2022 Formula One British Grand Prix

British Grand Prix 2022 Ferrari Formula One.jpg
Silverstone is the site of the tenth race on the 2022 F1 calendar, with Red Bull and Max Verstappen looking dominant and two British drivers for Mercedes feeling optimistic.

A late safety car last time out in Canada looked to be the best hope for Max Verstappen's domination to be threatened, but even that wasn't enough to upset the reigning world champion.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was following Verstappen closely through the closing laps in Montreal, but Verstappen looked as poised as ever and held off the Ferrari threat. That battle seems like a microcosm of how the season is currently unfolding.

Verstappen now holds a 46-point lead over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the driver's championship. It's a commanding lead, but Leclerc will bring a power unit to Silverstone that is only one race old, so this will be a great opportunity to narrow the points gap.

A DNF from Sergio Perez of Red Bull at the Canadian GP helped narrow the constructor's gap, but Red Bull is still 76 points ahead of Ferrari.

Mercedes' two British drivers will be hoping to carry momentum from Canada into their home Grand Prix this weekend. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell took third and fourth last race, respectively. It has been a challenging year for the Mercedes team, who had won eight straight constructor's championships entering 2022, but have yet to find the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari.

Russell is having an outstanding year in his first full-time seat in a competitive car, and finds himself ahead of Sainz in the driver's standings. This is an impressive feat and is largely due to his consistency in placing in the top five in each race so far this season.

Further down the order, the tight battle between McLaren, Alpine and Alfa Romeo continues. Alpine and Alfa Romeo claimed the sixth through ninth finishes in Canada, while a botched pit stop for McLaren held drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo back at a critical point in the race.

Entering the British Grand Prix, there are still lots of questions left unanswered that will shape the remainder of the season. Are Red Bull's reliability issues enough to threaten their driver's and constructor's leads? Will Leclerc's upgrade help him close the gap to Verstappen? Will Mercedes' strong showing at Canada carry forward to Silverstone?

Let us know your thoughts on these matters or anything else F1 related in the comments below.

Photo credits: Ferrari
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

Yay rainy quali!!

I hope race is rainy as well but the forecast doesn't say so sadly.'

I expect Ferrari to be unlucky as always,
because they haven't solved the porpoising or bring any upgrades,
in a track with high speed bends while porpoising at the same time.
 
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Super exciting Q1.

Latifi to Q2 (as a change).

Vettel (a fainr master) is out.

Magnussen (a driver who scored quick laps and we all though was safe), also out.

Was so turbulent.
 
Verstappen casually spins and continues his lap thinking no one noticed.

They have to go crazy and not be conservative or patient now. That's rain for you.
 
I came here to mention I'm happy for Latifi finally making it to Q3, and in the rain no less at Silverstone (and now Carlos on pole! amazing!)...but WOW at the first page...If this is what the comments are gonna be like this weekend, I'm just gonna avoid this thread from now (sorry to say, as I like talking about the race with supposed racing fans).

Can't deal with people with that much prejudice in their mind over one driver, no matter the circumstance...a driver is called a racial slur and people will make it all about attacking the cursed individual and his character (or find something to harp on like the jewelry situation) and not about the guy doing the insults, all because it's Hamilton...I guess he "deserves" it in the minds of some of you. I can't with you people, seriously...for those who are so quick to say "it's not about race"...here's an actual situation about race and you still attack Hamilton relentlessly. Some inner reflection would do a lot of you some good...have a great weekend, folks.
 
I came here to mention I'm happy for Latifi finally making it to Q3, and in the rain no less at Silverstone (and now Carlos on pole! amazing!)...but WOW at the first page...If this is what the comments are gonna be like this weekend, I'm just gonna avoid this thread from now (sorry to say, as I like talking about the race with supposed racing fans).

Can't deal with people with that much prejudice in their mind over one driver, no matter the circumstance...a driver is called a racial slur and people will make it all about attacking the cursed individual and his character (or find something to harp on like the jewelry situation) and not about the guy doing the insults, all because it's Hamilton...I guess he "deserves" it in the minds of some of you. I can't with you people, seriously...for those who are so quick to say "it's not about race"...here's an actual situation about race and you still attack Hamilton relentlessly. Some inner reflection would do a lot of you some good...have a great weekend, folks.
Don't let the door hit you. Oh and by the way, he ended up taking his jewelry out, and its really funny how almost nobody of the english media mentioned this. I guess putting him in his place finally is not such a big story is it?... As for the insults or whatever, forgive me if i don't shed tears, everyday millions of people struggle with real serious problems in their lifes. Lattifi got death threats after last year, to me that is a lot more serious, yet it was nothing like this level of outrage.

