An unexpected winner and an unexpected podium: the British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix was held yesterday, which gave us a huge amount of emotions and experiences. Here are the results:

First of all, we are very glad that after such a terrible accident at the start, everyone is alive and well. Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon shared their condition on Instagram and Twitter:

Carlos Sainz won the first victory of his career at Silverstone.

Immediately after the finish of the British Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver shared his emotions in a short interview with Jenson Button. 

Carlos Sainz (1st): "I don't even know what to say! Just amazing! The first victory after 150 races, a victory with Ferrari at Silverstone – I can't ask for more. This is a special day that I will never forget. 

Overall, an amazing weekend. Thanks to all for their support! Lewis was at his best today, but I managed to keep him behind, so I'm happy. 

During the first leg of the race, I had problems with the balance of the car on Medium tires, which is why Max was able to press me in high-speed turns. However, even after missing it, I continued to believe that I had a chance. 

The departure of the safety car gave me the opportunity to return to the fight – and I succeeded. At the restart, I took the chance and won”.

Charles Leclerc had a high chance of winning at Silverstone, but unlike his rivals, the Ferrari driver did not change the Hard tires to Soft while driving a safety car on the track. On a tougher line-up, he could not hold the lead after the restart.

Charles Leclerc (4th): "In the last laps I stayed on the old set of tires, while everyone else switched to the new Soft. Because of this, I had serious problems, but I still gave my best. Of course, I am disappointed with the result. 

After the race Mattia (Binotto) came up to me to support me. The team and I need to evaluate the global picture, whereas I evaluate the results of the race based on my interests. Behind the wheel, the driver does not have complete information about what is happening on the track. 

It seemed to me that I lost a lot of time on the first leg of the race and at the beginning of the second leg, but this is just my opinion – perhaps it will change when I see the global picture of how the race was going. 

I don't want to focus on my disappointment with the results of the race. Carlos won an incredible victory – the first victory is always special. A great result for the team and Carlos. In the last few races he has gained confidence. I am happy for him, but I am upset with my result – I have mixed feelings, but I hope that we will come back stronger in the next race”.

Sergio Perez took second place in the British Grand Prix, although after the first lap he was in the last position. After the finish, the Mexican Red Bull Racing driver told how he managed it. His teammate Max Verstappen surprisingly took only 7th place due to damage to the car.

Sergio Perez (2nd): "We managed to win back well because we didn't give up, we kept attacking, and when the chance came at the end of the race, we didn't miss it. 

It was a real battle – first I fought with Charles, then with Lewis, and there was a moment when it seemed that I was already ahead, but Lewis beat me again – in general, the duel was amazing! In the last laps there was an incredible struggle. 

If we talk about the incident on the first lap, then in the third corner I was taken in a vice, I had nowhere to go, because Charles was on one side of me, Max was on the other, and the front wing on my car was seriously damaged. I had to go to the pits to change it. Because of this, I fell back to the last place, and from there I had to break forward, but we managed to do it”.

Max Verstappen (7th): "The start was good again. The speed was just great, and I was getting closer and closer to Carlos. It's just hard to chase here. Then he made a mistake, I was ahead of him, and after a couple of turns, in the fifth turn, a piece of carbon appeared. At the moment when I saw this bump, I could no longer drive to the left or right, so I tried to drive along it as straight as possible.

This completely tore the lower part of the left sidewall. When you're driving and you feel like you've lost your balance, you lose a lot of time on the lap. When I got out of the car, I looked under the bottom — there was nothing left!".

Lewis Hamilton finished third at Silverstone after an incredibly exciting race.

The seven-time world champion is glad that he got on the podium, admitting that his rivals were still faster. His teammate George Russell could not finish the race because of the incident with Zhou

Lewis Hamilton (3rd): "First of all, I would like to dedicate this podium to the fans – this Grand Prix gathered a record audience in the history of Great Britain over the weekend! Thank you all for the incredible support. We don't see this in any other country in the world! 

Today I gave my all, I tried to chase the Ferraris, but they were too fast. And, of course, congratulations to Carlos! And at the end of the race, we had a very sharp duel with Sergio Perez, but the Red Bull car was also faster than Mercedes on the straights. 

I am grateful to our entire team, who prepared technical innovations for this race, which allowed us to get one step closer to the leaders. In general, we will continue to attack! 

We lost some time at the pit stop, after which I tried to catch up with the leaders, and on the tires of both trains, the car was capable of a good pace. The difficulties started closer to the finish line, when I couldn't restrain Red Bull, their car was very fast, so we need to try to make improvements, but the progress is already very noticeable. 

