If the TV direction in Formula 1 decides to keep flashbacks under wraps for minutes, then the worst is to be feared. And the departure experienced by China’s Guanyu Zhou at the first corner of Sunday’s British Grand Prix was indeed so violent that it will be etched into the collective memory of the motorsport community. 25 minutes passed before it was confirmed that Zhou had survived and was on his way to the medical center without any physical injuries.
Anyone who then saw the pictures that were subsequently submitted initially believed they were witnessing a miracle, but shortly afterwards they knew that it wasn’t a higher act that had saved Zhou’s life, but once again the fortunately very earthly halo headband that if necessary, keeps a load of 12,500 kilograms away from the driver.
Zhou rolled into the race in ninth place, after a few meters Nicholas Latifi passed him on the right. The Canadian left George Russell standing on his right-hand side, who was the only driver to have started on hard tires and therefore had a clear speed disadvantage. During this maneuver, Latifi caught Russell’s Silver Arrow in the rear left, flipping him face-on into Zhou’s car.
The Silver Arrow’s front left tire slammed into Zhou’s right flank, turning the Alfa Romeo upside down – or halo, thankfully – and then as the car skidded across the tarmac, sparks rose skyward. His car spun like a top, even in the gravel bed, then he hopped like a bouncy ball over the meter-thick stack of tires at the end of the curve – and was only stopped by the safety fence. At the spot where he lay upside down, there had just been sports photographers, who just managed to get to safety with hasty sprints. And right behind the fence sat spectators, some fleeing up the stands.
Zhou’s Alfa Romeo jumped over the meter-thick tire wall.
(Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP)
Russell pushed himself out of his demolished Silver Arrow and immediately ran over to Zhou’s accident scene, a scene like this is also rarely seen in Formula 1.
George Russell, who also had an accident, immediately rushed to the scene of the accident.
(Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP)
Alfa team manager Beat Zehnder finally spoke the redeeming words: “He speaks and doesn’t seem to have any external injuries,” he said on Sky.
The accident resulted in a few more crashes. Sebastian Vettel pushed Alexander Albon’s Williams into the pit wall, who also had to be examined by a doctor; Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon damaged their cars.
After an hour’s break, the race resumed with a standing start. And after 72 insanely eventful laps, Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari won ahead of Sergio Perez in the Red Bull and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. What a podium! The Spaniard had to wait 150 Grand Prix for his first race victory. And Hamilton? Yes, actually: Hamilton. At his home Grand Prix in the tenth race of a completely messed-up season, the seven-time world champion felt the good old feeling of sitting in a competitive car again for the first time. Rarely have shock and show entered into such a memorable pairing as on Sunday in Silverstone.
And so it was a little lost that Mick Schumacher scored points for the first time in his 31st appearance in Formula 1. He finished eighth and even attacked Max Verstappen on the last lap, who dragged his damaged and therefore uncompetitive Red Bull across the finish line in seventh place. Three places behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who was able to slightly reduce his deficit in the title fight to 43 points.
But first things first.
After Zhou’s crash, the order of the drivers at the restart was the same as at the beginning. Although the field had been shaken up after the turbulent first race release. However, because not enough cars had made it far due to the devastating accident, the race stewards decided to resume in the original order.
And this already included a premiere: Carlos Sainz’s first pole position. Verstappen lurked behind him, with their teammates Leclerc and Perez parked behind them, followed by Hamilton, who had successfully applied for parking bay five on one of his three favorite tracks (next to Budapest and Montreal). His team had brought new parts to Silverstone and even before the start they were hoping that Mercedes would be able to keep up with Red Bull and Ferrari in the race for the first time this season.
At the first start, Verstappen, who was the only driver at the front to have fitted the faster soft tyres, immediately shot past Sainz – and Hamilton even improved by two positions by looping around Leclerc and Perez as if they were unpowered cones. Well, on the second start Verstappen had also raised the medium-hard compound and this time Sainz held his position as he stayed on course on the first lap. Behind him, Perez and Verstappen almost got together.
After six laps, Hamilton began to believe that his optimized Silver Arrow could actually be a winning car again at Silverstone – he overtook Lando Norris and was already fourth. After ten turns, Sainz made a mistake and had to leave the track, Verstappen thanked him and overtook. However, his elation lasted only three revolutions, then he slowed down and reported to the pits that there were problems and that the mechanics should inspect his car.
They fitted him with new tires and he returned to the track in sixth position – now 20 seconds behind the leader. And his problem wasn’t even fixed. “The car is 100 percent broken,” he radioed to his pits. Apparently he had demolished the outer shell in such a way that the aerodynamics suffered. From that moment it was clear: For Verstappen, Silverstone would only be about damage limitation in the fight for the title.
After 21 laps, Sainz pitted, opting for hard tires on which he would reach the finish line. And when shortly afterwards his teammate Leclerc headed for the supply lane for a last rest, the Englishmen sent shouts of ecstasy towards their compatriot Hamilton on the edge of the start and finish straight: the seven-time world champion was actually leading the field. Finally again.
He had already entered some of the fastest race laps into the databases on his 27-lap rubber tires. And now he just kept going. Because Sainz was unable to close the gap, Ferrari ordered his drivers to swap places. With 20 laps to go, Hamilton rolled 18 seconds ahead of Leclerc but he had to hold once more. His mechanics in the pits dawdled a little or seemed surprised, in any case the tire change took unnecessarily long – the Briton was now third again and was chasing the Ferraris with his rubber nine laps younger.
Until, yes, until Ocon had to park his car in a place where the safety car called because of a defective fuel pump. The cards were reshuffled one last time in this wild race. Sainz and Hamilton turned into the supply lane to pick up fresh soft tires, Leclerc did not bring Ferrari into the pits. A strategic mistake that should take revenge. At the flying start he had to trust his old and hard tires.
They weren’t enough to keep Sainz off his back, who immediately grabbed the lead. But in the battle for second and third place, Perez, Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris and Fernando Alonso then fought a final furioso, as if they were suddenly riding go-karts. They overtook each other in almost every corner, but at the very end Leclerc even had to be happy that he was able to cross the finish line in fourth place ahead of Alonso.
