norris and won on the pit stops under the Safety Car.
Alonso was a strong seventh on Saturday and chased down the McLaren driver for the whole of the first stint, rarely dropping behind two seconds.
Under the Safety Car, the Alpine engineers reacted more quickly and boxed him for soft tyres a lap earlier, with Alonso moving past and even looking to join the podium fight, finishing in fifth.
Lando Norris – 8
Norris lost out to fifth place on home soil to Alonso, but still completed a great weekend, much better than the struggling recent outings.
He was sixth on qualifying, fending off Alonso in the first stint, after a stunning overtake on Hamilton, to which his countryman responded quickly.
He couldn’t get back to fifth after losing out during the Safety Car phase, but showed good things, as him and Alonso were running a separate race compared to the rest of the field behind.
Embed from Getty ImagesMax Verstappen – 8
The Dutchman suffered an issue whilst leading, losing bodywork and dropping behind as he lost pace.
He wasn’t perfect on Saturday, but pressured Sainz into a mistake from second and took the lead. The issues forced him to an extra stop, but Verstappen fought his heart out, knowing that every point would count.
After dropping to ninth, Verstappen took his opportunity on the last stint, switching to soft tyres and recovering some of his pace. He took back Sebastian Vettel and defended hard on Mick Schumacher in what had become a damage limitation race.
Mick Schumacher – 7.5
Finally, the German scored his first F1 points, finishing in eighth place in front of Vettel and Kevin Magnussen.
Despite only managing 19th on Saturday, Schumacher appeared faster on Sunday, featuring in the fight for the points and looking faster than his teammate.
He lacked the killer instinct to overtake Verstappen, preferring not to take extra risks in the last laps once he had secured the place inside the points.
Embed from Getty ImagesSebastian Vettel – 7
After starting from a lowly 17th place, Vettel found himself running in a strong seventh place with a long undercut, by stopping early.
He was unlucky with the Safety Car, which allowed Verstappen and Schumacher to close up and move in front, but still scored points with a car that is struggling on frequent occasions to show speed.
Embed from Getty ImagesKevin Magnussen – 6.5
There was some relief for Magnussen at the flag, finally scoring points after more than two months.
He struggled compared to Mick Schumacher and had to let him by in the first stint, running behind during the second one.
He finished 10th, for Haas’s first double points finish in three years.
Lance Stroll – 5
Lance Stroll is playing second-best to his teammate Vettel and qualified in last place after a poor Saturday outing from his Aston Martin team.
Stroll ran outside of the points for most of the race, whilst Vettel was in seventh and finished behind him for the fourth time in five races.
Nicholas Latifi – 7
The Canadian’s performance on Saturday was a highlight and was second only to Sainz’s maiden pole position. After 49 attempts, Nicholas Latifi entered in Q3 and qualified 10th.
He was eighth after the restart and ran in the points for most of the race, proving that his pace was effectively there.
He lost out by a tiny margin on the long run, being quite unlucky with the exit of the second Safety Car, which bunched the field up.
Embed from Getty ImagesDaniel Ricciardo – 4
The Australian’s season is full of ups and downs, but the downs are starting to be just too many.
On a weekend in which Norris was running in high positions all throughout, Ricciardo was eliminated in Q2 and only finished 13th. It’s the fifth time this season in which the Brit scores and the Honey Badger doesn’t.
An issue forced him to an extra stop, but Ricciardo was racing outside of the points and didn’t make up places after the late Safety Car restart.
Yuki Tsunoda – 4.5
Yuki Tsunoda was the protagonist of the most infamous of Formula One moves: clashing with a teammate.
After running close to Pierre Gasly and repeatedly trying to overtake, he tried to make a risky manoeuvre in turn three and spun on his own, collecting the French driver.
He was in P8 and threw away many points for his team, after both cars had been eliminated in Q2.
Embed from Getty ImagesEsteban Ocon – 6
Esteban Ocon was running eighth when he retired with a mechanical issue, which meant he lost out on some points.
His consistency and the pace of the car would have allowed him to score for another race, but it wasn’t to be.
However, despite running in the points, Ocon was almost half a minute behind Alonso, which shows that there would have been potential to run much further up than he was.
Valtteri Bottas – 5.5
The Finn continued his string of races in which he struggles to respond to Zhou Guanyu’s performances. Valtteri Bottas was 12th in qualifying, eliminated in Q2, whilst his teammate went through.
He made up places after the first lap crash and was sitting just outside of the top 10 when he retired with yet another mechanical issue to his car.
Pierre Gasly – 6.5
The Alpha Tauri is having a drop in performance, but the team looked set to score points, with Gasly and Tsunoda in P7 and P8, respectively, after the restart.
The Frenchman appeared slower and was attacked multiple times by the Japanese driver, who forced both of them into a spin and ruined his race, which finished in retirement.
Embed from Getty ImagesAlex Albon – N/A
Albon was involved in the first lap mayhem, being hit from behind by Vettel, who couldn’t stop on time.
He had been outqualified by Latifi, lamenting a poor qualifying strategy which put him on the backfoot and got him eliminated in Q1.
George Russell – N/A
Russell’s movement towards the left after a slow getaway triggered the first lap crash, which meant this was his first retirement of the season.
Hamilton outqualified him on Saturday, as Russell was just eighth, before ending a streak of nine races in the top five.
Embed from Getty ImagesZhou Guanyu – N/A
The Chinese driver had a lucky escape, suffering a tremendous accident in turn one, which fortunately had no serious consequences.
He had once more done a great job, outqualifying Bottas for the third consecutive race and entering Q3 with a fine performance in the wet.
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