1. Why did Perez have to start from the pits?
For Sergio Perez, Q1 was the nail in the coffin for the British GP. After his crash, he only qualified in 19th place. Red Bull ‘used’ the poor result to increase the Mexican’s engine quota. This was possible because Perez was already at the limit with numerous components.
There is actually a starting position penalty for additional components. But because Red Bull changed the parts during the parc fermé and did not get permission from Joe Bauer, the FIA’s technical delegate, he had to start from the pits. At least: This might mean he can avoid a penalty in another race. This will probably affect Max Verstappen at one point: the world champion is also at the limit with many components.
2. Why couldn’t Gasly start at all?
Pierre Gasly had a new engine installed at the beginning of the weekend. His quota had already been exhausted, which is why his last starting position was already certain. However, he was not even able to start the race from there: at the end of the formation lap, the Frenchman turned into the pit lane and got out of his car there. He had already noticed problems during the laps to the starting grid that ultimately led to his early retirement. First diagnosis: gearbox. A similar problem may have already paralyzed his team-mate Esteban Ocon in the Imola qualifying.
3. How did Leclerc end up in 14th place?
Charles Leclerc is going through perhaps the most difficult phase of his Formula 1 career so far. After his home victory in Monaco, nothing is going right for the Ferrari driver. After finishing eleventh in qualifying, Ferrari took a risk and called him in for a tire change as soon as the first drops of rain fell. However, it dried out again at first, before a real rain shower followed.
At this point, Leclerc had already damaged his intermediate tires. The Monegasque had to go back to the pits to get fresh intermediates. Ferrari was not alone in making this mistake: Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez and Zhou Guanyu also stopped far too early on lap 19. Ocon even switched to slicks for five laps before his second change to intermediates.
4. How did McLaren mess up Norris’ next victory?
The lead went back to Hamilton – but McLaren actually still had an ace up its sleeve: a set of medium tires. McLaren was the only top team to have medium tires in stock for the last stints. But Norris opted for softs to react to Hamilton. It was the wrong decision, as it quickly became clear. Norris also had to let Verstappen pass. “The medium would have been the right tire, but we can’t say with any certainty that we would have won then,” team boss Andrea Stella said.
5. How did McLaren mess up their first Piastri victory?
Instead, Piastri was left out for one more lap. A fatal mistake. Piastri lost almost 20 seconds and dropped from second to sixth place. In the end, the Australian could not finish higher than fourth.
6. Why was Verstappen suddenly fighting for victory?
Max Verstappen was already feeling the heat in the first stint. When he was battling against Carlos Sainz, it was clear to him that Silverstone was not meant to be. Graining held him back in the first stint. But a brilliant decision to switch from slicks to intermediates brought him back into the action. Verstappen stopped one lap earlier than Hamilton and Norris and thus caught up a lot.
A gap of over twelve seconds was reduced to just seven seconds, and fifth place quickly became third again. When switching back to slicks, Verstappen switched to the hard tires. This allowed him to overtake Norris (soft) and almost overtake Hamilton (also soft) in the end.
7. Why did Russell have to give up?
Pole-setter George Russell experienced several setbacks. When the first drops of rain fell, he was overtaken first by teammate Lewis Hamilton and then by both McLaren drivers. After 33 laps, the Briton had to park his Mercedes in the garage. Around ten laps earlier, the temperature of his power unit rose. A problem with the water system ultimately led to his retirement.