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2020 British Grand Prix - Lewis Hamilton wins despite last-lap puncture


 

Silverstone, 2nd August, 2020 

Weather: sunny, 21-21.6°C air, 42.3-38.6°C track

·         Lewis scored the 87th victory of his Formula One career – his third of the 2020 season and seventh at Silverstone, breaking the record for most home Grand Prix wins ... the 1st on 3 tires

·         Valtteri held P2 for the majority of the race but suffered a puncture with three laps remaining and ultimately crossed the line in 11th place

·         Lewis (88 points) leads the Drivers’ Championship by 30 points from Valtteri (58 points)

·         The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (146 points) leads Red Bull Racing (78 points) by 68 points in the Constructors’ Championship

·         Gilles Pironi, Reliability Engineer, accepted the Constructors’ trophy on behalf of the team



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Lewis Hamilton

F1 W11 EQ Performance /02
I have never experienced anything like that before. That last lap was one of the most challenging laps I have ever had. Up until that point, everything was going relatively smoothly, the tyres felt great and I was doing some management. When I heard Valtteri’s tyre had gone, I looked at mine and everything seemed fine, but I started to back off. Then, it just suddenly deflated down the straight. It was a heart-in-your-mouth feeling and then I was just trying to keep the speed up without damaging the car. Bono was giving me the gaps; I think it was 30 seconds at one stage, but it was coming down quite quickly and I was thinking ‘How far is it to the end of the lap?’. But we managed to get the car across the line. That last lap is definitely one to remember, I feel so grateful that I got it back and could secure the win. It was difficult standing up there on the podium without the crowd, but hopefully I did everyone proud who was supporting us from home.


Valtteri Bottas

F1 W11 EQ Performance /03
It’s a really disappointing result for me. I got very unlucky with the puncture; everything was going OK until that point. I was trying to put the pressure on Lewis, but we knew it was going to be a long stint on the Hard tyre. Towards the end I was starting to get more and more vibrations on the front left. I didn’t see any debris or anything, so I reported the vibrations and started to manage the tyres, but then the tyre failed suddenly on the start/finish straight and I had to complete a full lap back to the pits which cost me a lot of time. I am sure there will be lots of learnings to take from this weekend, so we’ll take those and move onto the next weekend.


Toto Wolff

In the past, we have had some scrutiny for saying that having a fast car isn’t enough to cruise with a 1-2 finish into the sunset. And today showed how cruel motor racing can be. Valtteri lost a valuable second place for his Drivers’ Championship and the team lost valuable points in the Constructors’ Championship. At the same time, Lewis had enough of a gap to make it over the finish line in first place, but we were lucky that Red Bull pitted towards the end – if they hadn’t, what looked like a secure 1-2 finish would have ended up a 2-11. Therefore, we will continue to be sceptical, we know we have a fast car and a powerful engine, but we will not take anything for granted until we’ve crossed the finish line at each race weekend.


Andrew Shovlin

It’s very frustrating to lose a car in the final laps and Valtteri will be feeling that more than anyone today. The timing couldn’t have been worse as he was just braking for Turn 16, so he had to do the whole lap on three wheels dropping him out of the points at the end. With Lewis we were luckier; after Max decided to take a fresh set and go for fastest lap, Lewis had a lead of over thirty seconds when he got the puncture. Thankfully that was just enough for Lewis to hold on to the win. Despite our frustration at the way the race finished, we can be pleased with how we’ve worked here. The car had great pace in qualifying and the race and we were able to build gaps to the competition quite quickly today. Next week’s race will be a different challenge on softer tyres and in much hotter temperatures. That may not suit us based on what we’ve seen in the warmer conditions here and in Austria although we’re excited by the technical challenge that it creates and will work hard over the next few days to make sure we remain competitive.

 

Start
Charles got off the line really well, to the extent that he briefly took third place off Max Verstappen, but he had to hand it back to the Dutchman at turn 3. Charles then tucked in behind the two Mercedes and the Red Bull, while Sebastian dropped to eleventh. The order did not change, even through two Safety Car periods, the first when Kevin Magnussen went off the track and the second when Daniil Kvyat crashed. After the AlphaTauri incident, both Scuderia drivers came in to switch to the Hard tyre, Charles having been on the Medium and Sebastian on the Soft. Leclerc could not match the pace of those ahead but he was reasonably comfortable when it came to fending off those behind him, so that he was fourth with three laps remaining. Sebastian, who had struggled with pace all weekend, managed to get ahead of Esteban Ocon in the pit stops, but at the re-start he again found himself behind the Renault, dropping back once again to eleventh. The German moved into the points when Romain Grosjean pitted in the Haas to changes tyres, but lost a place when Pierre Gasly managed to pass him.

