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2020 British Grand Prix

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2020 British Grand Prix
Race 4 of 13[a] in the 2020 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Silverstone Circuit
Layout of the Silverstone Circuit
Race details
Date 2 August 2020
Official name Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020
Location Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone, United Kingdom
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.891 km (3.660 miles)
Distance 52 laps, 306.198 km (190.263 miles)
Attendance 0[b]
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 1:24.303
Fastest lap
Driver Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time 1:27.097 on lap 52 (lap record)
Podium
First
Mercedes
Second
Red Bull Racing-Honda
Third
Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2020 British Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020) was a Formula One motor race held on 2 August 2020 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom. It was the fourth round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship.[1] Lewis Hamilton was the defending race winner who will be aiming for his seventh British Grand Prix win in total, having won the 2019 event.[2] It was the seventy-first running of the British Grand Prix as part of the World Championship. The race was the first of two consecutive Formula One races at Silverstone in 2020 with the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix due to follow a week later.[1] Hamilton won the Grand Prix, being Hamilton’s third successive win of the 2020 season, and Mercedes' fourth.

Background

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

See also: 2020 Formula One World Championship § Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

The opening rounds of the 2020 championship were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the aborted opening round in Australia, prompting the FIA to draft a new calendar. The British Grand Prix was originally intended to be held on 19 July.[3] When the calendar was redrafted following the pandemic the Hungarian Grand Prix and British Grand Prix had swapped dates with Hungary moving to 19 July and Silverstone taking the 2 August date, the provisional date of the Hungarian race.[1]

Although there had been doubts over whether Silverstone would be able to host Formula One races due to quarantine measures proposed by the British government, hopes were raised again by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who, in a statement, said that Formula One should be given an exemption.[4][5] In the end, the British Government did give approval for Formula One to be held at Silverstone.[6] The addition to the calendar of the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix on 9 August, also at Silverstone, will mark the first time in twenty-seven years the United Kingdom will host two Formula One races in the same season. The last season to have two British races in a season prior to this was the 1993 season, when Donington Park hosted the European Grand Prix and Silverstone hosted the British Grand Prix.[7] It was later revealed that Silverstone offered to hold as many as 12 races in total during the season.[8] Both the British Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix will be held behind closed doors.[9][10] Northamptonshire Police reiterated the importance of fans staying away from Silverstone for public health reasons during the two Grand Prix weekends, and warned that strict measures would be in place to stop unauthorised persons from entering the circuit.[11]

Championship standings before the race

After the third round at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, defending champion Lewis Hamilton, on 63 points, leads the championship by five points over his teammate Valtteri Bottas, with Max Verstappen a further 25 points behind. Defending Constructors' Champions Mercedes, with 121 points, lead the championship from Red Bull, who have 55. McLaren sit 14 points behind Red Bull in third, and are only one point ahead of fourth-placed Racing Point, who have 40 points, while Ferrari sit 5th on 27 points. Williams are the only team without a point, heading into the race.[12]

Entrants

Further information: 2020 Formula One World Championship § Entries

The initial driver and team race entry list was identical to the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for practice or the race.[13] However, this changed following a positive SARS-2 coronavirus test (which indicates the contraction of COVID-19) for Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez who was ruled out of the Grand Prix .[14] He was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg.[15]

Tyre choices

Pirelli brought the C1, C2, C3 compound tyres for use in the race. However, the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, which will also be held at Silverstone next weekend, will by contrast see the C2, C3 and C4 selection used. This aims to not only create strategic differences between the two races, but also to force the teams to fully make use of practice time on the second weekend, instead of relying on data from the previous week. The idea was instituted after the Mercedes team rejected an alternate plan, for a reverse starting grid to be run on the second weekend.[16]

Practice

Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the first practice session on Friday, followed by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the Racing Point of Lance Stroll. Nico Hülkenberg, in his first practice session on his return to the sport, set the ninth fastest time.[17] During the session, Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi spun at turn 13 and scattered gravel and tyre debris onto the track, causing the session to be red-flagged for 12 minutes whilst the track was cleared.[18] He was investigated and later issued a warning by the race stewards for failing to safely return to the pit lane.[19] Sebastian Vettel was unable to complete any timed laps after his Ferrari suffered an intercooler issue early in the session.[20]

