F1 returns to Europe, whoops, we mean the United Kingdom, and the home of Sir Lewis Hamilton for the big race at Silverstone and to attempt to do the race justice we offer up our 2022 British Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary.
Our review covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to in the laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend.
The 2022 British Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a small serving of cynicism. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
And why not check out our latest Grand Prix Power Rankings which highlight our driver of the season so far and the last race.
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2022 British Grand Prix Results
THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the Scene – Despite Lewis Hamilton having one of his worst seasons ever, there is still lots of love for Lewis Hamilton for the British Grand Prix and to a lesser degree Lando Norris, and further back in middle child levels George Russell.
The new villain Max Verstappen, who has been booed over the weekend for various things including a perceived underwhelming support of Lewis Hamilton after Nelson Piquet decided to be a bigger jerk than usual, looks quick but was beaten to pole position by unofficial Ferrari number two Carlos Sainz. Further back the Mercedes look quicker than usual which might excite the home fans, Lando Norris impressed as much as his team mate didn’t, and the driver we cane the most – Nicholas Latifi – made the top ten.
A dry start it is, but there’s clouds, and a quick look at the Met Office Weather shows that there’s a chance of a mid race shower. 70% chance apparently. Goodie.
By the way, the national anthem was a beauty, there’s not enough electric guitar and screaming to God Save The Queen. Not since the Sex Pistols anyway. The piano playing intro was less great.
TOP 10 GRID – SAI VER LEC PER HAM NOR ALO RUS ZHO LAT
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen beats Carlos Sainz off the line to take first into the first corner, Lewis Hamilton makes a flier off the line from fifth to third behind the top two, but in the background looks like all hell has broken loose further back.
There’s a lot of smoke and sparks, then a car flying across the gravel upside down at hundreds of km/h, plus a bunch of cars with various levels of damage. Some of them with minimal chance chance of making a restart. This will be interesting to see what the hell happened.
The upside down car was the Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou, and for a long time there was no news on his condition. 10 minutes after the race was stopped the most TV audiences were told was that he was still in the car and doctors were with him. A few minutes later confirmation he is out of the car and importantly alive. On a stretcher mind you,
George Russell, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon all look involved too and they will be racing the clock to get ready for the restart. Not George Russell though, as his car came back to the pits on the back of a truck he’s not allowed to restart.
RED FLAG – With that amount of damage and carnage there’s no choice but to stop the race immediately.
Ouch for those in the Pacific region of Australia/Asia, with the already late midnight start going to be further delayed. Hope you work from home and can sleep in.
A replay of the crash is horrific. George Russell makes a bad start, and he moves left just as Pierre Gasly fills a gap between him and Guanyu Zhou and the Alfa Romeo on the left is clipped and flipped, and as it slides upside down along the gravel it bounces up and over the tyre barrier into catch fencing which is thankfully there to stop the car going at 150km/h+ going into the crowd. There were a few photographers metres away behind the barriers and marshalls not far away either. Lucky for everyone involved.
Further back there was actually a second accident. Sebastian Vettel turns Alex Albon into a spin who then smashes in Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon and somehow misses the rest of the midfield. Especially Daniel Ricciardo, who season has been so unlucky that it was surprising that we wasn’t taken out. For the record Albon looked to have slowed down to avoid the carnage in front.
ORDER – VER SAI HAM LEC ALO PER NOR LAT BOT RIC
But this reverted back to grid order for the restart.
NEW GRID – SAI VER LEC PER HAM NOR ALO ZHO LAT GAS
Lap 2 (Lap 1 v2) – Here we go again an hour later. In the grid order as per race start one. Obviously Guanyu Zhou will not be restarting, the same for George Russell. Alex Albon was the third driver to make the restart.
Carlos Sainz makes a better start of it, and he pushes Max Verstappen towards the pit wall, but holds on for first which he keeps for the first lap. Charles Leclerc makes a better start than the first one and get third but looks to have run into Sergio Perez a little. Perez’s front wing is a little ruined but he continues. Further behind the drivers looked to have behaved themselves.
ORDER SAI VER LEC PER NOR HAM GAS ALO TSU OCO
Lap 5 – Perez’s slightly broken Red Bull pits for a new front wing, which allows Norris and Hamilton to battle for British best or fourth place. Whichever comes first. In this case it is Lewis Hamilton who overtakes Lando Norris for fourth a lap later.
Further back Alonso got past Pierre Gasly for sixth, which is great as lots of people like Alonso this year. Gasly ends up holding up at least another seven cars, with all those covered by less than a second gap to the car in front.
Lap 8 – Max Verstappen closes within a second of Carlos Sainz which means he can use the DRS against the Ferrari. This could be very interesting given the last race and that Carlos Sainz hasn’t been very lucky this season.
