In the round-up: Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto justifies the team’s decision not to pit Charles Leclerc under the Safety Car at the end of the British Grand Prix.
In brief
“Nothing unusual” in Ferrari’s Leclerc strategy
Ferrari chose to pit second-placed Carlos Sainz Jnr but not race leader Leclerc when the Safety Car was deployed towards the end of the British Grand Prix. Leclerc fell from first to fourth, passed by Sainz and two other drivers who pitted for fresh tyres.
Binotto said “it was common sense to prioritise the lead car by protecting track positions” at that point in the race. “There’s nothing unusual in this strategy, we always prioritise the lead car and therefore Charles in this situation. He was on fresher tyres at that point, and if he had pitted, our opponents would have done the exact opposite and gained track position on almost new hard tyres.”
“Just think of Lewis Hamilton at last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi when he stayed out on track,” he added. Mercedes chose not to pit Hamilton from the lead during a late Safety Car period, a decision which cost them when the race was unexpectedly restarted in a manner which did not conform with the regulations.
“At the same time we decided to put Carlos on the opposite strategy in order to cover all opportunities,” Binotto added. “If we wouldn’t have done that split strategy, we would have risked losing the race and handing the win to our opponents.”
Hamilton receives Hawthorn trophy
Hamilton was formally presented with the Mike Hawthorn trophy during the British Grand Prix weekend. It is the 11th time he has won the award, named after the first British driver to win the world championship, extending his record. It is given to the highest-placed British or Commonwealth driver in the world championship at the end of each season, a position currently occupied by his team mate George Russell.
Protesters reminded Ricciardo of 2003 track invasion
Daniel Ricciardo said he was reminded of the track invasion at the 2003 British Grand Prix when he saw protesters on the circuit at Silverstone. Neil Horan, a former priest, ran onto the track during the race carrying a sign urging people to “read the bible”, shocking several drivers including Mark Webber.
Ricciardo said he saw the protesters out of “the corner of my eye” on the first lap of the race. “I think maybe they were wearing orange so I thought they were Max fans originally, or McLaren fans.”
“To be honest it made me think of that year with Webber and everything, got pretty close,” he said. “That was that was one of the thoughts I had. But otherwise I’m not sure what it was about.”
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
George Russell watching the restart. He looked visibly shook by that one. Said they wanted to restart as there wasn’t too much damage but checking on Zhou was the priority. By the time he got back to the car it was on the flatbed truck #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/CKmRGctF36
— Claire Cottingham (@Cla_Cottingham) July 3, 2022
What the Zhou Guanyu incident did to Silverstone tarmac pic.twitter.com/fSSCuNAKgd
— craig slater (@craigslatersky) July 4, 2022
We have to remember that a test in a lab will never represent the real thing, crashes are very unpredictable and those load cases are usually based on the experience and available data with some safety margins.
— Carlos Sanchez (@CarlosSMF1) July 4, 2022
You’re perfectly right! I do remember how many negative comments you received …
— Luca Colajanni (@lcolajanni) July 4, 2022
Ahead of an incredible race the one and only @LewisHamilton @MercedesAMGF1 @F1 @SilverstoneUK
P3 🎉🍾🙌💥🥂 pic.twitter.com/IWWUmPX0lP
— Steph N 💙 (@stephnradio) July 3, 2022
@f1.joshurah Silverstone protests #lewishamilton #lh44 #f1 #silverstone #greatbritain #redbull #ferrari #mclaren #landonorris #danielricciardo #maxverstappen #charlesleclerc
This was our view of THAT overtake Hamilton did on Perez and Leclerc into Club corner, everyone was out of their seats 🤩🍿 #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/2jqoqVNC9Q
— Elliot Horwood #44 (@ElliotHorwoodF1) July 4, 2022
Honoured to be at Westminster Cathedral today to pay my respects and celebrate the amazing life of
Sir Frank Williams CBE🙏🏻— Jason Plato (@jasonplato) July 4, 2022
𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡
Making history at Silverstone with a UK TV audience of more than one million viewers, our highest, EVER.#WSeriesSilverstone was the second most-watched motorsport event since 2014 outside of @F1!
One million views, one million thank yous to our fans.💜
— W Series (@WSeriesRacing) July 4, 2022
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Ben73!
On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Nigel Mansell won the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard for Williams. It put him fourth in the championship, six points behind leader Ayrton Senna, while Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet separated the pair
