British GP 2022 - Race: Maiden win for Sainz, chaotic start, all or nothing for Verstappen
Maiden win for Carlos Sainz in Siverstone, becoming the 112th different Formula 1 winner, followed by Sergio Perez in P2 and Lewis Hamilton in P3, scoring another podium at his home Grand Prix.
Race Start: Chaos with two separate crashes happening at the same time. Pierre Gasly, starting from P11, triggered the first one, tagging George Russell's (P9) rear left tyre, with him spinning and collecting Guanyu Zhou (P10), causing his Alfa Romeo to flip, sending him into the barriers. Zhou was extracted from the car and got sent to the Medical Centre for precautionary checks. Alfa Romeo reported that he was conscious and responding, no fractures. Further down the order, Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon have been involved into a separate incident, with the first one being transferred by helicopter to Coventry Hospital for precautionary checks, as confirmed by the team.
Race Restart: In a four-way battle for the lead, Perez had some contact with Leclerc, damaging his front wing, with Red Bull calling the Mexican into the pits to repair the damage.
Lap 10: With Sainz being under constant pressure from Verstappen, went wide at Maggots and Beckets, losing the lead.
Lap 13: Verstappen got a puncture, after going over some piece of carbon, resulting him to pit from the lead and rejoin at P5.
Lap 21: With Leclerc being stuck behind Sainz for a few laps, Ferrari called Sainz in the pits to switch to a fresh set of hards.
Lap 29: After going for the overcut, Leclerc rejoined behind Sainz, asking the team if the two are free to fight, with Ferrari responding positively
Lap 31: Sainz, not being able to match the goal lap time set by Ferrari strategists, was asked to swap places with teammate Leclerc, letting go of P2.
Lap 34: Lewis Hamilton had a slow, 4.3 sec, stop and lost two places, rejoining behind both Ferraris.
Lap 39: Safety Car deployed, as Esteban Ocon stopped in the middle of the start/finish straight. Sainz (P2) and Hamilton (P3) both pitted for a fresh set of soft tyres, chasing Leclerc (P1), who was running on the hard tyre at the time.
Lap 43 (Restart): Team orders from Ferrari to Sainz to leave 10 car lengths behind Leclerc, to help him fend from Hamilton and Perez, with Sainz not following and attacking Leclerc, snatching the lead of the race. A very exciting three-way battle for P2 between Leclerc, Hamilton and Perez, with Perez finishing ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc.
Race Finish: Couple of firsts here, as Carlos Sainz drove to his maiden F1 victory on his 150th race, while Mick Schumacher managed to score his first ever F1 points of his career, finishing at P8.
Carlos Sainz managed to convert his maiden pole position into a first ever Formula 1 victory, followed by Sergio Perez in P2, who recovered from Lap 1 damage, and Lewis Hamilton in P3, scoring his third podium of the 2022 season at his home Grand Prix. Hamilton also got the extra FL point, with Perez getting the fans' vote for DOTD.
Charles Leclerc, due to Ferrari's decision to not call him in the pits for a tyre change under SC, finished in P4, just ahead of Fernando Alonso in P5.
Lando Norris in P6, followed by Max Verstappen in P7, who, despite being really quick and driving superbly all weekend, was very unlucky in the race, with the tyre puncture and the car issue he suffered.
Completing the top 10, a double Haas points finish, with Mick Schumacher in P8, scoring his first ever F1 points and Kevin Magnussen in P10, splitted by Sebastian Vettel in P9.
Full Race Classification:
