Lewis Hamilton led from grid to chequered flag at the British Grand Prix, but it was far from a straight-forward victory for the reigning world champion.
The Mercedes driver suffered a last-lap puncture at Silverstone, and had to nurse his car to the finish line, fending off a charging Max Verstappen.
Teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered a similar fate a couple of laps earlier, costing him a spot on the rostrum, and promoting Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to third.
Here’s how the drivers reacted after the race:
Lewis Hamilton – 1st (Mercedes):
“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.”
Max Verstappen – 2nd (Red Bull):
“I know everyone is asking whether we should not have pitted for the soft tyre because we could have won but could have, would have, should have. You can always ask these questions with hindsight but I don’t regret anything and I believe we made the right decision to pit for fastest lap at the end. We did the right thing and who knows if I would also have got a puncture, you just can’t predict these things as it does not happen very often in F1 these days. At the end of the day Mercedes deserved to win as they were faster than us, some people are saying Lewis was lucky but he was actually unlucky to get the puncture in the first place and so was Bottas. I’m happy to finish second as it looked like third was all that was possible and again we have scored good points. I was four or five tenths off Mercedes every lap but a second faster than the cars behind, so it was a pretty lonely race. At one point I went on the radio telling my engineer to remember to stay hydrated. (laughs) Other than that I was just counting sheep! Next week will be slightly different with the tyre choice affecting the strategy and although we are realistic about the pace of the Mercedes compared to us we won’t stop pushing them like we did today.”
Charles Leclerc – 3rd (Ferrari):
“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.”
Toto Wolff – Team Principal (Mercedes):
“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.”
Daniel Ricciardo – 4th (Renault):
“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.”
British Grand Prix, Sunday 2nd August 2020. Silverstone, England.
Mattia Binotto – Team Principal (Ferrari):
“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.”
Lando Norris – 5th (McLaren):
“A decent race. I made a bit of a mistake by pushing too hard on the first lap of the race. I locked-up and lost a position, but the rest of the race was pretty good. I don’t think we had the fastest car on track compared to the teams around us. We were suffering a little bit with the tyre degradation, having to push more than I wanted for the majority but, apart from that, we were on for a good result. Carlos got unlucky with the puncture. I don’t think we could’ve done a lot more.”
Tough one, but a fun one. P-FIVE. Thanks for all the support ✌️🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/b4DJNw3o7f
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) August 2, 2020
Esteban Ocon – 6th (Renault):
“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.”
Pierre Gasly – 7th (AlphaTauri):
“It’s really fantastic for us to finish P7 today! It was a very strong race and probably one of the best ones from me. We didn’t expect such a result today, we knew we could potentially score points, but it was going to be a challenge as the timing of the first safety car didn’t play into our hands. I think we were P12 at the time and I had to fight my way through the crowd. It was tough but very enjoyable and I had many great battles with Vettel, Stroll and Giovinazzi. I struggled to get close to Sebastian, but then I had one shot to pass him and I knew I had to try and make it work. It doesn’t happen every day that you’re able to overtake a Ferrari on the outside, so I really enjoyed that one! I’m feeling good in the car and we know where we need to improve, so hopefully we can take another step forward in the coming weeks.”
Christian Horner – Team Principal (Red Bull):
“You could say we were a little unlucky to miss out on the victory today but congratulations to Mercedes who have a very dominant car and it would have been a lucky win. Lewis’ luck is with him at the moment but second place and fastest lap for Max is still a very good result for the Team after the gap to Mercedes in qualifying yesterday. Max drove a really mature race, he got everything out of the car and made no mistakes – he was even looking out for his engineers and reminding them to have a drink on the pit wall whilst setting green sectors! Towards the end of the race Max’s tyres weren’t in great shape, so when Bottas had his puncture there was no guarantee Max would have got to the end of the race so it was wise to pit for new rubber. I think we have to be grateful to have benefitted from Valtteri’s misfortune and we can be happy with this result. Alex also drove a great race and to recover and finish eighth with some great passes, after contact and the resulting penalty put him at the back of the field. I think his collision with Magnussen was a racing incident – Kevin made a mistake and went wide so Alex committed and they touched but the five-second penalty was probably fair. From Hungary to here I think we are making progress as a Team and today shows anything can happen in the race, so we must keep pushing and applying the pressure to those in front.”
Cyril Abiteboul – Team Principal (Renault):
“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.”
What a #BritishGP, final results🏁:
P4, Daniel
P6, Esteban #RSspirit pic.twitter.com/rtfMOk4WjI— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) August 2, 2020
Alexander Albon – 8th (Red Bull):
“Eighth isn’t what I want but it’s damage limitation after the damage to the car and penalty at the start of the race. I think the incident with Kevin was 50/50, he made a mistake and left a gap so I went for the move. When I realised he didn’t see me and he closed the door I tried to get out of the way but we touched. There was a big difference of speed going into the corner and it couldn’t be avoided. We had a lot of work to do this weekend but we did the best we could and the race pace was okay fighting back through the field. I’m happy we’ve got another race here at Silverstone next weekend as I love this track and we can use what we’ve learned this week and put it into practice.”
