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No penalty for Lawson
Liam Lawson is allowed to keep the last point in the sprint. He only received a warning for the action against Isack Hadjar. Here is the race stewards’ verdict in full:
“The incident involved the defensive maneuver of car 30 in the approach area to turn 15 in lap 16, when he defended his position against car 6.”
“The driver of car 30 stated that at the relevant time he was still at full throttle and had not yet started braking, and that the movement of the car was part of the deceleration and preparation for the corner and not a movement during the braking process.”
“The driver of car 6 explained that the maneuver by car 30 was abrupt but still left enough space and avoided contact. In his view, the incident did not justify a penalty. He also pointed out that the two cars were on different energy levels, which made assessing the approach speed difficult.”
“The race stewards acknowledge that it was not a significant change of direction after the braking phase had clearly begun, and also acknowledge that car 30 left car 6 enough space to ensure no contact occurred.”
“The race stewards also acknowledge that the different speeds of the two cars made it difficult for the driver of car 30 to judge the approach speed into the corner.”
“However, the race stewards were of the opinion that the defensive maneuver by car 30 was so late and abrupt that it warranted a formal warning. Although the race stewards were not convinced that the circumstances justified a stricter penalty, they considered the maneuver to be slightly beyond the limit of what is acceptable when defending in a corner.”
“Accordingly, the race stewards issue a warning to the driver of car 30.”
Read more Formula 1 Live Ticker: Sprint and Qualifying in Silverstone live!
Damage to Piastri
Not only Sergio Perez’s Cadillac was damaged at the start of the sprint. McLaren boss Zak Brown reveals on Sky: “Oscar sustained a small damage there.”
He does not go into detail, but apart from that he is satisfied with the sprint. However, he also emphasizes: “We have gained some pace, but Kimi and Lewis were still in a class of their own.”
Let’s see how it looks later in qualifying. In less than two hours, it continues in Silverstone.
Why Perez was penalized
The Mexican finished last today and also received a ten-second penalty. The race stewards explain:
“Car 11 [Perez] attempted to overtake car 14 [Alonso] on the inside of turn 3. However, car 11 did not have its front axle at or beyond the outside mirror of car 14 before and at the apex of the corner.”
“Car 11 touched the right rear of car 14, causing car 14 to spin. The race stewards found that car 11 was solely responsible for the collision and therefore imposed the usual ten-second time penalty.”
Leclerc: Different strategy on energy
The Monegasque believes that the race was chaotic in phases also because all teams used their energy differently. “It was very strange,” reports the Ferrari driver on Viaplay.
Actually, there has been a convergence in deployment “since the beginning of the year,” he reports. “Today everyone did something completely different. That made it a bit difficult to assess and understand the fight,” he explains.
About his own race, he adds that he had a “very, very bad start.” “We lost three places there, and after that it was quite hard to catch up,” says Leclerc.
Piastri: First lap was “dangerous”
The first lap was spectacular for the fans, but Oscar Piastri did not have so much fun in the car. “Lap 1 was pure chaos in terms of energy consumption. To be honest, it was quite dangerous in some places,” he reports.
On Sky he clarifies: “Most of the time you just try not to crash into others from behind.” He expects the race tomorrow to be “chaotic” again.
Read more Formula 1 Live Ticker: Sprint and Qualifying in Silverstone live!
Hadjar does not understand start problems
The Frenchman lost many positions again at the start today. He tells Viaplay: “We just don’t understand it. It makes no sense to go to a race knowing you will immediately lose four places.”
“In my case, I even lost more. It’s shocking every time,” says Hadjar, who emphasizes again on request that he has no idea why this is.
“Otherwise I wouldn’t have these problems. Last year I had 24 good starts in 24 races. Now, with these new regulations and the engine, we seem not to understand it,” he shrugs.
Norris: Fuel saving causes trouble
The world champion is satisfied with P3 but is annoyed that he had to ease off at the end to save fuel. “We had to reduce the pace a bit because we had to save fuel,” confirms Andrea Stella on Sky.
This was already “the second time in a row,” admits the team principal and emphasizes: “That’s not good enough, we have to get better as a team.” In the end, Norris still held P3 “brilliantly.”
Verstappen: Higher tire wear
The Dutchman fought for a better position for a long time but ended up only sixth and explains on Sky that he was simply “too slow” overall.
“We had more tire wear than the cars around me and were especially taken apart at high speeds. I just couldn’t keep up with them,” says Verstappen.
In the attempt, he then started sliding – and thus ruined the tires even more. About his bad start, he also says on Viaplay that he simply had wheelspin.
Read more Formula 1 Live Ticker: Sprint and Qualifying in Silverstone live!