Last three laps
With three laps remaining, the order at the front was turned on its head: Valtteri Bottas had been second, but he got a puncture which promoted Verstappen to second and Charles to third. The Finn managed to pit and rejoin just behind Vettel, in 12th place. On the final lap, race leader Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had the same tyre problem. The Mercedes man somehow managed to reach the finish line and win, while the Spanish McLaren driver lost a lot of ground, which allowed Vettel back into the points. In the final corner Vettel defended furiously to keep Bottas on new tyres behind him and managed to bring home the final point for tenth place. Charles podium finish was the 12th of his career in Formula 1 (his seventh third place), while it was number 772 for the Scuderia.

Same again
For the second time this season, in which the World Championship celebrates a landmark year, the F1 circus stays at Silverstone for another race in the blue riband series, the 70th Anniversary Formula 1 Grand Prix. It’s an appropriate venue, given that it was here at this track, on 13 May 1950 that the very first race to count for the world championship in this fantastic sport took place.


Charles Leclerc #16

“It was a difficult day, but a good one. I am very satisfied with this result. We know we were a bit lucky, but sometimes these things happen and you need to be there to take the opportunity. I am satisfied with the way in which we have been working this weekend and I am very proud of the team. I am also pleased with my performance, especially with regards to tyre management. It was not easy.

We had a very aggressive downforce level coming here, so we had quite a lot of speed in the straights but difficulties in the corners. I struggled quite a bit to get the tyres to the right temperature, especially after the safety car. Once they were in the right window, things became less tricky though. I think we did quite a good job with the setup and the balance of the car, and it was very nice to drive.

We extracted absolutely everything from the package today. Of course, we don’t want to be fighting for fourth place for too much longer, but at the moment that’s what our car is capable of.”


Sebastian Vettel #5

“That was a very difficult race, because I couldn’t challenge anyone. Many of those behind me were a bit faster and managed to get past, as I was struggling massively to find grip in this car, even though I tried lots of different things this weekend.

I didn’t have the required pace and so my confidence level is quite low at the moment, because I’m struggling to get a feel for the car and every time I try and push, I lose the car. I think we need to have a look at this problem together with the engineers.”


Mattia Binotto
 Team Principal
“Mixed fortunes today. On the plus side is Charles’ podium finish. After a good qualifying yesterday, he was perfect in the race, doing an impeccable job of managing the tyres. On the minus side, is Sebastian’s result. Again today, he was clearly not happy with his car: we have to study the data closely to work out why.

We had prepared carefully for this weekend, going for a lower than usual aerodynamic downforce configuration, based on simulation work and development in the wind tunnel and it paid off. We also worked a lot on tyre management, which was a critical factor in this race, as can be seen from the last few laps. Charles did a good job, patiently listening to the engineers, saving the tyres for the entire race.

Today, at least with one car, we got everything out of the package we have, even though it’s a long way off our target. Now we are focussing on next weekend, when we race again on the same track. We will prepare well and try as hard as possible to bring home even more points than today.”


Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN and CEO Sauber Motorsport AG
“It was a disappointing Sunday. We looked good in the opening stages, climbing up to P12, just behind Ocon and Vettel and showing good pace. We were looking on course for a good result until the stops, but in the end we weren’t able to make any more progress once we switched to hard tyres. With one more race here in Silverstone, we will need to comb through the data and find the best way to improve our performance for next week.” 
 

Kimi Räikkönen #7

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN C39 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
“Not the race we expected, by all means. At the beginning of the race I thought we would have a chance to fight, but after the stops our pace was not enough to keep up with the others. We’ll need to see how to improve our performance for next week’s race. In the final laps, I had a front wing failure, but that made no difference in the end. I am not sure what happened, we’ll need to look into that.” 


Antonio Giovinazzi #99

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN C39 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
“It’s been quite a difficult race but I think we did the most we could. I had a good start and made up a few places, gained another place with a very good pit-stop by the crew but after the second safety car I struggled with pace – and a five-second penalty meant I lost two more places at the end. We hoped to be a bit more competitive, so we will need to look at the data and improve what we can to make a step forward when we race here again next week.”

