2021 British Grand Prix Report

After recovering from a collision with Max Verstappen on the first lap, Lewis Hamilton won at the British Grand Prix.

Verstappen was on pole for Saturday's sprint qualifying event, which left Hamilton disappointed after his great performance in Friday night's regular qualifying format.

The World Champion was the one who won the race on Sunday. They fought tooth-and-nine for half a lap, wheel-to-wheel at times and once on the Wellington Straight brushing tyres. Hamilton took a long line around Luffield in an attempt to improve his drive, and eventually closed in on Verstappen along the old pit straight. Hamilton bought Verstappen a dummy, but Red Bull refused to defend him. The pair were approaching Copse at almost 200 mph.

The clash, which was narrowly avoided on many occasions this year, finally took place.

Verstappen's right rear and Hamilton's right front touched, and Verstappen was sent spearing into a wall at an alarming speed. He was clearly shaken and winded but was able to walk away and be taken to the hospital for precautionary checks.

The Mercedes had suffered only minor damage, and the race was stopped.

After the barriers were repaired, we saw our third standing start of this weekend with Charles Leclerc as the unorthodox polesitter. Hamilton was second, with the damage to his car fixed with a bit superglue. Lando Norris, his home hero, was in fourth.

Hamilton was held at bay by Ferrari on the run to the first corner. But, behind them Norris started well. He passed Bottas for the provisional podium spot.

This would, somewhat surprisingly, remain the order until the pit stops. Hamilton was usually within two seconds of Hamilton, but couldn't make a move despite occasional power problems for the Ferrari.

A Briton was given a ten second penalty for his first-lap collision. An undercut was not possible. He ran faster than the others, pitting lap 28 and rejoining in what would become fourth place.

Norris was unable to stop quickly enough to catch Bottas, and he didn’t fight when his compatriot stormed through Copse on lap 31.

Hamilton was closing in quickly on newer tyres when his team-mate was asked for assistance. Leclerc, who was nine seconds ahead of Hamilton with twelve laps remaining, was then left to take over.

Hamilton was in the slipstream of Monegasque by lap 50 of 52. He found himself again pulling alongside the leader during the race to Copse. He backed off this time, but a little further back, Leclerc, aware of Hamilton's presence, ran wide, and Hamilton was out.

The crowd cheered, and the World Champion won his first victory since May's Spanish Grand Prix.

Leclerc was a great second place finisher for his first podium of 2011, with Bottas third and Norris fourth. The young Briton is now third in standings.

Carlos Sainz was fifth, while Daniel Ricciardo took fifth in the McLaren. This is his best papaya result. Fernando Alonso finished seventh, a respectable result after his sprint qualifying heroics. Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

The BIGGEST MOMENT IN THE SEASON SO Far

The collision was inevitable. This collision had been coming for months, if it wasn't years.

This season, Hamilton and Verstappen were within millimetres on multiple occasions.

Hamilton was the most consistent in F1 throughout their careers. Hamilton's focus has been on the long-term, and the championship. Verstappen on the other hand has always been in a position that he has nothing at stake.

These roles were reversible, which was crucial, but Verstappen's approach remained unchanged.

Hamilton was pushed wide at Imola's first corner and then was gracious when his rival tried to launch a divebomb from the inside. This was in Spain a few weeks later. It was a lesson he learned a while ago, and it was hard to learn in 2011, that staying out of trouble is sometimes the best way for him to win titles. He was now able to take chances again, as Verstappen and Red Bull are the current class of the field.

This hasn't been the case in a while, and Verstappen may have thought Hamilton was better than him. The Dutchman's approach was always similar to Ayrton Senna’s "Either you back down or we crash" mantra.

Hamilton didn't back down at Silverstone and they crashed. Verstappen was worse.

He should have been more careful in his judgment as the man with the most points. He continued to take risks because of his youthful competitiveness and youthful heatheadedness, which clearly has not been fully sorted out yet. Hamilton had already avoided Red Bull twice before the collision.

Verstappen, who had run wide at the first corner and was then back on the track quickly, used all of Brooklands' track despite Hamilton entering the corner.

A small penalty was assessed for car number 44. This felt fair. This follows recent incidents in which a driver on his inside had clipped another driver on the outside.

Hamilton was not at fault for this. On cold tyres, Hamilton steered too far from the apex in a heavy car - but Verstappen could have allowed more room. Hamilton was forced to abandon a similar situation after the sprint 24 hours before.

Christian Horner's and Helmut Marko's comments that Hamilton should be banned from race were simply ridiculous, inflamatory and unnecessary.

It doesn't matter what your opinion is about the incident. However, it has undeniably reignited the title battle that Mercedes was losing and likely created a spark between the two main protagonists. Hamilton won the title on Sunday, F1 however was the big winner.

WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF SPRINT QUALIFYING

This was to be the main topic until the drama of lap 1. It's worth noting on the weekend that F1 tried the most significant change to its format in decades.

Personallly, I'm still not convinced. I was not convinced that the fastest driver in one lap did not earn pole position. The sprint on Saturday ruined the regular qualifying session. It also served as a spoiler for Sunday's main race. It revealed certain aspects of the race pace and tyre performance that would otherwise remain secret until the main event.

The sprint was thrilling for the first few laps, but it became a procession when the 15 remaining laps were hard to see. A DRS train was formed in the middlefield and the front runners were barely visible. Fernando Alonso's remarkable start was the main entertainment, as he fell backwards from moving up from 11th place to 5th in just a few corners.

Ross Brown and his team are determined to add more events on the race weekend. However, they need to be careful not to over-produce quality on an ever-increasing schedule.

A close friend, who had never been particularly interested in F1 messages me after the race, initially commenting on Hamilton’s "big ball Energy " - to tell me that he was attracted to the weekend format because it sounded more interesting to casual viewers. It has evidently had the desired effect.

This could work if it ends up being a special event at three to four races per year. It is time to tweak the sprint race. Perhaps a reverse-championship-order sprint for a few points to really embrace the mayhem; although the budget cap means teams are unlikely to go for that. For the love of God, they should call it a race, not 'Sprint Qualifying'. It is quite clear that it is a small race and the media members trying to avoid calling them such were a little cringeworthy.