Silverstone,
18
July
2021
|
19:44
Europe/Amsterdam

2021 British Grand Prix - Sunday

KEY MOMENTS

  • Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was the winner, with two tyre changes, of a dramatic British Grand Prix that was paused by a red flag shortly after the start following contact between Hamilton and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. Hamilton started on P Zero Yellow medium C2, changed to another set of mediums during the red flag period after lap two, and then finished the race on the P Zero White hard C1. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who finished second, led until the final laps before being overhauled by Hamilton who was fighting back from a 10-second penalty.
  • The same basic strategy was used by all the drivers apart from AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (who made an extra stop following a puncture) and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
  • Under the red flag rules, teams are allowed to change tyres and repair damage. In total, 13 drivers changed tyres (including Hamilton): but they just swapped the mediums they had originally started the race on for a fresh set of the same compound.
  • The sprint qualifying format for the British Grand Prix meant that drivers had a free choice of tyres for the start. They all chose to start on the medium C2 tyre, with Perez – who started from the pit lane – being the only car to start on the hard C1.
  • Temperatures remain high throughout the race, with 32 degrees centigrade ambient and 49 degrees on track. Despite these challenging conditions, the tyres performed well.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

  • HARD C1: This compound was consistent throughout even the longest runs, making it a crucial element of the strategy for the second stint after the re-start. A number of drivers completed up to 33 laps on this tyre.
  • MEDIUM C2: All the drivers started on this (apart from Perez). Both Hamilton and Leclerc used it for more than 25 laps. Even though this is a softer compound, making it more susceptible to blistering, this did not affect the performance in any way.
  • SOFT C3: Too aggressive for long runs in today’s hot conditions, but used by Perez and Gasly for their final stints. Perez set fastest lap with it, but as he finished outside the top 10 does not score an extra championship point.

FORMULA 2: RACE 3

The 29-lap Formula 2 feature race was run in warm conditions of 28 degrees on Sunday morning, with UNI-Virtuosi driver Guanyu Zhou emerging as the winner from second on the grid after out-dragging Prema’s poleman (and current championship leader) Oscar Piastri off the line. Most of the drivers started on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre, with the exception of six who went for the P Zero White hard tyre. Several drivers switched to the hard as soon as the pit window opened after lap six, including Carlin’s Dan Ticktum, who finished second. As more of the medium-equipped drivers made their stops, this allowed those who had started on the hards to move up the running order. The highest-placed of them at the finish was Hitech’s Juri Vips, who finished seventh after leading the race before his pit stop on lap 19. Despite the very warm conditions, the medium tyre also stood up well – with Trident’s Bent Viscaal running a long first stint of 15 laps on a used set to challenge the frontrunners, before eventually finishing 13th.

MARIO ISOLA HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The race strategy was influenced by the new tyre rules in place for sprint qualifying races, which allow all the drivers a free choice of tyres at the start so that they can follow the theoretically fastest run plans. That’s exactly what they did today, with the vast majority moving from the medium to hard. We were then treated to a fantastic duel between two of the top drivers in the sport, who managed their tyres perfectly to deliver a thrilling battle to the end. Now we remain at Silverstone to focus on our next task: continuing the 2022 18-inch test programme, which we will be doing on Tuesday and Wednesday with Aston Martin, Haas and Red Bull.”

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
HARD MEDIUM SOFT
Hamilton
1m29.699s
Pérez
1m30.958s
Pérez
1m28.617s
Bottas
1m30.524s
Sainz
1m31.819s
Gasly
1m30.266s
Leclerc
1m30.569s
Hamilton
1m31.854s
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LONGEST STINT OF THE RACE
COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS
HARD C1 Raikkonen, Ocon, Russell 33
MEDIUM C2 Tsunoda 30
SOFT C3 Gasly 6
PIT STOP SUMMARY
CAR DRIVER START PIT 1 PIT 2 PIT 3
44 HAM C2u C2u (2) C1n (27)  
16 LEC C2n C2n (2) C1n (29)  
77 BOT C2u C2n (2) C1n (22)  
4 NOR C2n C1n (21)    
3 RIC C2n C1n (20)    
55 SAI C2n C2n (2) C1n (28)  
14 ALO C2n C2u (2) C1n (24)  
18 STR C2u C2u (2) C1u (23)  
31 OCO C2n C2n (2) C1n (19)  
22 TSU C2n C1n (30)    
10 GAS C2n C1n (28) C3n (46)  
63 RUS C2n C2n (2) C1n (18)  
99 GIO C2n C2n (2) C1n (23)  
6 LAT C2n C2n (2) C1n (19)  
7 RAI C2n C2n (2) C1n (18)  
11 PER C1n C2n (18) C2n (38) C3u (48)
9 MAZ C2u C2u (2) C1n (25)  
47 MSC C2u C2u (2) C1n (24)  
5 VET C2u C1u (18)    
33 VER C2n      

C1 = Hard C1 | C2 = Medium C2 | C3 = Soft C3
n = new | u = used