Lap 10 – Carlos Sainz chokes. He runs wide at one of the sweepers (Becketts) and Max Verstappen swoops by into the lead. Within a lap he is 1.3 seconds in front and this race win looks done and dusted. Unless Red Bull can pull out some unreliability. (Refer below)
And now of course Charles Leclerc “is much faster than Carlos Sainz”. Although Charles is correct in general, for this race Carlos is the one in front.
Lap 11 – The two Alpha Tauri drivers appear to run into each other. Not a great race for them. They drop to 13th and 16th from top ten-ish positions.
Lap 12 – Spoke too soon. The Red Bull is slowing down and loses positions. Looks like a puncture. And don’t the British crowd show him loads of sympathy with 100,000’s of cheers. He comes out behind Alonso and has to settle for sixth for now.
ORDER – SAI LEC HAM NOR ALO VER OCO LAT BOT RIC
Lap 14 – Max Verstappen is on the radio saying his car isn’t right. Team say it is bodywork issue and not critical, so he’ll have to push on. Which won’t reduce the moaning on the radio but increases his chances of points.
Lap 16 – The Ferrari are very close now, back in the Michael Schumacher days these positions would have already been swapped, but for now Sainz is holding on. But they’d better not stuff around too much, with local hero Lewis Hamilton within three and a bit seconds of the red cars. And catching at 3-5 tenths a lap.
Lap 21 – Carlos Sainz pits for new tyres and loses the lead to his team mate. He comes out third behind his team mate.
Lap 24 – Bloody hell, the gap from Leclerc to Hamilton is under two seconds now. And it’s less than a second on lap 25.
Poor Max Verstappen, he pits again and drops two more spots behind Perez and Vettel. The crowd once again roar with delight. Who’d think that Verstappen would be struggling so bad that he is just in front of Nicholas Latifi.
Lap 25 – Lewis Hamilton takes the lead!!!! Leclerc pits which helps a bit, and leaves the Mercedes in front to the roar of the crowd. Hamilton is a good 18 seconds ahead of Sainz of Ferrari who are struggling.
ORDER HAM SAI LEC NOR ALO PER VET VER LAT OCO
Lap 26 – Meanwhile Max Verstappen is still struggling and moaning. And on lap 27.
Lap 28 – Charles Leclerc is flying in third and closing on team mate Carlos Sainz in second. There’s no team orders, which could be dangerous as it may just hand Lewis Hamilton a race win. Come lap 31 and Leclerc nearly runs into Sainz. Ferrari might completely stuff this race.
Lap 31 – Charles Leclerc finally gets past Carlos Sainz, so all eyes on Lewis Hamilton who is yet to pit and 18 seconds up the road. Maybe Hamilton pushes on with a later pitstop and puts on a soft tyre. That would make for a nice finish.
Lap 34 – Lewis Hamilton pits for new tyres and drops to third, but is less than five seconds from the lead. His new tyres are going to be less stuffed later in the race so a good ending is anticipated.
Meanwhile Daniel Ricciardo pits as the same time as Hamilton, he rejoins second last and 15th. Another quality race for the Australian – he almost a lap of the full track behind his team mate.
Lap 37 – Esteban Ocon overtakes Max Verstappen for 8th, it really is a bad day for the Dutchman.
Lap 38 – Lewis Hamilton sets fastest lap so a battle could be forming for the top three. Lewis is down to just two seconds, and more gap savings to be come.
Lap 39 – Esteban Ocon slows down stuck in gear and eventually stops on the old pit straight. It bring out the safety car. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton both pit for soft tyres. Charles Leclerc misses out. Perez pits too from fourth, which is a free stop as he was yet to stop for tyres.
ORDER – LEC SAI HAM PER ALO NOR VET MAG VER STR
Lap 43 – Safety Car leaves and race is back on. The top cars are so close it’s going to be a lot of fun. A few corners into the restart Charles Leclerc runs wide and Carlos Sainz takes the lead – the two Ferraris battle for a few corners.But Sainz holds the lead. And Sergio Perez overtakes Lewis Hamilton for third as the Ferraris battle ahead.
ORDER – SAI LEC PER HAM ALO NOR VER VET MSC MAG
Lap 44 – Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes has woken up and he challenges Sergio Perez for third now. Meanwhile Carlos Sainz is two seconds ahead of Leclerc and set for victory.
Lap 45 – Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez battle side by side for the last few corners of lap 45, and they both run wide into the last corner leaving just enough gap for Lewis Hamilton to overtake them both and surge into second with the massive roar of the home crowd at his back. It drowns out the cars and commentary,
Lap 46 – But hold your horses (not Ferrari pun) Sergio Perez comes back at Lewis Hamilton a few corners later and takes second place. The moves leaves Hamilton vulnerable to Charles Leclerc who also takes the Mercedes. Through all of this Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris have closed in too. Five cars within a second or two. Perez could be in trouble for leaving the track when overtaking Leclerc. Too much happening.
