Imperial victory for Sainz in an unforgettable British GP – Spain’s News

As of this Sunday, Spain already has two Formula 1 Grand Prix winners. Carlos Sainz finally achieved his first victory in the great circus after finishing a race at Silverstone in which he fought against all the elements, including his own mistakes and the pressure within your own team. The man from Madrid went through all possible states in a race for history.

On the opening start, he saw Max Verstappen, who started as the big favourite, snatch the lead from him before reaching the first corner, where the scene took place that made everyone present hold their breath. George Russell closed Pierre Gasly before braking, the AlphaTauri lost control of his car and on the way he took Guanyu Zhou ahead, whose Alfa Romeo ended up overturning. Without any control and at a high speed, the Chinese driver’s car crashed violently against the protections and ended up stamped against the fences.

The image made fear the worst, especially since the stewards were slow to remove the affected runner. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the chaos, some environmental protesters sneaked in who had already warned of their intentions days before, although the security quickly evacuated them. Zhou was immediately taken to a hospital where, miraculously, it was confirmed that he did not have any serious injuries. The race was stopped for a long time until the area was repaired.

A new opportunity opened up for everyone, starting with Sainz, since he did not complete the first full lap before the accident and returned to the starting grid. At the restart, Sainz did not let Verstappen eat the toast, at least initially. In the first few meters he defended himself with his elbows out, like a woodcutter footballer from the 1980s, and held the advantage until the pressure got the best of him. Few more intimidating than the current world champion, so the Madrid driver ended up going off the track to leave, at least for a few moments, his first F1 teammate in the lead.

It seemed that he was going to be left with honey on his lips, but a stroke of fortune returned him to first place: Verstappen’s car began to fail. At first it looked like a puncture, then it turned out that it was a slightly deeper breakdown but not enough to make him leave. In any case, he ruled him out of the fight to win and that, in the end, was key. A rival, possibly the toughest possible, except for Sainz and Leclerc.

“Stop inventing”

And it is that the companion of the Spanish became his main enemy. The radios began to burn, with the Monegasque demanding that there be orders to let him pass. On the wall of the Scuderia they washed their hands and were allowed to fight, which in turn benefited a Lewis Hamilton who saw a golden opportunity to win. Reluctantly, and seeing that Leclerc had a better pace, he agreed to let him pass. But, again, a stroke of fortune awaited him. It was written that he was going to get a chance at him.

From a race that seemed written by some cruel writer, one could only expect something predictable from an Alpine reliability failure. Not a race without its corresponding breakdown, although this time it did not have Fernando Alonso as the protagonist, who for once had a reasonably peaceful Sunday in this regard, but rather Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman was left lying in the middle of the straight, so the safety car had to come out.

The ‘timing’ was perfect. Sainz was caught by this incident just before the pits, which allowed him to switch to soft tires for the final stretch of the race. After him, Hamilton did the same. but not Leclerc. The leader of the Scuderia this year had to swallow cinchona, and he was forced to defend himself tooth and nail on hard tires for the final stretch of the day.

The radios acted again and there Sainz took out the guts. They asked him to leave 10 cars behind Leclerc so that, once the security was removed, he could have enough of an advantage to hold on to first place. The Spaniard rebelled at the cry of “stop inventing.” This race was going to be resolved at the pace set by Sainz.

battle to four

The fight for second and third place was the perfect context to culminate the story of a race that, at least for Spanish motorsports, is already history. Sergio Pérez, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and even Fernando Alonso staged an epic four-way battle for podium positions. The Spaniard was soon out, aware that a tied fifth place was better than it was going to be his best result of the year, but not the Mexican, the British and an enraged Monegasque who ended up giving up.

The one who was not involved in these skirmishes was Sainz, who walked almost without believing it to the first place on the podium. Pérez, who as always complies in these conditions, finished second and Hamilton did the same, repeating a third that was highly applauded by his fans.

It will be a race that will be remembered for a long time, with many approaches to take and many derivatives to read, such as the eventual gap that can be opened from now on in the Scuderia, but the fundamental thing is that Carlos Sainz has become the 112th winner of a Formula 1 Grand Prix. The rest, context.