The British GP last weekend marked yet another domination by the Mercedes team. Those following Ferrari and Red Bull are bound to be disappointed with the short-lived victory we saw in Austria. However, there’s still some good news for the Red Bull team as both drivers managed to finish in the top five while only Charles Leclerc pulls through for Ferrari.
Is it possible that Red Bull is catching up to grab second place in the constructor’s leader board or would we see more top finished for Ferrari? By now, it’s quite clear that Mercedes has the win for 2019, standing with a solid 407 points, a massive 164 points ahead of Ferrari in second place. If Red Bull hopes to grab the second place, they would need to finish above both Ferrari drivers for just about the entire remaining season as they are 52 points behind. Luckily, they know they’ll finish the top three as 131 points divide them and McLaren Renault in fourth place.
The British GP was once again once worth watching as we see loads of action and high passes with the new DRS feature. Based on the 2019 season so far, the finishes we about what we expected for most, but Vettel’s finish was quite a surprise. Let’s have a look at how it happened for the top 5 finished at the British GP.
The Race
Right off the line, both Mercedes drivers got off to a great start by claiming first and second place by turn one. Charles Leclerc in third and Max Verstappen between him and Vettel in fifth place. Bottas managed to keep the first-place position for the first three laps, but by lap for Hamilton used the DRS advantage and overtook his teammate without much effort. However, Bottas refused to give it up and takes back the lead just a few turns later. The rest of the top 5 standings remained about the same with Leclerc, Verstappen and Vettel.
By lap 11, we still saw Bottas in first with Hamilton less than a second behind him. Lap 14 was quite impressive as both Leclerc and Verstappen enter the pits. Even though Leclerc came first, they were side by side as they left the pit lane. Just before joining the track we saw Verstappen get ahead. However, it didn’t last long as Leclerc takes back the position.
After most cars went for the pits, we had Hamilton in the lead, Vettel in second, Bottas in third, Leclerc in fourth and Verstappen in fifth. At lap 20, we saw Giovinazzi slide off the track, causing the safety car to come out. Of course, this meant the leaders would get much closer to each.
With the safety car back, the race continues with Hamilton in first, Bottas in second, Vettel in third, Gasly in fourth, Verstappen in fifth and Leclerc in sixth. Lap 37 was almost devastating for Red Bull, and Ferrari fans as Verstappen overtakes Vettel only to have Vettel drive straight into Verstappen by the next turn. Both cars returned to the track, but with some damage. While it didn’t have much of an effect on Verstappen, Vettel certainly had enough damage to end his race, stopping him in 16th place.