An in-depth analysis of the F1® British GP 2022

Carlos Sainz took his maiden Grand Prix victory in his 150^th attempt after an incident-packed British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He claimed first place in front of Sergio Pérez and Lewis Hamilton, becoming only the second Spanish driver to win a Grand Prix race after Fernando Alonso. Sainz had already performed impressively in qualifying, overcoming tricky wet conditions and a flying Max Verstappen for his first pole position.

The actual race commenced in dramatic fashion with a horrendous, high-speed multi-car crash on the first corner resulting in Zhou Guanyu catapulting over and skidding upside-down across the track before being launched over the tyre barriers into the fence. Thankfully, there were no casualties, which was a testament to the halo safety device. The first lap drama was further compounded when environmental protesters dangerously invaded the track causing further delays.

Silverstone is a demanding power circuit; hard on tyres, brakes and engines, and it also presents drivers with the challenge of sweeping high-speed corners such as the tricky combinations of Maggotts and Becketts, and quick straights. Finding the sweet spot between tyre management and aerodynamics is critical to success. Red Bull would have been confident that the combination of the RB18’s power and well-balanced chassis would provide the platform for an in-form Verstappen or Perez to claim victory. Indeed, Verstappen took the lead on lap 10 as Sainz was pressured into going wide on the Chapel curve, but it was short-lived as Verstappen’s Red Bull had sustained damage to the floor, upsetting the aerodynamics meaning he was unable to maintain pace with the front-runners.

The pivotal moment in the race occurred when Sainz and Hamilton pitted for soft compound tyres during the safety car prompted by the retirement of Esteban Ocon on lap 39, and Charles Leclerc was obliged to remain on the harder compound. With Sainz on fresh, soft rubber he was able to overcome Leclerc on lap 43. Telemetry analysis of lap 43 highlights exactly how Sainz was able to complete his decisive overtake of Leclerc (marked by the dashed line on the plot) which led to him taking the lead of the race and ultimately the race victory. Given the comparison is between two teammates in the same car, the performance of Leclerc’s hard compound tyres which had already been through 14 laps of racing compared to the fresh soft compound tyres of Sainz is the main point of differentiation in the telemetry. On this lap, Sainz posted a time of 1:30.886 compared to Leclerc’s 1:32.617 – an advantage of over 1.7 seconds for the Spaniard who was approximately 4.4km/h faster on average throughout the lap.

The better grip provided by the soft compound tyres meant that Sainz was able to maintain higher speeds when cornering and on the exit from corners. This difference between the two drivers is most noticeable at the extremely fast turn 9 where Sainz’s speed was far superior and he was able to keep the throttle at a much higher level. Even on the slow corners, this edge was still evident as can be seen at the exit of turn 3 where Sainz is able to apply full throttle, whilst Leclerc could only reach a maximum of around 80% throttle before having to brake ahead of turn 4; this led to Sainz carrying greater speed onto the Wellington straight where he was able to make the move to overtake Leclerc into Brooklands.

A few laps later on lap 45, Leclerc was now under pressure from Perez and Hamilton, both running on soft tyres. The battle began on turn 15 of lap 45 with Perez on Leclerc’s tail, trying to get the inner line by braking late and squeezing into the space to be in line with Leclerc until turn 16. As this battle continued, Perez and Leclerc went wide providing Hamilton with an opportunity to advance two positions on lap 46. His lead did not last long as Perez regained track position from Hamilton under braking on turn 3 and applied throttle faster out of the corner, while Leclerc struggled to get back on the throttle and remained in P4. The thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing, reminiscent of early karting days, is illustrated in the analysis below.

This epic battle between Perez and Hamilton continued until the next turn where Perez tried to push Hamilton wide presenting Leclerc an opportunity to regain position ahead of Hamilton on turn 4 whilst Perez maintained his spot in P2. Hamilton fought hard and eventually managed to pass Leclerc through Stowe, who was labouring with the older, harder tyres.

With Sainz cruising away in front, Perez clinched second place and Hamilton completed the podium with third place and the fastest lap. It was an exciting finale to a memorable race.