We got on the podium, and it's a huge bonus, but I'm also very glad that no one was injured in the incident at the start. And again, we will continue to attack!"

George Russell (DNF): "The main thing is that Zhou is fine, this is the most important thing. We decided to start on hard tires, because I made a mistake in qualifying, and we didn't start from the position we could have. 

At the start, I hit Zhou's car – and that was the end of it. As soon as the red flags appeared, I got out of the car to see if Zhou was okay. And when I came back, for some reason I couldn't start the car and ran to the team boxes, telling the marshals not to touch the car. But when I returned, she was already on the tow truck. And as soon as you get some outside help, you will no longer be allowed to restart. 

It's a pity, because I only had a punctured tire, and I have no doubt that we could have competed at least for 6th place. We tried to challenge the decision of the FIA, but they insisted on their own. I suppose it was one of the rarest situations..."

At the British Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso showed the best result for himself in the season – fifth place. His teammate Esteban Ocon came down due to a fuel pump failure. In the Constructors' Championship, Alpine reduced the gap from McLaren to six points in the fight for fourth place. 

Fernando Alonso (5th): "A fun race - I'm glad I finished fifth. I was hoping for a dramatic turn of events in the last laps, as it could lead us to the podium, but in any case it was great to fight for positions in the top five. 

I think if we are realistic about the situation, then I should have finished fourth, because I saw Charles repeatedly change the trajectory on the straight in front of Lewis Hamilton. Considering the consequences of such actions in my case in Canada, I believed that it was impossible to act like this, and he would be fined. 

If we evaluate the weekend as a whole, our car was very good, and I felt more competitive compared to other races this season. We had a steady pace in the race. I look forward to continuing in the same spirit and hope that we will maintain our competitive level in the next races. 

Congratulations to Carlos Sainz on his first victory. I am glad that Guanyu Zhou is all right after the incident at the start. This shows how far the safety level has advanced in modern Formula 1”.

Lando Norris earned points for McLaren at Silverstone, and Daniel Ricciardo finished the race only 13th…

Lando Norris (6th): "First of all, I'm glad that Zhou, Alex and George were not injured. It's always unpleasant to see such accidents, it's great that the security measures worked properly. 

We had a good race. I was hoping to finish fifth, but I lost my position at the last pit stop behind the safety car. We probably had a pit stop too late, so we couldn't do more, although the car had a good pace. I'm not particularly upset, we earned some important points, but still it's a pity that I didn't finish higher. 

The British fans were great this weekend, both in the rain and in the sun. At the second restart, I saw how the audience supported me in the stands – it was great! I'm already looking forward to next year”.

Mick Schumacher finished eighth at Silverstone and earned points for the first time in his career! His teammate Kevin Magnussen finished the race tenth. 

For the first time since the 2019 German Grand Prix, Haas earned points with two cars.

This result allowed the team to get ahead of Aston Martin in the fight for eighth place in the Constructors' Championship. 

Mick Schumacher (8th): "We are very happy! I started 19th, but we had the speed to climb up – today we succeeded. A great result for the team – we scored points with two cars, which definitely helped a lot in the Constructors' Championship. 

Speaking about me, I am glad that now I will be able to focus on what is really important – racing”.

Kevin Magnussen (10th): "I don't think we could have hoped for more. I didn't have the best pace in the first segment, at least compared to the second segment, where I managed to increase. I lost a few positions in the first segment, which is a shame, but then I was able to recoup at the end thanks to the safety car. 

The team let us both into the pits, but I decided to stay on the track. I don't know if it was the right decision or not, but if it turned out to be wrong, then it was still mine. 

We are very happy that we have earned points with two cars – by this stage of the season we already have quite a lot of points on our account, which is very good. The team leaves Silverstone with a big smile on their faces and great motivation for the upcoming races!”.

Sebastian Vettel celebrated his 35th birthday with two earned points for ninth place in the British Grand Prix. His Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll finished eleventh. 

Sebastian Vettel (9th): "It's nice to earn points on my birthday and in the team's home race, especially considering my starting position. Overall, I think we had a good race and were able to win back. 

The first start before the red flag turned out to be very chaotic. I started off well and ended up next to Alex Albon. Then I was pinned down, and a chain reaction followed to the incident ahead. I slammed on the brakes, but I couldn't avoid contact with Alex's car. The most important thing is that everyone involved in the incident is fine”.