🇬🇧 Formula 1 2021: R10 – Penalty, shoot out

It’s difficult to deny just how amazing Lewis Hamilton’s race win was. After the 10-second penalty, which convincing arguments could be made for/against from all quarters, the British driver won his home Grand Prix after being semi-let through by Lando Norris, completely let through by teammate Valtteri Bottas and chased down Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for his 99th win in Formula 1, preventing Ferrari’s first win since Singapore 2019.

The only flag Hamilton picked up around SilverstoneFrom: Mercedes F1

But that 10-second penalty came from an opening lap accident with his title rival Max Verstappen, which saw the Dutch driver hit the wall at the high-speed Copse corner after making contact with Hamilton. Despite losing the lead and taking damage, and with his pit crew waiting, he chose not to pit, possibly knowing a red flag would appear and allow the damage to be fixed while everyone else is parked in the pit lane.

It seemed difficult for the stewards not to give a penalty to Hamilton for the incident. Hamilton was never ahead of his rival, and George Russell got himself a three-place grid penalty during sprint qualifying for tangling with Sainz. The stewards, even if they wanted to, had painted themselves into a corner by setting a precedent. Racing incident or not, previous decisions almost forced their hand.

With everyone else in the pits, the teams involved were making their case to Race Director Michael Masi, who - when he does switch on his computer - will find that he has become a meme. When Mercedes spoke to the Australian, saying they’d sent him an email, he replied saying the words that some enthusiastic t-shirt hawker will be trying to sell you soon “I don’t check my emails during a race”.

Eventually, the reigning World Champion was given that 10-second penalty, which changed the face of the race, if not the eventual outcome. 

There have been penalties that have changed the outcome lower down the order with points being redistributed and I thought they deserved a quick look.

At Imola, Lance Stroll finished seventh, but was hit with a five-second punishment for going past Pierre Gasly illegally, swapping the eventual order around.

At the same track, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen lost a ninth-placed finish for a bizarre incident under safety car conditions. It promoted Ocon by a point and Alonso into the points, so Alfa Romeo’s loss became Alpine’s gain.

The other driver to be punished in an incident that directly affected final positions was in the second part of the Austrian double-header. Sergio Perez getting a 10-second penalty swapped his position with Sainz, causing the Mexican to lose two points in the second driver battle as Red Bull. 

He may have got one of those points back for the team, with a late pit-stop sacrificing one for himself (he was in 10th) to take one away from Hamilton in the Mercedes. Bottas gets credit for “inverting the car order” for being a team player, but so does Perez in this instance. Where Perez was perhaps lucky to avoid further punishment was the way he rejoined the track after losing it after Chapel curve during the sprint.

Perez is something of an anomaly in that he’s an upper-card driver getting hit with penalties that cost him positions on the track. For teams in that third-tier Constructors’ battle, like Aston Martin, Alpine and Alpha Tauri could end up with penalties having quite an effect, especially in 2021, where being consistently the 7th or 8th-best team on the grid is no longer a guarantee to snaffle a lucky couple of points each weekend. Six different drivers have claimed the last points-paying spot from 10 races; that number rises to seven for ninth position.

So where next? Hungary, as every pundit will tell you in 10 days’ time, is a very different track to Silverstone, where power matters. In Budapest, not so much. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen scored his final F1 points at the track last year, while McLaren finished ninth (Sainz) and 13th (Norris). That sort of outcome feels unfathomable for them this time around, which outlines the team’s strength, especially with Norris, who lies third overall in the Championship. 

I always remember the Hungaroring for Damon Hill and 1997. In an unfancied Arrows, the British racing legend almost won, being overtaken by Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian was Hill’s rival and teammate as Hill won the Championship the season before, and must have made it even more galling. The failure was eventually traced to a washer that cost 50p. 

It shows the fine margins needed in every aspect of racing to even score a solitary point !as a lower-card team in F1, and while everything can go as right as possible, sometimes the stewards see things differently and penalise drivers. It will be interesting to see if they have an overall effect after the end of the season.

PREVIOUSLY THIS SEASON: POST-RACE

🇦🇹 R9: Doubles

🇦🇹 R8: Ruining Mr Saturday's graduation party

🇫🇷 R7: Staying positive

🇦🇿 R6: The award for Best Supporting Driver

🇲🇨 R5: The enjoyment of a genuine three-way battle

🇪🇸 R4: Getting out-thought if not outfought

🇵🇹 R3: Portimão and the benefits of a rule change

🇮🇹 R2: Max Verstappen and the Italian curse

🇧🇭 R1: Bahrain and comparing qualifying pace with 2020

AROUND THE 2021 SEASON

📈 Formula 2, Formula 3 and W Series: Why F1's support races are great

🏁 The pros and cons of sprint qualifying

🔮 Four odd predictions for F1 2021