2019 British GP Review

Well, hello F1 2019, this season has livened up considerably. The Bahrain GP was a little exciting, but things began to pick up at the Canadian GP where Hamilton chased Vettel into a mistake. The French GP was a bit of a dud, but struggling Mercedes and a Red Bull getting stronger made for a brilliant Austrian GP. Whilst the Austrian GP was brought alive by Max Verstappen, the British GP should be remembered for the many wheel-to-wheel battles up and down the grid. Instead of my usual heros and zeros run-down I am going to focus on the battles, because F1 was the real star of the race.

Bottas vs Hamilton

Mercedes clearly have the edge on pace in qualifying and in the race. Whilst Bottas stunned by taking pole position by the slenderest of margins, it was Hamilton who would seize advantage in the race. Hustling and looking for an overtake right from the start was exciting, but ultimately it was a good defensive drive from Valterri.

On lap 4, we all thought Hamilton had done it coming around Luffield, but Bottas managed to retake Hamilton into Copse corner, not an easy place to overtake. Hamilton then backed off, looking after his tyres, and aiming for a one-stop knowing Valterri was on a two-stop strategy.

Whilst Hamilton majorly benefited from the Safety Car and Bottas knowing he needed to stop again, should really have tried harder to retake the lead and try and get a gap before his stop. But no challenge came from the Finn. Amazingly, Hamilton had so saved his tyres that he managed to get fastest lap from Bottas who stopped again near the end of the race.

Haas drivers vs Haas

Oh boy, on the exit of turn 5, the slightest of bumps into each other caused both cars into eventual retirement. After the Rich Energy debacle pre-race, Haas needed a positive weekend. In the end, Grosjean spun in the pitlane and then the lap 1 crash. Sadly, they contributed to their continuing woes.

Norris vs Ricciardo

It was Ricciardo who was best of the rest in qualifying, but Norris in the McLaren aced his start and jumped Ricciardo. The two were side by side around Copse and into Becketts, a great battle. Norris did well to lead the pack following closely behind, but not close enough to attempt any more overtakes.

Leclerc vs Verstappen

The last race in Austria was the scene of a slightly controversial battle between the two, with Leclerc outdone by Verstappen. It was obvious at the British GP that Charles was not going to be overtaken again. This is hard racing at its best.

The pair battled in the first stint, with Leclerc firmly shutting the door on Verstappen on lap 10. With Gasly pitting early, Leclerc and Verstappen's pitstops happened on the same lap. Verstappen did what he could to be as close to Leclerc on the pit entry, and the Red Bull team did a great pitstop to get Verstappen out ahead. It was nice to have the teams involved in the pitstops that added an extra element to this exciting battle. Sadly for Max, he did not have as much grip as he expected and lost the position to Leclerc in the Loop.

On lap 19, Verstappen got a run into Stowe, passing Leclerc on the inside on the straight only for Leclerc to carry more speed around the outside and retake the position again. Amazing stuff! You think, Verstappen's got this perfectly lined up, DRS on, slipstream, pull out, pass into the braking zone and job done, but then the Ferrari comes steaming past you around the outside, absolute quality!

On lap 25, after the safety car, Verstappen was behind Gasly, and Leclerc behind both of them. After again losing out to Gasly into Stowe, it allowed Leclerc to challenge Verstappen into the left hander. Verstappen would have been forgiven to have thought the challenge was seen off as he had the inside line, but Leclerc managed to get alongside into the right hander at Club and eased Max off the track, payback for Austria. What we learned in France is that going off track and completing a pass on the next straight deserves a penalty, and for once, we are grateful the stewards left it alone as Max re-took his position from Leclerc down the start finish straight.

The pair scrapped for 20 wonderful, captivating laps, and must be remembered as a classic F1 moment, it's a shame that the safety car brought an end to that.
Long may this rivalry continue, please!

Gasly vs Leclerc

Gasly was enjoying his strongest performance for Red Bull this year, and though he wasn't on the lightning pace of Verstappen, he was still in the mix with the Ferrari's. Gasly had put a good move on Vettel just before coming in for his pitstop. I just hope that Pierre can build on this performance this weekend and carry it through for the remainder of the year. Back to the race and Leclerc managed an audacious move around the outside of Village. If that was the only overtake in this race, that would have been epic, in the end it will likely be quickly forgotten, but that move was quality. 

Vettel vs Verstappen

Their first encounter came on lap 11 when Verstappen was caught out in a battle with Leclerc which lead to some questionable weaving down the Wellington straight. But it proved to be better for the race that Verstappen stayed ahead.

After Verstappen was let pass by Gasly, it was a matter of when not if, Verstappen would pass Vettel for third. Vettel was having another off weekend, off the pace all weekend, but for a change being left out on worn tyres just in case there was a safety car actually worked for Ferrari. Verstappen managed a DRS overtake around the outside of Stowe, but ran a little wide allowing Vettel to come back at him. Verstappen blocked the inside line with what was a borderline late defensive move, but it was never really on for Vettel. And just as Ricciardo lost all grip being so close behind Verstappen at Baku 2017, Vettel ran straight into the back of Verstappen, sending both into the gravel trap but not out of the race. There was a small gap that Vettel went for, but it was never really on, and Verstappen had every right to close that door and Vettel had opportunities to swing to the outside. Again, we are talking about another Vettel error, it's getting really sad now.

Hats off to Vettel for jumping straight out of the car to Verstappen and apologising straight away.

Sainz vs Ricciardo

Sainz was caught out by blustery conditions in qualifying that saw him knocked out of Q2 whilst his teammate was challenging for best of the rest in Q3. But a mega start, good pace, and benefiting massively from the safety car, the Spaniard produced a great drive to cling onto sixth place. He wasn't dupped into defending against Ricciardo, concentrating on maximising his laptimes, he knew he could just about keep the Renault at bay, though we all thought a big lunge was coming, but Sainz did really well to make sure it never got to that point.
Ricciardo had a great weekend and though he too lost out in the safety car was opportunistic in his pass on his team-mate, who then got punted by Perez who was struggling with his brake balance - the stewards being very lenient and not giving any penalties.

Final thoughts

For a change, I thought the safety car took away from the race rather than added this time. The big winners being Hamilton, Vettel,  Sainz and Kvyat.
It robbed us of Hamilton vs Bottas for the victory.
It robbed us of Norris vs Ricciardo as Norris had to stop twice taking him out of contention. We did get Sainz vs Ricciardo towards the end though.
It robbed us of Leclerc vs Verstappen which could have lasted all race, but they did dice a little after the safety car.
It robbed Albon of a good result. Albon had a really strong weekend, qualifying in Q3, but was not helped by the safety car, and though a second stop should have helped, the car had an electrical issue which made it unsafe to touch so they left him out to lose position after position til the end of the race. He did manage a great move on Hulkenberg around the outside of Stowe on lap 13.

It's so easy to be negative and critcise, but praise where praise is due, we should be hailing F1 when it is good, and the British Grand Prix was ace.

Good news for Williams extending their sponsorship and it was nice to see Frank Williams around, even being driven around by Lewis Hamilton.
It was a wonderful to hear that the British Grand Prix is staying at Silverstone.
It was good to see 007 on the Red Bull cars, making the most of their Aston Martin links.