 

With the race drawing to a close, the team was set for a good haul of points with Daniel occupying sixth and Esteban eighth. But debris left on the track in sector two meant Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz picked up punctures allowing both drivers to gain places. Daniel further benefitted after overtaking Lando Norris just before the incidents, before finishing just 1.1seconds from a podium place.

The result matches Daniel’s best finish in Renault colours – fourth in the 2019 Italian Grand Prix – with Esteban claiming his best effort in Formula 1 since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.

After a lightning start, Daniel gained two positions on the opening lap, progressing from eighth to sixth. Esteban was also out the blocks quickly – side by side with Daniel into the opening two corners – before maintaining ninth place by the end of the first lap.

After an early safety car, both drivers remained out on Soft tyres. A second safety car on lap 12 allowed the team to double stack both cars with Daniel first in for Hards and Esteban immediately following suit for the same compound, with minimal time lost courtesy of a slick change from the pit crew.


The midfield fight from fifth through to tenth was tight throughout with Daniel and Esteban showing solid race pace and looking set for a solid points haul.

Esteban managed to make his move on Lance Stroll for eighth before benefitting from Bottas and Sainz’s punctures with Daniel diving for a late move on Norris to snatch fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo #3
It was a crazy race at the end, and it feels really cool to take fourth place. We made a good start, jumped up to sixth and we showed decent pace. At the safety car restart I was close to Carlos [Sainz] but didn’t have enough and that allowed Lando [Norris] to have a run on me and I missed out there. That was a bit frustrating, but it came back to us at the end. The race really came alive and that was really good. We had some pace at the end and I was able to get Lando and then Carlos had a problem. I saw Charles [Leclerc] getting closer and maybe with a couple more laps we could have had a podium! We have another chance next week. We were assisted by some chaos, but we were definitely a top six car today and that’s pleasing.

Esteban Ocon #37
I’m very happy with today’s team result. It was very fun out there, lots of overtaking, lots of fun battles and a fantastic result to finish it off. I think today shows how quick our car is in the race. It really felt awesome today and it was a strong performance from the team. It’s a credit to everyone at Enstone and Viry for their hard work between Budapest and this race. We had a lot of discussions, and that’s really paid off today. It proves that we need to qualify further up to make our life easier on Sunday. We have another opportunity next week for more.

Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal
It was a very good result from a team perspective and one of our strongest since our return to Formula 1. It is particularly good here in Silverstone, a temple of the Formula 1 championship and one of the home races for the team. Clearly, there was a bit of help towards the end to gain positions, but that should not take away from the very strong performance that the team has put in throughout the weekend. We had a decent Friday practice and that meant both good preparation for qualifying with both cars in the top ten as well as critical learning about making the Hard tyre last in the race. Today, both drivers had a strong opening lap to have track position and then we decided to stop both cars for Hards under the safety car, which the pit crew did an excellent job on. We also had strong reliability and that’s so important when we have eventful races like this one. After tracks where the car struggled, Silverstone's layout confirmed the strengths and weaknesses of the car. In particular we must keep working on high-speed corners as that’s our weakness compared to direct rivals. We have made progress but we should not lose sight of our direct competitors nor of the competitiveness level of Mercedes in all circumstances.


 

 

1

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes-AMG

1:28:01.283

2

33

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

+ 5.856

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

+ 18.474

4

3

Daniel Ricciardo

Renault

+ 19.650

5

4

Lando Norris

McLaren

+ 22.277

6

31

Esteban Ocon

Renault

+ 26.937

7

10

Pierre Gasly

AlphaTauri

+ 31.188

8

23

Alexander Albon

Red Bull

+ 32.670

9

18

Lance Stroll

Racing Point

+ 37.311

10

5

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

+ 41.857

11

77

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes-AMG

+ 42.167

12

63

George Russell

Williams

+ 52.004

13

55

Carlos Sainz jr.

McLaren

+ 53.370

14

99

Antonio Giovinazzi *

Alfa Romeo

+ 54.205

15

6

Nicholas Latifi

Williams

+ 54.549

16

8

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1 Team

+ 55.050

17

7

Kimi Räikkönen

Alfa Romeo

+ 1 Lap

 

26

Daniil Kvyat

AlphaTauri

Accident
Lap 11

 

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1 Team

Accident
Lap 1

 

27

Nico Hülkenberg

Racing Point

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