2021 British Grand Prix

2021 British Grand Prix
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Round	10 of 2021
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Race Details
Date	July 18, 2021
Race Number	1045
Official Name	Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021
Location	Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, Northants/Bucks, UK
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.901 km (3.667 mi)
Distance	52 laps, 306.852 km (190.669 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	Grid positions set by results of sprint qualifying
Fastest Lap
Driver	Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	1:28.617 on lap 50
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton
Second	Charles Leclerc
Third	Valtteri Bottas
Lap Leaders

The 2021 British Grand Prix, (officially the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021) was the tenth round of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England on July 18 2021. It was the first race weekend to host the new sprint qualifying format introduced in the season.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the sprint qualifying despite slipping on his final improvement lap at Vale. At the start of the sprint qualifying, Max Verstappen had a better start and led all the way to victory, taking pole position for the main race. Valtteri Bottas remained in third despite starting on softs as opposed to the majority who started on mediums. Sergio Pérez spun during the sprint qualifying and was forced to retire on the final lap, starting last and from the pit lane after the team made changes to his car.

At the start of the race, Hamilton made a better start than Verstappen, with the latter defending coming out of Turn 1, the duel continuing until the Copse corner, when Hamilton made contact with Verstappen, spearing him heavily into the barriers and causing the race to be red-flagged and stopped on the following lap, with Charles Leclerc taking an unlikely lead for Ferrari during the chaos. On the restart, Leclerc held onto the lead, while Hamilton was given a 10-second time penalty for his incident with Verstappen shortly afterwards. Hamilton pitted and served his penalty on the 27^th lap, but did not lose much places and was able to make up ground thanks to slow stops for Lando Norris (who passed Bottas at the restart and dropped behind him as a result of the slow stop), Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, Jr. Leclerc, who had to deal with a power unit issue earlier on during the race, conceded the lead to Hamilton after running wide at Copse with three laps remaining, the seven-time champion ultimately winning and heavily reducing the championship lead to his rival, while Bottas settled in third after being given team orders not to battle with his team-mate. Sebastian Vettel was the other retirement of the race, withdrawing from damage after spinning at Woodcote at the restart.

Background

At the end of the 2020 season it was announced that the pit straight of the circuit would be named as the Hamilton straight, honoring Lewis Hamilton.

On the Portuguese Grand Prix weekend, it was announced that all ten teams have unanimously agreed to trial a new sprint race format. The Silverstone Circuit has since announced to be the first site for hosting the new format, with the weekend's schedule announced.

The format for sprint qualifying will be as follows:

• Friday: A one-hour free practice session with two sets of tires for teams to choose freely, and the Qualifying session with five soft tire sets available only.
• Saturday: A one-hour practice session with one set of tires for teams to choose freely, and a 100 km (60 mi) sprint race (one-third of Grand Prix distance) with two sets of tires to choose freely. Points are awarded to the Top 3 with a 3-2-1 scoring basis with pit stops not compulsory.
• Sunday: Full-distance race with two remaining sets of tires.

In addition, following two closed-door races in the previous year, the circuit announced that it would be welcoming a full-capacity crowd, which is part of the Event Research Programme (ERP).

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 British Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
Source:

Practice Overview

The full practice results for the 2021 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

No.	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:28.211	9	1:31.034	7
4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:27.814	2	1:31.030	6
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:28.062	7	1:31.593	17
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:29.227	16	1:31.337	15
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:29.220	15	1:31.328	14
9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1:29.808	19	1:32.474	19
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:28.449	11	1:31.188	10
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:28.163	8	1:30.800	5
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:28.873	14	1:31.289	13
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:27.828	4	1:30.277	2
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:29.597	18	1:32.041	18
22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:28.600	12	1:31.404	16
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:28.415	10	1:30.707	4
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:27.035	1	1:29.902	1
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:27.815	3	1:31.131	8
47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:29.227	17	1:34.017	20
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	1:27.923	6	1:30.507	3
63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:29.857	20	1:31.237	11
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:27.897	5	1:31.180	9
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:28.827	13	1:31.263	12
Source:

Qualifying

Q1

Verstappen topped Q1 with Tsunoda, Raikkonen, Latifi, Schumacher and Mazepin being eliminated.

Q2

Hamilton ended Q2 fastest courtesy of a tow from his team-mate Bottas. While Russell get into Q3 in Williams for the second consecutive time, eliminated in the session were Alonso, Gasly, Ocon, Giovinazzi and Stroll.

Q3

After setting the fastest lap early on, Hamilton was improving on his final run when he slipped at the Vale corner, but nevertheless, secured pole for the sprint qualifying as Verstappen did not improve his time in his second run.

