Norris and Hamilton complete the podium
Fernando Alonso finishes seventh and Carlos Sainz closes the points, tenth
MADRID, 9 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) has conquered this Sunday the victory in the Grand Prix of Great Britain, the tenth round of the Formula 1 World Cup, while the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) have finished seventh and tenth, respectively.
With his sixth consecutive victory and the eighth of the season, the Dutchman takes off even further in the overall Drivers’ Championship, all after an appointment at Silverstone in which two Britons stood on the podium: Lando Norris (McLaren) and Lewis Hamilton ( Mercedes), which moved up four places to third place.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso knew how to defend the two positions gained at the start to finish seventh, although in the last few laps he had to withstand the pressure of the Thai Alexander Albon (Williams) and the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who could only be ninth in a disappointing performance of the ‘Scuderia’ cars.
In this way, Verstappen reaches 255 points in the championship, 99 ahead of second place, his teammate Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez (Red Bull), sixth this Sunday. For his part, Alonso is still third with 137 units, ahead of Hamilton (121) and Sainz (83).
Once the traffic lights were turned off at a crowded Silverstone circuit, Verstappen’s bad start allowed the British Lando Norris (McLaren) to take the lead, with the other ‘papaya’ car, the Australian Oscar Piastri, putting pressure on the current World Champion.
The scare only lasted for ‘Mad Max’ five laps, which it took for him to regain the lead to begin to distance himself from the McLarens. With a brutal rhythm, on lap 12 he already took more than two seconds off both of them, and four on lap 18 before the stop dance began.
Sainz, for his part, fell one position at the start, to sixth, with Alonso trailing behind after improving two places, although just a few laps later the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) dropped the Spaniard to eighth place. Meanwhile, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and George Russell (Mercedes) fought a fierce fight for fourth place.
On lap 19, Leclerc pitted to put on the hard compound, although the Ferraris were no longer Verstappen’s rivals, more concerned with the McLarens and Mercedes. Chaos, however, broke out on lap 33, when the flaming Haas of Dane Kevin Magnussen brought out the safety car.
Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton and Alonso, who had not yet stopped, benefited from the free stop; the Spaniard started sixth again, just ahead of Sainz. Once out of the ‘safety car’, Verstappen escaped on his way to victory, and the great battle was reserved for the two local drivers.
Hamilton got the car into him with 11 laps to go, but Norris held on. Little by little, the McLaren man increased the pace, leaving the seven-time champion off the hook. Thus, both completed the podium positions.
Piastri, Russell, the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez (Red Bull) -who improved nine positions-, Alonso, the Thai Alexander Albon (Williams), Leclerc and Sainz completed the ‘Top 10’ of the event. The next stop will be in Hungary in two weeks.