Lance Stroll – 9th (Racing Point):
“We were able to keep up our run of scoring points in every race this season, but I’m disappointed to only finish in P9 and we need to go away and look into the reasons why. The balance of the car was better today and I expected us to be more competitive, but we slipped back in the race. It wasn’t our day today, so now we need to focus on next weekend and make sure we come back stronger and show what the car is capable of. It’s a shame Nico couldn’t start the race because he’s done a good job this weekend.”
P9. Rough day for @HulkHulkenberg too. He deserved to be out there. T-7 to Round 2 at @SilverstoneUK 👊 pic.twitter.com/3oGStiaOFc
— Lance Stroll (@lance_stroll) August 2, 2020
Sebastian Vettel – 10th (Ferrari):
“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.”
Valtteri Bottas – 11th (Mercedes):
“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.”
George Russell – 12th (Williams):
“This was the first race where we have been pretty fast, and our Sunday pace matched our Saturday, so that is positive. We have put a lot of effort in to focus on our pace today, so we are going in the right direction. After the Safety Car, the car felt strong. I managed to overtake Kimi (Raikkonen) and I caught Antonio (Giovinazzi). If we can maintain a good qualifying position ahead of the Alfa Romeos and the Haas’ there’s no reason we can’t stay there on merit on a Sunday.”
British Grand Prix, Sunday 2nd August 2020. Silverstone, England.
Carlos Sainz – 13th (McLaren):
“I’m a bit lost for words to be honest – I think the images spoke for themselves. It’s a very frustrating end to an otherwise very strong race. I had a great start gaining a couple of positions and solid pace throughout the whole race, managing the tyres and the gap to the cars behind. Everything was working well, we were on for a very strong P4 and 12 points, but then the tyre failed and I had to box on the last lap. Very disappointing, frustrating and unfortunate. Nothing we could do about it though. I’ve lost some important points in these first four races, so I really look forward to this run of bad luck turning around. With a shorter championship, losing these points hurts more than normal, but we need to carry on. On the positive side, the car felt good on track and the boys did good pit-stops for the team – that’s why I also feel so bad for them. Tomorrow, we’ll switch our focus to the second round here at Silverstone next week to try to capitalise on our good pace.”
Daniil Kvyat – DNF (AlphaTauri):
“I think it was a very strong race despite the fact it was cut short. I had a good start, great pace and made quite a few overtakes, catching up to the cars in front. We were on for a good result today when all of a sudden at Turn 10 I lost the rear of the car. I thought it was my fault, as at first I always tend to blame myself, but after reviewing the video we saw that something happened out of my control, so we will need to check all the data to understand what exactly caused the failure. It’s disappointing as we could have scored some good points here today, but I will try again next week.”
Antonio Giovinazzi – 14th (Alfa Romeo):
“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.”
Aver dato il massimo non è sufficiente. Lo sarà solo quando avremo ottenuto almeno il minimo dei nostri obiettivi.
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Giving our best can’t be enough unless we achieve the least of our goals.#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 #AlfaRomeoRacing #AG99🐝 pic.twitter.com/tvUBDg2KZL— Antonio Giovinazzi (@Anto_Giovinazzi) August 2, 2020
Nicholas Latifi – 15th (Williams):
“I think out of all the first four races so far, this was the race where in duration the car felt the best and the most predictable. The car felt alive and it was really nice to drive. In the first lap I made a mistake and went off and lost the track position, but besides that I had a lot of confidence to push. It was quite an enjoyable race, as it is much nicer when you are in the fight with other cars.”
Romain Grosjean – 16th (Haas):
“It’s disappointing, the result, as I drove to the absolute limit from the beginning to the end of the race. The first stint was fun. I found myself up in fifth behind the safety car and I was like ‘oh, just like the good old days.’ I was happy to stay out, we have to try these things with our car – just like we did in Hungary. I was a bit skeptical for the restart on the tires, but it worked well, and I could keep the pace. I was happy and having fun. I don’t think much is going to change for next week, I think the order will stay the same, but obviously there’ll be a bit more degradation in the race – so maybe it’s a two-stop race, which I’d rather have, a one-stop is a bit boring.”
Kimi Raikkonen – 17th (Alfa Romeo):
“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.”
Kevin Magnussen – DNF (Haas):
“I’m all good after the accident, just very frustrated. I had made a great start – again, gained a couple of positions. I’d felt that the car was good on the way to the grid and I said to my engineers that the car was working really well. I’m gutted to be out as maybe we could have done something today. We had done everything we could do. We’d qualified as best as we could, then I got a great start – it was a good first lap with the positions gained, we were close to the top 10. It was looking good, I’m very gutted.”
Gutted to be out of the race so early. I had a great start to the race and the car felt great until the incident, so I think we could have had fun today. Luckily we’re already back racing next week 👊🏼 pic.twitter.com/e6A8RYXVqb
— Kevin Magnussen (@KevinMagnussen) August 2, 2020
Nico Hulkenberg – DNS (Racing Point):
“It’s a real shame that I couldn’t start the race and I feel for the team because they did everything to get me onto the grid. I’m very thankful to everyone for their help. It’s been a jump into the deep end this weekend, but I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work with the team again. It would have been great to score a good result in the race as a reward for all our hard work.”
crazy couple days! would have loved to be out there racing today but an issue with the power unit has prevented us from the #hulkenback.. perhaps next weekend 🤠 #f1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/ZdgfRpWacM
— Nico Hülkenberg (@HulkHulkenberg) August 2, 2020