Stroll set the fastest time of the second Friday practice session, followed by the Red Bull of Alexander Albon and the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. This session was also red-flagged after Albon spun at turn 15 and collided with the barriers. He was taken to the circuit's medical centre but was later declared fit. Vettel was again forced to miss practice time when a pedal issue restricted his running.[21]

Bottas set the fastest time of Saturday morning practice, followed by Hamilton and Verstappen. Albon was forced to miss most of the session with electrical issues, and Vettel continued to suffer brake pedal problems which curtailed his running on Friday.[22]

Qualifying

Q1 and Q2

Although there was a 60% chance of rain before qualifying, all three parts would prove to be dry. In Q1 (the first part of qualifying), Nicholas Latifi spun on his last lap, exiting the slow turn 7 (Luffield); his earlier time was only good enough for last place. His Williams teammate George Russell was investigated by the stewards for not slowing down under the consequent yellow flags - he received a five-place grid penalty. In the end, the five drivers eliminated in Q1 were Kevin Magnussen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kimi Räikkönen, Romain Grosjean, and Latifi - as both Giovinazzi and Raikkonen failed to make it out of Q1, Alfa Romeo remained the only team to not reach Q2 (the second part of qualifying) in 2020.

Two different strategies were used in Q2, with both the Mercedes, Red Bulls, Racing Points and one of the Ferraris - that of Charles Leclerc - trying to get into Q3 (the third part of qualifying) on the more race-suitable medium compound tyre, and the other teams using the soft compound due to the top ten qualifiers having to start on the tyre used in Q2. Early on in the session, world championship leader Lewis Hamilton spun at turn 7; red flags were soon waved, since Hamilton had brought gravel back onto the track with him. After the session resumed, Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas set times a second clear of the rest of the field. Not all those using the medium tyres succeeded in reaching Q3 - Alexander Albon of Red Bull and Racing Point's replacement driver Nico Hülkenberg both failed to do so. Lance Stroll in 10th and Pierre Gasly in 11th set the same time, but since Stroll set it first, the latter in his AlphaTauri was consigned to going out in Q2. At the end of the session, the drivers eliminated were Gasly, Albon, Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat, and Russell.

Q3

As the cars were being sent out, there was an incident in the pitlane between Leclerc, Stroll, and Daniel Ricciardo, with Stroll complaining that Ferrari had released their driver in an unsafe manner - the stewards, after investigating the matter, decided no further action was necessary. In the first set of laps, Hamilton broke the lap record with a 1:24.616, with his teammate 0.15 seconds adrift. Hamilton then broke his own lap record a few minutes later, recording a 1:24:303 to secure pole position, and Bottas achieved second place, 0.3 seconds back. Max Verstappen, one of the last to cross the line, was third fastest, over a second behind pole position. The rest of the top 10 were: Leclerc, Lando Norris, Stroll, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, and Sebastian Vettel.

The pole position was Hamilton's 91st overall, and his seventh around the Silverstone circuit.

Qualifying classification

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.900 1:25.347 1:24.303 1
2 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:25.801 1:25.015 1:24.616 2
3 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:26.115 1:26.144 1:25.325 3
4 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:26.550 1:26.203 1:25.427 4
5 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1:26.855 1:26.420 1:25.782 5
6 18 Canada Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:26.243 1:26.501 1:25.839 6
7 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 1:26.715 1:26.149 1:25.965 7
8 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:26.677 1:26.339 1:26.009 8
9 31 France Esteban Ocon Renault 1:26.396 1:26.252 1:26.209 9
10 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:26.469 1:26.455 1:26.339 10
11 10 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1:26.343 1:26.501 N/A 11
12 23 Thailand Alexander Albon Red Bull Racing-Honda 1:26.565 1:26.545 N/A 12
13 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 1:26.327 1:26.566 N/A 13
14 26 Russia Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 1:26.774 1:26.744 N/A 191
15 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1:26.732 1:27.092 N/A 202
16 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:27.158 N/A N/A 14
17 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:27.164 N/A N/A 15
18 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 1:27.366 N/A N/A 16
19 8 France Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1:27.643 N/A N/A 17
20 6 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1:27.705 N/A N/A 18
107% time: 1:31.807
Source:[23][24]
Notes
  • ^1 – Daniil Kvyat received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.[25]
  • ^2 – George Russell received a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow for double yellow flags.[26]

Race

Race report

The Racing Point team was unable to start Nico Hülkenberg’s power unit in the garage, forcing him out of the race prior to the formation lap.[27]

Early laps

Lewis Hamilton led from pole position at the race start. On the opening lap, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniel Ricciardo, starting seventh and eighth respectively, both made up two places by passing Lando Norris and Lance Stroll. 12th-placed Kevin Magnussen hit a kerb at the inside of turn 17, running wide. Alexander Albon then attempted to overtake Magnussen at turn 18, however the two cars collided and Magnussen was sent through the gravel and into the barriers. He was uninjured and the safety car was deployed in order to recover his Haas. Albon was later issued a five-second time penalty after the race stewards deemed him responsible for the collision.

