2021 F1 British Grand Grand Prix: Winners And Losers

There aren’t enough words left to describe the 2021 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. As if an action-packed sprint qualifying debut wasn’t enough, there was drama throughout the entire race, and a clash between the title protagonists Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton that have led to huge repercussions in the championship race.  Here are the winners and losers from the 9th round of the 2021 Formula One season:

Winners

Lewis Hamilton

It may have been a record eighth British Grand Prix for the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, but it surely wasn’t without controversy. The moment that has been building up since the start of the season finally happened at Silverstone. On the opening lap, heading into Copse corner, as Hamilton and Red Bull Honda’s Max Verstappen were fighting for the lead, the title rivals collided, with Verstappen being sent into the barriers and out of the race. This gave Hamilton a 10-second time penalty for causing the incident, which seemed to have taken him out of the running for the race win.

In fact, once the race resumed, the race win seemed even less likely, as Hamilton surprisingly couldn’t find a way past the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in the first stint. But after serving his 10-second penalty during his one and only pitstop, the seven-time world champion overcame a 14-second deficit to pass Leclerc for the win with just two laps to go, and take a thrilling but controversial win. With Verstappen not finishing the race, Hamilton has slashed his points deficit to just eight points off the lead in the drivers’ standings. 

 

Charles Leclerc 

Undisputedly the driver of the day, and arguably the more deserved race winner, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took swift advantage of the carnage up front, and led the race early on. In fact, the Ferrari looked more than a match for the Mercedes of Hamilton early on, with the race win legitimately on the cards. Unfortunately, his valiant fight for the win ended with just two laps to go. Nonetheless, it was a well fought first podium of the season for Leclerc, and a much needed boost for Ferrari in its fight against McLaren for third place in the constructors’ standings. The points gap to McLaren has shrunk to just 15 points.

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Fernando Alonso 

A seventh-place finish continues a strong and consistent run of points finishes for the Alpine of Fernando Alonso. The two-time champion was surely the star of sprint qualifying to jump from 11th to seventh on the grid for the main race. In the race itself Alonso managed a strong race to fend off faster cars on his way to seventh place.

 

Honourable Mention - George Russell

As if Austria wasn’t enough of a surprise for Williams and George Russell, the pair managed another surprise at home ground in Silverstone to qualify ninth for the race.  But a penalty for an incident with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz during sprint qualifying dropped him to 12th on the grid for the race. Unfortunately, Russell couldn’t improve upon his starting position, finishing just a couple of places off a points-paying position. Nevertheless, another strong drive which furthers Russell’s case to convince Mercedes to sign him up for the 2022 season.

Losers

Red Bull Honda 

Heading into the race, it was all looking rosy for Max Verstappen’s side of the garage after qualifying on pole position for the race. But that only lasted till the Copse corner on the opening lap, as a clash with Hamilton saw him eliminated from the race. The crash was a scary one as the Dutchman suffered a 51G impact. Thankfully, after taking precautionary checks in the hospital, Verstappen walked away without any major injuries. Unfortunately, his non-finish has completely slashed his advantage to Hamilton in the drivers’ standings, with the Dutchman holding the lead by just eight points.  

Things weren't any better on the other side of the garage either, with teammate Sergio Perez starting from the pitlane after retiring from sprint qualifying. While the Mexican made his way up to ninth position, some questionable strategy calls from the team left him finishing 16th in the end. A small consolation was him stealing the fastest lap of the race to avoid Hamilton gaining more ground on Verstappen. In the constructors’ standings, Red Bull Honda now only lead Mercedes by four points.

Aston Martin

It wasn’t the greatest of home races for the Aston Martin squad, as Sebastian Vettel’s strong eight-place grid slot was squandered with a spin on the opening lap. The four-time champion eventually retired from the race due to a technical issue. His teammate Lance Stroll gave some form of consolation by recovering from 15th on the grid to finish eighth in the end.

AlphaTauri

The AlphaTauri squad had a pretty quiet race at Silverstone, with Yuki Tsunoda recovering from a 16th place start to finish 10th in the end. Teammate Pierre Gasly was also in the mix for a points finish, but a late race puncture scuppered his chances, and had to settle for 11th in the end. Overall, not the greatest of races for the sister Red Bull team that are locked in a close fight with Aston Martin, and now Alpine for fifth place in the constructors’ standings.

Formula One will head next to the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix scheduled for August 1, before the summer break. On paper this might be a perfect place for Red Bull Honda to bounce back, but Ferrari might just be a fly in the soup on that party considering how well they did at Monaco.