Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz wins British GP after Zhou crash at Silverstone. The Spaniard benefited from questionable strategy calls from Ferrari, which cost his teammate Charles Leclerc, who could only finish fourth, the win and a chance to revive his title hopes. Lewis Hamilton finished third behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez after a frantic final nine laps following a late safety car. Verstappen leads Perez in the championship by 34 points with Leclerc a further nine adrift.
The race was delayed for an hour after a huge pile-up at the first corner caused a red flag. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu vaulted the barriers at the first corner after sliding upside down across the gravel trap, when Mercedes’ George Russell and Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri touched, spinning Russell into the side of Zhou, but was freed from the car by paramedics and declared uninjured after a check-up at the medical center. Williams driver Alex Albon was flown to Coventry Hospital for precautionary checks after he was involved in a separate accident with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel punting him into the pit wall.
The late safety car was out when Leclerc was leading and pulling away from Sainz, who was coming under pressure from a charging Hamilton. Ferrari decided to leave Leclerc out on his used hard tyres, while they pitted Sainz for new “softs, a choice made by most other teams with drivers in the lading positions. Sainz refused Ferrari’s request to give Leclerc as much space as possible at the restart and took the lead down the Wellington Straight and into Brooklands corner with nine laps to go. Perez passed Hamilton for third at Turn Four and closed on Leclerc.
Earlier Sainz had lost the lead to Verstappen at the first start only for the race to be suspended following the huge crash involving Zhou.
British GP Race Result: Top 10 1) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari 2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull 3) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari 5) Fernando Alonso, Alpine 6) Lando Norris, McLaren 7) Max Verstappen, Red Bull 8) Mick Schumacher, Haas 9) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin 10) Kevin Magnussen, Haas