Racing resumed on lap six. At the end of the lap, Albon became the first driver to make a pit stop to change from medium to hard-compound tyres. On lap 12, 12th-placed Daniil Kvyat spun at turn 10 and crashed heavily into the barriers on the outside of turn 11. Kvyat walked away from the accident and the safety car was deployed whilst his car was recovered. All drivers except Albon and Romain Grosjean made their first pit stops during the safety car period, allowing Grosjean to jump to fifth place. The order of the top 10 was now Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Grosjean, Sainz, Ricciardo, Norris, Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, who had passed Esteban Ocon in the pits after the Renault suffered a slow pit stop.

Mid-race

The second safety car period ended on lap 19. Shortly after the restart, Vettel fell back behind Ocon, and Norris passed Ricciardo for seventh place. Grosjean was soon overtaken by both McLarens, and was shown the black-and-white flag for unsportsmanlike conduct after being judged to have defended too aggressively from Sainz. 14th-placed Albon made a second pit stop on lap 30, the first driver to do so, serving his time penalty and changing to soft-compound tyres. Antonio Giovinazzi was issued a five-second time penalty on lap 36 for speeding under safety car conditions. On the same lap, Grosjean fell to ninth place having been passed by Ricciardo and Stroll. He was again investigated for moving too aggressively whilst defending from Ricciardo, but no action was taken. He made his first pit stop at the end of the lap, falling to the back of the field. On lap 38, Vettel dropped out of the points positions after being passed for 10th place by Pierre Gasly. Ocon passed Stroll for eighth place on lap 46.

Closing laps

In the closing laps Bottas, who had been running closely behind teammate and race leader Hamilton for the entire race, began to fall back, complaining of poor visibility due to vibrations. Sainz also reported a similar issue over the radio. Kimi Räikkönen, last of the running cars in 17th place, suffered a front wing failure on lap 48 and returned to the pits for a replacement. On the following lap, Gasly passed Stroll for ninth place and Ricciardo overtook Norris for sixth. With three laps to go, Bottas’ front-left tyre delaminated entirely. After passing Bottas for second place, Verstappen made use of the gap behind and pitted for fresh tyres in an attempt to claim the fastest lap of the race. Bottas slowly completed his lap to return to the pits, changed tyres and emerged down in 12th place.

With two laps to go Albon, who had worked his way up from the back of the field and was promoted to 10th place by Bottas’ pit stop, passed Stroll for ninth place. At the same time, fourth-placed Sainz suffered a front-left tyre failure. He returned to the pits and would eventually fall to 14th place by the finish line. After Bottas’ tyre failure, race leader Hamilton was warned over the radio to preserve his tyres. However this would prove to be too late; Hamilton became the third driver to suffer a front-left failure at turn eight on the final lap. At this point, Hamilton had gained a lead of over 30 seconds after Verstappen’s late pit stop, however this gap rapidly fell as Hamilton slowly completed the lap.

Verstappen could only close the gap to six seconds by the finish line, and Hamilton took the chequered flag to claim his third consecutive victory of the season, 87th career win and his seventh at the British Grand Prix. Verstappen finished second and succeeded in claiming the fastest lap, with Leclerc completing the podium. Ricciardo and Norris finished fourth and fifth, with Ocon claiming his best finish since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix in sixth. Gasly, Albon, Stroll and Vettel rounded out the points positions.

