Race 12 - 2025 British GP - Silverstone

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We head to Silverstone, the home race of Lando Norris and seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton. After the blockbuster race of Austria, Norris is on the rise again, and Silverstone is a crucial race for him to step into the lead of the driver's championship or be level with Piastri. Silverstone is a fast-flowing track that bodes well for the pesky Australian. Piastri would be most troublesome for Norris at this race.

The Ferrari in Hamilton's hands seems to be very competitive in FP1. However, it is FP3 that is most relevant to how qualifying may unfold. FP2 would tell us the relative race pace of the drivers over the race distance on Sunday.

It seems to be close at the front, but the Redbull seem to be most in trouble at this stage. The British drivers, Hamilton, Norris and Russell, would be seeking to steal the show in front of the British crowd. This is looking like a cracker of a race about to unfold.

Norris had a good day. Ferrari is also off to a good start.

Red Bull looks in disarray. However, the Racing Bulls had decent results.

That was one tight final qualifying session. Six cars within a quarter of a second of the lead.

It could be a very interesting race even if it stays dry. I suspect the McLaren cars will hound Max, and the Ferraris will hound George.

If it rains all bets are off. We have a lot of really good wet weather drivers in the current field, probably the best the sport has ever seen. The timing of tire changes would be critical.

As is often the case I think we're in store for a really good British Grand Prix.

Good fight for qualifying. Hamilton made a good jump from what he did in P3.

Over/under on how many laps before Piastri passes Max?

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Originally Posted by F1nKS

Good fight for qualifying. Hamilton made a good jump from what he did in P3.

Over/under on how many laps before Piastri passes Max?

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I think Oscar will be going for it very early on. Clean air is king, and both of them will want it. But Oscar is faster in the slow stuff, and Max is fast in the high speed and a straight line.

It could be a battle of being passed, then the other passes until one of them decides the tires can't take the abuse. Which could possibly also open the door for Lando if it goes on too long.

VERSTAPPEN!!!
What a lap?
If you need reminding on how awesome Verstappen is, that Silverstone pole lap is it. He did a Hamilton to the rest of the field.

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The HULK storms to podium position from 19th. First podium for the Hulk. Man of the Race Nico Hulkenburg, what an achievement. He has come close on several occasions, but this time round it was his day.

Brilliant!!!

Changing conditions made for an interesting race. Red Bull's setup would have been great had it been dry. Wonderful to see Hulkenberg on the podium.

What a amazing race that was. Silverstone also produces drama and high quality racing.

Fantastic race. The conditions made it interesting through the entire race, even though the best second to second action was spread through the field. At times 2-3 different pairs of drivers were all fighting hard for positions with each other.

Great race, and Lando gets his British GP win. Not to diminish that at all, but I felt the penalty on Oscar was very harsh. I would have felt 5 seconds tops. But then again the penalty on Yuki was very harsh as well, and in most races that would have not caused a penalty at all. I'm not shocked that we finally saw a salty Oscar, but he still had a great race overall, and it shows that we are all human.

And though Lewis found some of his mojo at his favorite track and didn't make it easy, Nico was not to be denied today. When it mattered, he matched or bettered most of the laps Lewis put down. Though it came at the expense of Lewis missing out on his streak of British GP podiums, I think it's safe to say we all enjoyed seeing Nico finally stand on a podium step. I've always thought he had enough talent to eventually find his way into a better car at some point, but even without ending up in the fastest cars he has had a great career. I'm glad to see him finally get a podium, and hope he has more left in him before he leaves the sport.


We all just got Hulked!

Very engaging race. Full of action and could have had a great finish - except the stewards ruined that.

I was rooting for Niko to secure a podium spot.

FIA stewards are amateurs. There is no consistency in how they apply the rules. Very harsh call on an event that had no impact on the race.

In what has been an overall incredibly dull season so far it was great to finally get a race that was engaging.

The Piastri penalty was ridiculous and the FIA stewards that handed it out should be fired. Piastri did nothing wrong. He is the de facto race leader and is entitled to dictate the pace. There is a rule since Abu Dhabi 2021 that you cannot move alongside a car in front of you when under safety car conditions. Twice in the last two races Verstappen has broken that rule but not been punished. The only consistency that the FIA stewards follow is that they don't punish Max Verstappen for constant rule infringements. Piastri was 100% right to feel aggrieved. Ridiculous decision.

Delighted for Hulkenberg to finally get a podium after 239 races. He should have a few race wins under his belt now and would have had Alonso not blocked his move to Ferrari years ago.

Hamilton another average race that has been typical of him over the last 3 seasons. He seems to have lost his edge.

Looks like either Norris or Piastri will be WDC this year. I still fancy Piastri as I don't think Norris is mentally strong enough. An interesting duel developed between the two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by F1nKS

Very engaging race. Full of action and could have had a great finish - except the stewards ruined that.

I was rooting for Niko to secure a podium spot.

FIA stewards are amateurs. There is no consistency in how they apply the rules. Very harsh call on an event that had no impact on the race.

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I totally agree with that. The stewards were inconsistent. I fail to see the difference between the Piastri situation to the Russell case form the last race. No penalty for one, but hefty punishment for the other. Truly nonsensical!

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

In what has been an overall incredibly dull season so far it was great to finally get a race that was engaging.

The Piastri penalty was ridiculous and the FIA stewards that handed it out should be fired. Piastri did nothing wrong. He is the de facto race leader and is entitled to dictate the pace. There is a rule since Abu Dhabi 2021 that you cannot move alongside a car in front of you when under safety car conditions. Twice in the last two races Verstappen has broken that rule but not been punished. The only consistency that the FIA stewards follow is that they don't punish Max Verstappen for constant rule infringements. Piastri was 100% right to feel aggrieved. Ridiculous decision.