Lap 48 – Lewis Hamilton goes around the outside of Charles Leclerc of Luffield but the Ferrari fights back a corner later going around the outside himself. A corner later Hamilton passes Leclerc for a third time and makes it stick.
Lap 49 – Carlos Sainz has a couple of seconds lead to Perez, so it looks like the Ferrari driver may get his first ever Grand Prix win. Further back Mick Schumacher is on track for his first ever points and is battling with no less than Max Verstappen for 7th,
Last Lap – The racing dies down a little, but there’s no less excitement as Carlos Sainz takes his first ever Grand Prix win, ahead of Sergio Perez who as ever gets plenty out of a mixed up race. Lewis Hamilton gets joy too, as a podium in front of his home fans will be quite welcomed, but he may have regrets with a slow tyre stop and wrong tyre choice for his last stop. Charles Leclerc faield to take full advantage of a bad day for Max Verstappen for the Championship and ends up fourth when he probably should have won. Mick Schumacher presses Max Verstappen right to the last corner and settles for 8th.
FINAL ORDER – SAI PER HAM LEC ALO NOR VER SCH VET MAG
2022 British Grand Prix Results
RACE RATING
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 9 / 10
Could this race be the return of Mercedes or just a one-off fluke at the home of British F1? If so we have ourselves a three way duel for the titles.
And Max Verstappen having problems with his Red Bull means the reliability issues are going to be shared around the teams this season.
And a great Ferrari result opens up the Championship as well with Max Verstappen’s luck running out.
ON TRACK ACTION – 8 / 10
Plenty of action throughout the field, with battles at the front and in the midfield. Team mates running into each other, which is always funny, and a nicely timed Safety Car.Different pit stop strategies help the race too. The late race action boosts the on track action score.
ENDING 9.5 / 10
Almost perfect ending to a race. The Safety Car on lap 39 was perfectly timed to bunch the field up and create a mini sprint race until the end. With multiple position changes between the top drivers and the podium undecided until right to the end, what more do you need.
OVERALL RATING 26.5 / 30
A great race, and a super finish. Scary first start to the race ended up all good with all drivers fine. A classic race for a classic track.
No need for the rain after all.
2022 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 Bahrain Grand Prix 26/30
R2 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 21/30
R3 Australian Grand Prix 16/30
R4 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 17/30
R5 Miami Grand Prix 19/30
R6 Spanish Grand Prix 17/30
R7 Monaco Grand Prix 24/30
R8 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 22/30
R9 Canadian Grand Prix 21/30
Season Average – 20.2 / 30
2022 British Grand Prix Results
GREAT & GRAPE OF THE RACE
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – CARLOS SAINZ
Two greatest awards in a row for Carlos Sainz and he earned this one. His first win was taken from pole position, which was forgotten with all the race action. He had to battle a few opponents and team politics to win the race.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
SERGIO PEREZ – Ended up back in the pack after breaking a front wing on lap one. As he does when a race is scrambled he makes the most out of a race. Another solid haul of points with second, and keeping Max Verstappen honest.
LEWIS HAMILTON – A return to form for the Mercedes and a race win looked even likely at some stage. Cheered on by the loudest home fans ever heard. Got some love from Tom Cruise after the race.
FERNANDO ALONSO – A relatively quiet race according to the TV cameras, but a solid fifth place and he even sniffed around fourth at the end.
LANDO NORRIS – Another solid top five result, and another thrashing of his team mate.
MICK SCHUMACHER – First points for eighth, and he was even pushing Championship leader Max Verstappen at the end.
THE GRAPE-EST – GUANYU ZHOU
Being wiped out on the first lap and sliding upside down across the gravel then over the barriers is as bad a race start as you get these days. Lucky to be alive, but unlucky to qualify well and be taken out for his reward. Although one could argue as least he is alive.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
GEORGE RUSSELL – Made a mistake in qualifying that meant he started in 8th position, which then turned into a real shocker as a poor start saw him involved in the midfield, and arguably the biggest instigator into the Zhou crash.
ALEX ALBON – Involved in a second crash from the first start and also ended up in hospital . Probably less shame than not making Q3 of qualifying while his teammate sits in the top ten.
DANIEL RICCIARDO – Another poor race, was one of a few lapped cars towards the end, and at least he got to unlap himself. But surely his time is over at McLaren.
PIERRE GASLY / YUKI TSUNODA – Both involved in crashes for the first start. Then ran into each other in the race. Not great, poor in fact.
2022 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated.
