What did we learn from the British Grand Prix?
On Sunday, Mercedes clinched another one-two finish with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas securing the first and second position for the seventh time in Round 10 of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Even if Saturday indicated that Ferrari found a good setup with the help of the overnight simulation work after the initial struggles on Friday, Mercedes came back strong in the race, leaving no chance for its rivals. In fact, Mercedes seemingly enjoyed its biggest performance advantage over Ferrari and Red Bull in the British Grand Prix with phases of the race indicated that the Anglo-German team detuned its power unit to hide its ominously dominant form.
Fastest – How could Mercedes’ dominance be any bigger? Lewis Hamilton did not only win the race on Sunday, but he also set the fastest lap time with a 1m27.369, achieving that on the very last lap of the Grand Prix on a set of hard compound Pirelli tyres which has already completed 32 laps. The fastest lap of the third-placed man Charles Leclerc was a whopping 1.903 seconds slower than Hamilton’s benchmark while Verstappen’s best lap time was 1.944 seconds slower despite being on the same tyre compound for the second part of the race.
Two records – Lewis Hamilton became the most successful driver in history of the British Grand Prix with his win on Sunday. The Briton is the only driver to have six wins to his name. He is followed by Jim Clark and Alain Prost with both of them having won on five occasions. Already ahead of the weekend, the Briton had the most podium finishes of any driver on the current grid with eight appearances on the rostrum. With his latest result, he added one more podium finish to his tally.
No points – Sunday did not belong to the four rookie drivers with neither of them managing to score any points. Lando Norris proved to be the most successful of them with his 11th place, finishing only 1.548 seconds behind the tenth-placed Nico Hülkenberg.
Successful Saturday – Despite failing to convert his pole position into a victory, Valtteri Bottas managed to join an exclusive club in history of the British Grand Prix. With his first starting place, Bottas joined the trio of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, the only drivers on the current grid who have pole position to their name at Silverstone. The German started from the front twice with Red Bull, the Finn once with McLaren while Hamilton has claimed the pole positon six times.
Without points – The British Grand Prix marked the first race for Sebastian Vettel in which he could not score any points this season. The German has secured two second places, two third places, three fourth places and two fifth places. His team-mate Charles Leclerc has also scored points in nine of the first ten races. The two Mercedes drivers and Max Verstappen have failed to finish a race outside the point-scoring zone.
The point-scorers – Seven different teams could add to their point tally in the British Grand Prix. Mercedes and Red Bull Racing scored points with both their drivers while Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, McLaren, Renault and Toro Rosso gained points with one of their drivers.
Three – After the Austrian Grand Prix where every single driver managed to finish the race, the British round of the championship saw three drivers failing to see the chequered flag. The two Haas drivers, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen collided, forcing both of them to retire from the race while Antonio Giovinazzi lost control over his Alfa Romeo on lap 18, fording the race director to deploy the safety car.
Haas misery – The above mentioned collision between Grosjean and Magnussen meant that Haas recorded their first double DNF since Australia in 2018. Neither driver was classified at last year’s US Grand Prix, but while Grosjean’s race ended in a collision, Kevin Magnussen was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity.
The master – Kimi Räikkönen climbed up the order to 8th after starting from 12th on Sunday. The Finn started in 17 British Grands Prix and he scored point in all but two races – not a bad achievement!
The climber – Like Räikkönen, Daniil Kvyat could also turn his fortunes around in the race after a less successful qualifying session. The Russian hauled himself up to P9 to take home two points. With his point-scoring result, he finds himself with 12 points in the 14th position in the Drivers’ Standings, five points clear of his rookie team-mate Alexander Albon.
Finally – Pierre Gasly’s controlled drive to fourth place at Silverstone matched his previous best result in Formula One. The last and only other time the Frenchman scored twelve points was last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, but he drove for Toro Rosso back then.
Not the last – Williams drivers George Russell and Robert Kubica were not the last drivers to cross the finish line on Sunday. Sebastian Vettel’s and Sergio Perez’ problems and their late pit stops meant that both of them finished behind the Williams duo. Russell beat Kubica once again with the Polish driver finishing 10.780 seconds behind the Briton. Interestingly, they both recorded their fastest lap time of the race on lap 50. The Briton had the upper hand in terms of fastest lap, as well, with his best lap time having been 0.496 second faster than the one of Kubica.
Already decided – The Championship has not even reached its halfway point, but the battle for the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles looks to be done and dusted. In the Teams’ Standings, Mercedes is 164 points in front of the second-placed Ferrari and a further 52 points clear of Red Bull Racing. In the Drivers’ Standings, Hamilton has 223 point to his name, followed by Bottas with 184 points. The third-placed driver Max Verstappen is 87 points adrift of the Briton.
