A Controversial British GP Yields Just One Point For Honda Power 18.07.2021: FORMULA 1 Pirelli British Grand-Prix Silverstone Circuit Sunday, July 18th 2021 A controversial British Grand Prix yielded just one point for the Honda-powered teams after a tough day at the office for Red Bull Racing.

FORMULA 1
Pirelli British Grand-Prix
Silverstone Circuit
Sunday, July 18th 2021





A controversial British Grand Prix yielded just one point for the Honda-powered teams after a tough day at the office for Red Bull Racing.



Max started from pole with Sergio in the pit lane after his retirement from the Sprint on Saturday, and Sergio was the only driver to start on hards as the rest of the field opted for medium tyres. The two Scuderia AlphaTauri drivers lined up 12th (Pierre) and 16th (Yuki), but the focus will forever be on the opening lap clash between Max and Lewis Hamilton.


A strong fight off the line saw Max stay ahead of his main title rival through the first sector, but Hamilton tried to overtake down the inside into Copse and hit the right rear of Max’s car, sending him into the barriers at high speed. The race was red-flagged and although Max was able to climb out of the wreckage and walk to an ambulance, he has since been taken to a local hospital for further precautionary checks. The stewards decided that Lewis was “predominantly at fault” and gave him a 10 second penalty.


The race was delayed for over half an hour while the barrier was repaired and the Red Bull recovered, with all of the teams able to change tyres and make repairs during the delay before a standing restart.


Sergio tried to fight through the field on his hard tyres and made good progress to quickly run in 12th place, but then he got stuck behind Pierre and the slower Esteban Ocon ahead. Despite the advantage of hard tyres, Sergio then made a pit stop on lap 18 to switch to mediums and commit to a two-stop.


Pierre and Yuki stayed out to run long, with Pierre getting a warning for exceeding track limits but adjusting his driving in order to avoid a penalty. With a number of cars stuck in DRS trains - where the impact of the rear wing advantage was limited - Pierre ran until lap 28 before switching to hard tyres, while Yuki was running just one place behind his team mate and was last to pit for the first time on lap 30.


With Sergio up into the top ten, he made his second stop for more medium tyres on lap 38, rejoining in 17th place and setting off on a charge through the field to try and score points. He cleared a number of drivers - aided by a puncture for Pierre that forced a late stop for softs for the Frenchman on lap 46 - but after passing Kimi Raikkonen to get into the points Red Bull then opted for some damage limitation in the drivers’ championship.


Hamilton held the fastest lap and took the lead, so Sergio made another stop for soft tyres and set the fastest lap himself which prevented Hamilton from scoring an extra point. However, as Sergio was classified in 16th, he doesn’t receive the point himself as you have to finish in the top ten to score it.


But there was a point for Yuki after an excellent drive, as he rose from 16th on the grid with good strategy and crossed the line 10th, scoring for the fourth time in his rookie season, while Pierre was classified 11th.
 
 

 
Toyoharu Tanabe
Technical Director, Honda Racing F1   


“This was a tough result to take for us in today’s British Grand Prix. Max made a good start as usual, but Lewis collided with him at Copse, causing Max to crash heavily into the barriers. It was very disappointing, but the most important thing is that he is okay, although under observation in hospital.


Checo also had a difficult race starting from pit lane, after retiring in Sprint Qualifying, as overtaking is difficult here and traffic can be a problem. He got as high as tenth at one point, but unfortunately eventually finished out of the points. As for Scuderia AlphaTauri, they had a difficult time all weekend,  with Pierre having to make an extra stop because of a puncture.



But Yuki managed his race well and got a precious point for the team by finishing tenth. This result is not what we wanted, but we know that a championship battle can often be like this and it will go on for the rest of the season. We can expect more difficult races in this long season against strong rivals, but we will be doing our best as always. We are now already focussing on the next round in Hungary.”
 
 

Christian Horner


CEO and Team Principal, Red Bull Racing Honda    “This is an incredibly difficult way to end the British Grand Prix weekend and it goes without saying that we are all just thankful Max was able to walk away from the car, despite later being taken to hospital for precautionary checks, where he currently remains for observation. I have reviewed the footage many times and still cannot help but feel that putting a wheel up the inside at Copse, one of the fastest corners in this World Championship, was ill-judged and a huge risk by Lewis to both drivers.


He was not significantly alongside Max as you can see from the point of contact, Lewis’ front left to Max’s right rear. The move was never on and resulted in a 51G impact for Max. We are in contact with Max and Jos and will provide an update later today.



For Checo, it was also not an easy afternoon and after starting from the pit lane and making early progress through the field he was stuck in a mid-field DRS train creating high tyre degradation. We therefore opted to pit him towards the end of the race in order to secure fastest lap. We come away with a slim lead in both Championships and you can be sure that once we have had time to reflect on today, all this weekend will do is add fire to our Championship fight.”
 


 
Yuki Tsunoda
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda    Race : 10th


“I’m quite happy to have come away with a point today. I tried to stick to the plan, really focus on tyre management, and I think I achieved that well. I’ve struggled a bit throughout the weekend and the different format has made things slightly more difficult for me as a rookie, so I’m pleased to have come away with an all-important point for the team.”
 



 
Pierre Gasly
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda    Race : 11th


“Honestly, I have no words. We were in the points right until the end, then unfortunately I had a puncture and had to box with five laps to go. It’s very frustrating to be coming away with no points after today’s race. There are still some positives to take away though, as after quite a difficult weekend, the pace when I was alone in the middle of the race today was quite good, once I’d managed to clear the traffic.



We obviously want to continue to fight for better positions, so we’ll work hard to understand the areas we’ve struggled with this weekend and hope to be more competitive again in Hungary.”
 
 


Sergio Perez
Red Bull Racing Honda    Race : 16th


“I’m very disappointed with my weekend and my performance. I wasn’t able to make as much progress as expected and found myself in a very difficult position with the tyres. As soon as we were in the DRS train it was impossible to overtake people. I think P7 was possible today, with a couple more laps I think I could have got Lance and Fernando but in the end for strategic reasons we decided to stop to take the fastest lap.



It’s a weekend for us to forget and we lost a lot of ground in the Championship, we need to regroup, work hard and come back as strong as possible in Hungary. I need to re-watch the incident with Max and Lewis as I haven’t seen it, but the most important thing that Max is okay.”
 
 



- Honda also photos