2025 British GP: Post Race Analysis

A race with changing conditions is always cinematic. The car's and driver's performance often change with the weather and track conditions. Then we factor in tires and strategy. Fun to watch!

McLaren were still the dominant car. Once Oscar got passed Verstappen he opened up a big gap in just a lap or two. It was only a matter of time for Lando to get passed as well. Oscar was looking good in the lead but he did slam the brakes on for an extended time. He can call it what he likes, but it was pretty extreme. A penalty did seem justified, but 10 seconds? That's debatable. I question if the roles were reversed with Lando, would a 10 second penalty be applied? Never the less, we have to acknowledge that Lando looked very strong in the second half in the race. He appeared to be slightly faster too. After the pitstops, Lando even extended the lead. It would be unfair to say he wasn't a deserving winner.

Sauber are on a hot streak. Nico Hulkenberg finally gets his podium after 239 races. Each and every F1 has to be happy for him. The fact he came from the back of the grid again, that's unbelievable. He was right to credit the weather and the team making all the right calls at the perfect time and everything went perfectly. So the entire team can be proud of this podium. Bortoleto retired too early to know if he had any chance at points today.

Ferrari were back to being completely lost on the pitwall. Lewis Hamilton perhaps had his best performance with Ferrari. Amazing how he suddenly found so much pace and comfort in the car at the British Grand Prix. He looked good though. Had good pace, made some great passes and didn't lose too much time with the mistakes. 4th place is a great result, perhaps 3rd was possible if they got everything right. Leclerc got put on the risky slick tire strategy to start the race. Didn't pay off and the team had no idea how to recover. It didn't help that Leclerc had a miserable performance himself.

Red Bull looked like the worst car out there. Max and the team opted for a low downforce setup. Significantly lower than normal. Worked in quali but was terrible for a wet low grip race. Even in the dry Max said the car had a very unstable rear end and we saw multiple times Max drifting the car. Some spectacular driving but also it lead to a costly mistake. A great recovery to 5th as the track started to dry out and the car could perform better. Yuki had a much more conservative setup and still was miles off the pace. Penalty or not, he likely still finishes last of the running cars.

Alpine can be very very pleased with the result from Gasly's 6th place. He didn't luck out with the weather or a safety car he earned that position completely on merit. That's incredibly impressive. He raced with Hulkenberg, Lewis, Max, Alonso, and the list goes on. Brilliant job. A shame Colapinto had to retire before the race even really started. Rumors say it might be his last race.

Aston Martin might have had a better car than we saw. Hats off to Lance Stroll. His greatest strength is his show during changing condition races. We've seen it before several times. In the wet he was rock solid. Perhaps a setup thing that gives him good downforce and confidence in those conditions, but he does a good job. The team looked like they were on the ball with his strategy, or maybe they just lucked into a good position by mid race. He was put on soft tires with 10 laps to go and somehow ate through the tires and had zero pace at the end. He got swallowed by several cars in the closing laps. Alonso looked good to start the race but his strategy team just let him down once again. Track position never seems to go in his favor. First to go on slick tires in the end. It appeared too early, and it was. Odd they put used medium tires on. You would think they'd have a set of new mediums. Fortunately he kept the car on track and was one of the faster cars in the final 5 to 8 laps.

Williams didn't get any TV coverage and yet Albon finished 8th. He nipped Alonso on the last lap. Not sure their strategy team made any good calls during the race. Sainz looked better in the wet than in the dry and ended up finishing 12th.

Mercedes will leave Silverstone with their head down. Yes they are a German brand, but Silverstone is very much a home race as well. Russell went with the slick tire strategy to start the race and it does make sense of the VSC's didn't pause the race so many times. Their car can work the tires hard, so the hard tires make sense. Plus those tires were sure to last until the downpour came. He definitely was the fastest on that strategy. Botched the call to go on slicks when the track was still faster on inters. They even had Alonso to watch for sector times and still came in early. Had a big spin. He drove out of it which is great. Easily could have ended up in the barriers. Antonelli might have had a decent day if he didn't get speared by Hadjar. Tough break.

Haas probably let one slip away. Bearman was properly quick. Suffered from a 10 place grid penalty but moved forward. Was in a position for points then had a collision with Ocon that spun them both. Bearman ends up 11th, less than 2 seconds off points even with some damage. Ocon another 5 seconds down the road with damage as well. Probably could have had both cars in the points if they got it right today.

RB didn't look like a great car in the short time we saw. But both drivers made big mistakes that took them out of the race.

Driver of the Day: Nico Hulkenberg. Not even a debate, he was outstanding.

 

Another thing I'd like to is why Lando hasn't been hit with a monster fine for his F bomb during the post race interview

The FIA came to crack down swearing, even threatening drivers points. Max got penalized which seemed to spark this punishment for language policy. While I do not agree with punishments on swearing that happens over team radio or in conversations that were spied on (cool down room for example), I do agree with keeping proper language during official F1 interviews and press conferences.

Lando's was broadcast to the entire track as well as millions of viewers and he lays down a solid F..K.

 

Russell has a history of making risky calls and I swear he is almost always wrong.