Delighted for Hulkenberg to finally get a podium after 239 races. He should have a few race wins under his belt now and would have had Alonso not blocked his move to Ferrari years ago.

Hamilton another average race that has been typical of him over the last 3 seasons. He seems to have lost his edge.

Looks like either Norris or Piastri will be WDC this year. I still fancy Piastri as I don't think Norris is mentally strong enough. An interesting duel developed between the two.

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I was stunned when they reduced the Piastri lead from 13 seconds by bringing out the safety car - did any of the teams ever run full wets?

Someone decided that this race needed a safety car because cars on slicks were going off. The mind boggles.

Piastri is living in Norris' head now. Lando would've been better served to let Oscar through and fight to the line. Norris had a good final stint and probably gets up anyway. Now Lando's win at his home GP has a nagging taint for him.

Piastri is probably the stronger I agree but both drivers will be worthy champions for 2025.

Bring on Belgium...

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

Hamilton another average race that has been typical of him over the last 3 seasons. He seems to have lost his edge.

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Hamilton did not look good at this race. The dodgy Ferrari strategy did not help. But relative to how bad it was for LeClerc, most of the reasons were down to the car, I think. Ferrari race cars never go well in the wet. Remember Vettel crashing in the wet at the German GP years ago. There are lots of similar examples.

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Originally Posted by Whyzars

I was stunned when they reduced the Piastri lead from 13 seconds by bringing out the safety car - did any of the teams ever run full wets?

Someone decided that this race needed a safety car because cars on slicks were going off. The mind boggles.

Piastri is living in Norris' head now. Lando would've been better served to let Oscar through and fight to the line. Norris had a good final stint and probably gets up anyway. Now Lando's win at his home GP has a nagging taint for him.

Piastri is probably the stronger I agree but both drivers will be worthy champions for 2025.

Bring on Belgium...

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The darn stewards robbed us of a McLrane battle, which we were looking forward to. But to be fair, it would not have been right to ask Norris to give up the lead that was rightfully his. Piastri got caught out and was penalized as a result. It was unfair in my opinion, but c'est la vie.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

The darn stewards robbed us of a McLrane battle, which we were looking forward to. But to be fair, it would not have been right to ask Norris to give up the lead that was rightfully his. Piastri got caught out and was penalized as a result. It was unfair in my opinion, but c'est la vie.

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The stewards robbed us of a runaway win by Piastri and half the Silverstone crowd being able to leave early to beat the traffic.

The stewards tried to give us a McLaren battle by reining in Piastri. They must have had an orgasm when given the opportunity to pass judgement on a safety car infringement. Did they choose 10 seconds because that is how far ahead Piastri was at the time of the safety car?

The stewards might have outed themselves to be more producers of a show than motor racing officials.

If visibility safety was the reason for slowing the cars then a virtual safety car might be seen as the correct option. Was the safety car option chosen to improve the spectacle for the once a year viewers?

Bring on Belgium...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Whyzars

The stewards robbed us of a runaway win by Piastri and half the Silverstone crowd being able to leave early to beat the traffic.

The stewards tried to give us a McLaren battle by reining in Piastri. They must have had an orgasm when given the opportunity to pass judgement on a safety car infringement. Did they choose 10 seconds because that is how far ahead Piastri was at the time of the safety car?

The stewards might have outed themselves to be more producers of a show than motor racing officials.

If visibility safety was the reason for slowing the cars then a virtual safety car might be seen as the correct option. Was the safety car option chosen to improve the spectacle for the once a year viewers?

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I have to disagree with most of you. Given the visibility available to any car following another under those conditions it was the right call. What would you have said if Max had crashed into Oscar and seriously injured either, or both, of them, I wonder how you would be taking it. It was an absolute boneheaded move and deserved the penalty. Glad the Stewards had the guts to do it. In the dry, different story.

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Originally Posted by Used to be Starter

I have to disagree with most of you. Given the visibility available to any car following another under those conditions it was the right call. What would you have said if Max had crashed into Oscar and seriously injured either, or both, of them, I wonder how you would be taking it. It was an absolute boneheaded move and deserved the penalty. Glad the Stewards had the guts to do it. In the dry, different story.

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I would have said that Max should not have hit Oscar. Easy.

Max didn't hit Oscar so it wasn't a bonehead move by Oscar. In fact, there was no incident caused by Oscar's braking maneuver. Oscar applied exactly the right amount of brake for the situation. Maybe his cold brakes grabbed a bit more than he probably liked, fair enough. Nothing happened.

Oscar gave the safety car sufficient space to leave the circuit and racing resumed as normal. There was no incident that warranted a 10 second penalty.

If safety was the reason to slow up the cars then a virtual safety car was sufficient in the circumstances. Reducing a 13 second lead was ridiculous. I am questioning the calls for a red flag when tyre strategies had gone to crap and the stewards for actually bringing out a full safety car when none of the cars had even run wets.

Are we penalising drivers for almosts now? In future, the only way to get through turn 1 will be well spaced rolling starts it would seem.

F1 ain't what it used to be.

Bring on Belgium...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Used to be Starter

I have to disagree with most of you. Given the visibility available to any car following another under those conditions it was the right call. What would you have said if Max had crashed into Oscar and seriously injured either, or both, of them, I wonder how you would be taking it. It was an absolute boneheaded move and deserved the penalty. Glad the Stewards had the guts to do it. In the dry, different story.

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Having now seen the rear facing onboard from Oscars car, as well as seen the telemetry numbers, I have to change my opinion and agree with you completely. I didn't realize he had srubbed off that much speed until I saw the numbers.