Post-race

On his lap 12 accident, Kvyat claimed that he was "very, very distract[ed]" as issues with his car required him to change settings on his steering wheel immediately prior to the crash. AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost suggested that Kvyat's accident may have been down to a tyre puncture.[28] Red Bull defended their decision to pit Verstappen in the closing laps, raising the possibility that he could have suffered the same tyre failure as the Mercedes drivers.[29]

Race classification

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 1:28:01.283 1 25
2 33 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda 52 +5.856 3 191
3 16 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 52 +18.474 4 15
4 3 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Renault 52 +19.650 8 12
5 4 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 52 +22.277 5 10
6 31 France Esteban Ocon Renault 52 +26.937 9 8
7 10 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 52 +31.188 11 6
8 23 Thailand Alexander Albon Red Bull Racing-Honda 52 +32.670 12 4
92 18 Canada Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 52 +37.311 6 2
10 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 52 +41.857 10 1
11 77 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 52 +42.167 2
12 63 United Kingdom George Russell Williams-Mercedes 52 +52.004 20
13 55 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 52 +53.370 7
14 99 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 52 +54.2053 15
15 6 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 52 +54.549 18
16 8 France Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 52 +55.050 17
17 7 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari 51 +1 lap 16
Ret 26 Russia Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 11 Accident 19
Ret 20 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1 Collision 14
DNS 27 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 0 Power unit —4
Fastest lap: Netherlands Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:27.097 (lap 52)
Source:[24][30]
Notes
  • ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.
  • ^2 – The classification of Lance Stroll is provisional, subject to the outcome of any decision concerning a protest over the legality of their car from Renault.[30]
  • ^3 – Antonio Giovinazzi finished 12th on the track, but received a five-second time penalty for speeding under safety car conditions.[30]
  • ^4 – Nico Hülkenberg qualified 13th, but his place on the grid was left vacant as he did not start the race.[30]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes

  1. ^ The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic saw several Grands Prix cancelled or rescheduled. The revised calendar currently consists of thirteen races but the sport's management announced that they expected the final calendar to have as many as eighteen.
  2. ^ The Grand Prix was held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. ^ a b c "F1 confirms first 8 races of revised 2020 calendar, starting with Austria double header". Formula1.com. 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Standings". formula1.com.
  3. ^ "F1 Calendar 2020 - Enjoy a Record-breaking 22 Races in the 2020 Season". www.formula1.com. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Cooper, Adam; Noble, Jonathan (19 May 2020). "British GP plans dealt big blow by quarantine measures". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  5. ^ Cooper, Adam (25 May 2020). "UK PM Boris Johnson tells ministers to help make British GP happen". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  6. ^ Collantine, Keith; Rencken, Dieter (31 May 2020). "F1 to confirm Silverstone double-header as government gives approval". racefans.net. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  7. ^ Hawkins, Billy (28 April 2020). "Formula 1: 2020 season could include TWO British Grands Prix with campaign to begin in Austria on first weekend in July". talksport.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Silverstone offered to host 12 F1 races in 2020". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020". Silverstone. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  10. ^ "Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix". Silverstone. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Northamptonshire Police issues F1 warning". 21 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  12. ^ "F1 Constructor Standings". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  13. ^ "2020 British Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "Perez ruled out of British Grand Prix after testing positive for Covid-19". formula1.com. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ "2020 British Grand Prix – Revised Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ Cooper, Adam (11 June 2020). "Tyre compounds will switch for second F1 race of Silverstone double-header".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020 - Practice 1". formula1.com.
  18. ^ "FP1: Hulkenberg ninth on F1 return as Verstappen heads first practice at Silverstone". formula1.com. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  19. ^ Collantine, Keith (31 July 2020). "Giovinazzi given formal warning over "potentially dangerous" driving". racefans.net. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  20. ^ "Vettel forced to sit out FP1 at Silverstone due to Ferrari intercooler issue". formula1.com. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  21. ^ "FP2: Stroll fastest for Racing Point at Silverstone as Albon crash brings out the red flags". formula1.com. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  22. ^ "FP3: Bottas leads Hamilton in final practice at Silverstone as Mercedes show their pace". formula1.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  23. ^ "Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020 – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  24. ^ a b "Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020 – Starting Grid". Formula1.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  25. ^ "Offence – Car 26 – New Gearbox" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ^ "Russell hit with 5-place grid penalty for failing to respect yellow flags in qualifying". Formula1.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ^ "Failure to take British Grand Prix start sums up 'crazy' weekend, says Hulkenberg". formula1.com. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  28. ^ "Kvyat 'distracted' ahead of big Silverstone shunt, as AlphaTauri suggest puncture may be to blame". formula1.com. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  29. ^ "'No guarantee Verstappen would have got to the end', say Red Bull as they stand by pit stop decision". formula1.com. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  30. ^ a b c d "Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020 – Race Result". Formula1.com. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
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