Ferrari's Sainz wins first British Grand Prix in Formula One in 2022
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz won the 2022 F1 British Grand Prix for the first time in 150 races. [Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez finished second, about 3.8 seconds behind Sainz, and Mercedes-Benz AMG's Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line about 6 seconds behind the winner to round out the top three.
Sainz started from pole position, but was red-flagged early in the race, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen was also a strong challenger in the first half of the race. The red flag occurred at the start of the race when Mercedes' George Russell collided with Alphatauri's Pierre Gasly.
The impact caused Russell's Mercedes to hit Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo so hard that the Alfa Romeo flipped over and ran off the track, through a gravel trap, over a tire barrier, and into a catch fence. Guagne was able to walk away from the crash and was later found safe.
Williams' Alex Albon was behind the crash and immediately slowed down. Vettel bounced back and jumped into the path of Hiroki Tsunoda in the Alfa Tauri and Esteban Ocon in the Alpine. Albon was also unhurt in the crash.
On the restart, Sainz and Verstappen battled for the lead, with Perez and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc close behind. Leclerc passed Perez but damaged the Red Bull's front wing in the process. Perez was forced to return to the pits.
A few laps later, Verstappen drove over a piece of debris that had flung him wide on the copse. Verstappen thought he had damaged a tire and pitted to change the tire, but the damage was caused by damage to the floor.
Up front, the battle between race leader Sainz and Leclerc was tense, with Hamilton coming within 3 seconds of the lead as Leclerc demanded to pass his teammate. Ferrari pitted Sainz to cover Hamilton, giving Leclerc a chance to overtake Hamilton. In the end, Sainz returned to the race in third place. Meanwhile, Perez continued to move up the order as the cars around him made pit stops.
Leclerc made his first pit stop mid-race and resumed behind Sainz. Leclerc makes his first pit stop mid-race and resumes behind Sainz. Hamilton then pitted. However, the Mercedes driver's pit stop was four seconds slower and he moved up to third behind Sainz.
Then Alpine's Esteban Ocon stopped on track, bringing out the safety car. At this point Ferrari pitted Sainz and race leader Leclerc, who had fresh tires, pitted out. However, on the restart, Leclerc's tires were not up to temperature and he was passed by Sainz, Perez, and Hamilton. In the end, Leclerc took the checkered flag in fourth place, with Alpine's Fernando Alonso rounding out the top five. Verstappen finished seventh behind Lando Norris (McLaren) in sixth.
After the weekend, Verstappen leads the 2022 drivers' championship with 181 points. Perez is second with 147 points, followed by Leclerc in third with 138 points. In the constructors' championship, Red Bull leads with 328 points, followed by Ferrari with 265 points and Mercedes with 204 points.
The next race is this weekend, the 11th round in Austria.
Full results for the 2022 F1 British Grand Prix are as follows:
1) Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 2) Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) +3. 779 seconds3) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Benz AMG) +6.225 seconds4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +8.546 seconds5) Fernando Alonso (Alpine) +9.571 seconds6) Lando Norris (McLaren) +11.943 seconds7) Max Verstappen ( Red Bull Racing) +18.777 seconds 8) Mick Schumacher (Haas) +18.995 seconds 9) Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) +22.356 seconds 10) Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +24.590 seconds 11) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +26. 147.12) Nicolas Latifi (Williams) +32.511.13) Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) +32.817.14) Hiroki Tsunoda (Alfa Tauri) +40.910.NC) Esteban Ocon (Alpine) - DNFNC) Pierre Gasly (Alfa Tauri) ) - DNFNC) Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) - DNFNC) George Russell (Mercedes-Benz AMG) - DNFNC) Guan Yu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) - DNFNC) Alexander Albon (Williams) - DNF
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