SAINZ TASTES BRITISH GLORY
CARLOS Sainz won a wild and wacky British Grand Prix which saw Zhou Guanyu survive a horror opening-lap crash and protestors invade the track at Silverstone.
Sainz fought his way past Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc in a brilliant 10-lap shootout to the chequered flag following a safety car period to claim his maiden Formula One win.
Sergio Perez finished second, with Lewis Hamilton third after he forced his way around Leclerc with four laps of the 52 laps remaining.
Sainz, Perez and Hamilton all took on fresh tyres ahead of the safety car restart, but Ferrari left Leclerc out on old rubber and the championship challenger was left in no man’s land, dropping from first to fourth.
It dealt his title hopes a blow on a day where Max Verstappen limped home in seventh after he sustained a puncture and damage to his Red Bull bodywork.
A record crowd of 142,000 fans in Northamptonshire were treated to the race of the season which started in extraordinary fashion.
Rookie Zhou was approaching the 160mph opening Abbey corner when British driver George Russell tagged the right rear of the Chinese driver’s machine, sending him on to his roof and sliding out of control.
Upside down, Zhou continued through the gravel at high speed with sparks flying before he slammed into the tyre barrier and was launched into the fencing. Fans and photographers ducked for cover with Zhou’s Alfa Romeo lodged on its side, between the tyre wall and the fencing.
An extraction team rushed to Zhou and the 23-year-old was carefully removed and taken away in an ambulance to the medical centre before being discharged.
Russell was also seen dashing to check on his friend, the Williams
driver Alex Albon, who was caught up in the accident, and then Zhou’s condition.
The Mercedes driver, who was not permitted to restart the race, added: “I jumped out of the car to see that Zhou was OK. When I got back to car I couldn’t restart it. As soon as you get outside assistance you cannot restart the race.”
The race was immediately redflagged, but as the cars made their way back to the pits, five protestors stormed the circuit before sitting down on the track.
The protestors were dragged away by marshals as a number of drivers sped by.
An FIA spokesperson said: “We confirm that after the red flag, several people attempted to enter the track. These people were immediately removed and the matter is now being dealt with by the local authorities.”
Following a delay of 53 minutes the race restarted.
On lap 10, Verstappen, hot on Sainz’s tail, moved into the lead after the Spaniard ran off the track. But two laps later, Verstappen was in the pits with a puncture after he appeared to run over debris.
Sainz was soon under pressure from Leclerc, and team principal Mattia Binotto gave the order for the scarlet cars to swap position.
Suddenly, a fast-charging Hamilton was in the mix and, after the first round of pit stops, he was just six seconds off the lead.
Then Ocon broke down in his Alpine and the safety car was deployed with a dozen laps to go. Leclerc stayed out – a decision Ferrari might come to regret – with Sainz, Hamilton and Perez all stopping.
The race restarted on lap 43 and Sainz made short work of getting past Leclerc with Perez and Hamilton eventually following suit.
Fernando Alonso took fifth ahead of Lando Norris, with Verstappen holding off Mick Schumacher to take seventh.