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2021 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		2	1:26.786		1	1:26.023		1	1:26.134	1
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		1	1:26.751		2	1:25.315		2	1:26.209	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		9	1:27.487		3	1:26.764		3	1:26.328	3
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari		3	1:27.051		5	1:26.919		4	1:26.328	4
5	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda		4	1:27.121		6	1:27.073		5	1:26.844	5
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes		8	1:27.444		10	1:27.220		6	1:26.897	6
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes		5	1:27.323		9	1:27.125		7	1:26.899	7
8	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes		14	1:27.671		7	1:27.080		8	1:26.971	8
9	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari		6	1:27.337		4	1:26.848		9	1:27.007	9
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes		10	1:27.493		8	1:27.103		10	1:27.179	10
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault		11	1:27.580		11	1:27.245				11
12	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda		13	1:27.600		12	1:27.273				12
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault		7	1:27.415		13	1:27.340				13
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		12	1:27.595		14	1:27.617				14
15	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes		15	1:28.017		15	1:27.665				15
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda		16	1:28.043							16
17	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		17	1:28.062							17
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes		18	1:28.254							18
19	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari		19	1:28.738							19
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari		20	1:29.051							20
107% time: 1:32.823
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.

Race Grid

The starting grid of the feature race of the 2021 British Grand Prix is outined below:

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Max Verstappen	2
	______________	Lewis Hamilton
Row 2	3	______________
	Valtteri Bottas	4
	______________	Charles Leclerc
Row 3	5	______________
	Lando Norris	6
	______________	Daniel Ricciardo
Row 4	7	______________
	Fernando Alonso	8
	______________	Sebastian Vettel
Row 5	9	______________
	Esteban Ocon	10
	______________	Carlos Sainz, Jr.
Row 6	11	______________
	Pierre Gasly	12
	______________	George Russell
Row 7	13	______________
	Kimi Räikkönen	14
	______________	Lance Stroll
Row 8	15	______________
	Antonio Giovinazzi	16
	______________	Yuki Tsunoda
Row 9	17	______________
	Nicholas Latifi	18
	______________	Mick Schumacher
Row 10	19	______________
	Nikita Mazepin	20
	______________	Sergio Pérez

Sprint Qualifying

Report

Despite his brakes catching fire, Verstappen got past Hamilton at the start, twice going wheel to wheel into Brooklands and Copse. He led for the rest of the race until the checkered flag, albeit slowing down his pace on the final lap due to his and Hamilton's tires blistering. Bottas maintained in third ahead of Leclerc despite starting on softs compared to the others on mediums, while Alonso, another one starting on softs, made the most position gains on the first lap, going from 11^th to 5^th, and came in 7^th in the end behind the McLaren drivers. There was chaos on the first lap, as Russell tagged Sainz, causing him to drop but he recovered to 11^th, while Mazepin spun after making contact with his team-mate. While trailing Alonso, Perez spun at the Becketts esses, dropping down to the back of the grid and retiring on the final lap, hence starting the main race last.

Results

The full results for the 2021 British Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points	Race Grid
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	17	25:38.426	2	3	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	17	+1.430	1	2	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	17	+7.502	3	1	3
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	17	+11.278	4		4
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	17	+24.111	6		5
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	17	+30.959	7		6
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	17	+43.527	11		7
8	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	17	+44.439	10		8
9	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	17	+46.652	8		12†
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	17	+47.395	13		9
11	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	17	+47.798	9		10
12	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	17	+48.763	12		11
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	17	+50.677	17		13
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	17	+52.179	15		14
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	17	+53.225	14		15
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	17	+53.567	16		16
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	17	+55.162	18		17
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	17	+1:08.213	19		18
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	17	+1:17.648	20		19
20*	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	16	Vibrations	5		PL*
Source:

• * Perez was classified as completed 90% race distance. He started from the pit lane after the team made significant changes to his car before the main race.
• ^† Russell was given a three-place grid penalty for the main race for making contact and forcing Sainz off-track on the first lap.

Sprint Qualifying Grid

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Lewis Hamilton	2
	______________	Max Verstappen
Row 2	3	______________
	Valtteri Bottas	4
	______________	Charles Leclerc
Row 3	5	______________
	Sergio Pérez	6
	______________	Lando Norris
Row 4	7	______________
	Daniel Ricciardo	8
	______________	George Russell
Row 5	9	______________
	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	10
	______________	Sebastian Vettel
Row 6	11	______________
	Fernando Alonso	12
	______________	Pierre Gasly
Row 7	13	______________
	Esteban Ocon	14
	______________	Antonio Giovinazzi
Row 8	15	______________
	Lance Stroll	16
	______________	Yuki Tsunoda
Row 9	17	______________
	Kimi Räikkönen	18
	______________	Nicholas Latifi
Row 10	19	______________
	Mick Schumacher	20
	______________	Nikita Mazepin

Race

Report

Hamilton had a better start than Verstappen as the lights went out, while Leclerc passed Bottas for third into Turn 1. Hamilton edged ahead of Verstappen at the Wellington Straight, going on the outside of Brooklands, but Verstappen reclaimed the lead at the following Luffield corner. As the duel went into Copse, Hamilton's left front made contact with Verstappen's rear right, causing Verstappen to spin, the rear right tire detaching from the rim and colliding sideways into the barrier with a force of 51 G. Leclerc took the lead as the duo collided, just before the safety car was called before the red flag was shown on the following lap. Verstappen meanwhile climbed out unhurt from his wrecked car, and was taken to the hospital for further checks. The contact meant that Hamilton had damage to his front left rim, and the red flag allowed the team to perform repairs.

The race was restarted 35 minutes after the crash. Leclerc held onto the lead at the restart, with Norris passing Bottas into Turn 1. Vettel spun into the old pit entry just before Woodcote, but got going and dropped down to the pack. Shortly afterwards, Hamilton was issued a 10-second time penalty for the collision. Leclerc then reported intermittent power issues, which the team told him how to fix it, allowing Hamilton to briefly close into Leclerc. When the round of pit stops began, a few drivers had particularly slow stops. Norris' slow stop was due to an issue with the rear right tire, as a result he dropped back behind Bottas and Alonso. This allowed Bottas to stay ahead of Norris after his stop, passing Alonso on the Wellington Straight on his outlap. After being passed by Norris at Vale on the same lap, Alonso pitted on the following lap, also suffering a slow stop. He rejoined behind Stroll and immediately disposed of him.

Hamilton pitted on Lap 28, serving his penalty and rejoining the race in 5^th place, thanks to Norris and Alonso's slow stops. The combined pit stop and penalty for Hamilton mean that Leclerc now led Sainz a Ferrari 1–2. Sainz pitted a few laps later, apparently having an issue with his front left tire and leaving his pit box longer than intended. Leclerc then pitted without issues and came out still leading, while Hamilton dispatched his countryman Norris, and then passed Bottas at Stowe, who was given orders from the team not to fight his team-mate. Vettel retired from damage on the 40^th lap, while on the 49^th lap, Perez, who had been charging after starting from the pit lane, had an incident at Club with Raikkonen which the latter spun. Perez was called for a third stop to pit for fresh tires in an attempt to take away the fastest lap point from Hamilton, which he did, but was unable to score the extra point as he came in 16^th. Gasly also made a third stop due to suffering a late puncture and dropped out of the top 10. With three laps remaining, Hamilton, who had been steadily charging, managed to overtake Leclerc at Copse, this time without incident as the first lap as the Monegasque ran wide. Hamilton cruised on to win his home race for a record eighth time, with Leclerc coming in second and Bottas in third, and the McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo finishing behind them. Sainz, Alonso, Stroll, Ocon and Tsunoda completed the points-scoring positions.

Results

The full results for the 2021 British Grand Prix Main Race are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	52	1:58:23.284	2	25
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	52	+3.871	4	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	52	+11.125	3	15
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+28.573	5	12
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+42.624	6	10
6	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	52	+43.454	10	8
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	52	+1:12.093	7	6
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	52	+1:14.289	14	4
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	52	+1:16.162	9	2
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	52	+1:22.065	16	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	52	+1:25.327	11
12	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	51	+1 lap	12
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	51	+1 lap	15
14	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	51	+1 lap	17
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	51	+1 lap	13
16	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	51	+1 lap	PL
17	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	51	+1 lap	19
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	51	+1 lap	18
Ret	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	40	Overheating	8
Ret	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	0	Collision	1
Source:

Milestones

• First race to use the sprint qualifying format.
• 50^th race start for Antonio Giovinazzi.
• 99^th race win for Lewis Hamilton.

Standings

With Verstappen and Red Bull failing to score in the race at Silverstone, despite having won the sprint qualifying, Hamilton reduced the drivers' championship lead down to eight points, while Mercedes narrowed the constructors' championship lead heavily to 4 points. Perez lost two places behind Norris and Bottas, failing to score despite setting the fastest lap but not finishing in the top 10. Leclerc's podium meant that Ferrari did little damage to the battle for third with McLaren, reducing the gap by 4 points. Tsunoda's finish in the final points-paying position helped AlphaTauri retain 5^th by one point ahead of Aston Martin.

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts +/- 1 Max Verstappen 185 — 2 Lewis Hamilton 177 — 3 Lando Norris 113 ▲1 4 Valtteri Bottas 108 ▲1 5 Sergio Pérez 104 ▼2 6 Charles Leclerc 80 — 7 Carlos Sainz, Jr. 68 — 8 Daniel Ricciardo 50 — 9 Pierre Gasly 39 — 10 Sebastian Vettel 30 — 11 Fernando Alonso 26 — 12 Lance Stroll 18 — 13 Esteban Ocon 14 — 14 Yuki Tsunoda 10 — 15 Kimi Räikkönen 1 — 16 Antonio Giovinazzi 1 —

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts +/- 1 Red Bull Racing-Honda 289 — 2 Mercedes 285 — 3 McLaren-Mercedes 163 — 4 Ferrari 148 — 5 AlphaTauri-Honda 49 — 6 Aston Martin-Mercedes 48 — 7 Alpine-Renault 40 — 8 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 2 —

Only point-scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

See Also

	See the related content on the W Series Wiki
	2021 Silverstone Round

References

Images and Videos:

References:

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