And no, i dont hate the guy, i dont even know him.

As for the qualy, great stuff from Sainz! keeping it together when it mattered! Ferrari looking strong nonetheless, championship not over yet!
 
Great qualifying! Saw the post qualifying interviews. The British fans are the worst in the world. What a disgrace.
 
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British Rossi fans were the worst during his prime era. Spitting on Stoner and invading the track. I remember if first hand as I had a trackside photography pass at the time.
 
Well done Sainz, but not surprising as he was the better of the Ferrari drivers last year. Looks to be finally getting the hang of the car / setup (very important!) now if this is anything to go by.

Good effort by the Williams driver too :thumbsup:
 
The Ferrari pair are quick but prone to making mistakes when they can least afford to.
It was a good job by Carlos. Lets hope he continues tomorrow without any.
I still think Mercedes need to raise the rear of that car just a bit.
The aero-loading is keeping it dragging along the track surface.
I'm sure they're giving up top-speed as a result.
Max is totally one with that RB.
He will be hard to beat tomorrow without lots of luck or mechanical issues.
The thing is a rocket everywhere on track and very stable.
 
And no, i dont hate the guy, i dont even know him.

That's a bit rich, er, Rich. Seeing as you've spent most of your contributions in the F1 comments bashing the fella like a jilted ex. Seems he lives rent free in your head.

It's not all bad I suppose. I came to the site last race just as it was confirmed Leclerc would take the full set of penalties. Pretty big news for the championship, Max's closest rival starting from the back; let's see how they've reacted over at RD. Oh great, it's Rich arguing like a whopper again but this time about the reliabilty of a modern Toyota road car. Great stuff! At least you didn't blame your Yaris breaking down on Hamilton... or the FIA... or the Dastardly British Media... that time.

---

On topic, the rain made qualie a bit more exciting. With that said the final order isn't that wild in the end, all things considered. Interested to see Mike Elliott and Hamilton suggest they expect a bit more from the car. I wasn't buying the hype in the build-up as they're was still a noticeable gap at Canada but Merc do seem to be expecting a boost from the new upgrades. Would be nice to see 2 more cars genuinely in the mix, maybe even get Lando and Nando challenging. There seemed to be a bit of excitement Friday morning about Alpine's new parts but Alonso qualied strong in a wet Montreal but dropped off in the dry race.

I'm here, like everyone* for the Latifi redemption arc, but interested to see if Williams new kit (that was exclusively on Albon's car AFAIK) proves to be a stride in the right direction.

As for the frontrunners; I missed FP3 but Max looked pretty comfortably on it from the timings. I like Carlos and hope he pulls his season together but think he still looks a little too raw up against the likes of Max. Happy to be proved wrong but I expect Max and probs Checo to get ahead of Sainz and control the race if we get a dry race with no surprises.

I suspect RB have set the cars up with a priority for race pace at the cost of single lap pace and look the stronger team for a while now in managing a Sunday.

I'm interested how team tactics will play out too, should the opportunity present to hand Charles the lead. Will Carlos be resigned to playing wingman or will he see a chance of redemption and to make up for missing out at Canada (and his season in general)?

That's before considering either teams reliability. I felt RB had got on top of theirs as that seemed isolated mostly to the earlier fuel pump issue (flappy rear wings aside) but after last week I bet it's squeeky bum time for both teams atm.
 
That's a bit rich, er, Rich. Seeing as you've spent most of your contributions in the F1 comments bashing the fella like a jilted ex. Seems he lives rent free in your head.

It's not all bad I suppose. I came to the site last race just as it was confirmed Leclerc would take the full set of penalties. Pretty big news for the championship, Max's closest rival starting from the back; let's see how they've reacted over at RD. Oh great, it's Rich arguing like a whopper again but this time about the reliabilty of a modern Toyota road car. Great stuff! At least you didn't blame your Yaris breaking down on Hamilton... or the FIA... or the Dastardly British Media... that time.

---

On topic, the rain made qualie a bit more exciting. With that said the final order isn't that wild in the end, all things considered. Interested to see Mike Elliott and Hamilton suggest they expect a bit more from the car. I wasn't buying the hype in the build-up as they're was still a noticeable gap at Canada but Merc do seem to be expecting a boost from the new upgrades. Would be nice to see 2 more cars genuinely in the mix, maybe even get Lando and Nando challenging. There seemed to be a bit of excitement Friday morning about Alpine's new parts but Alonso qualied strong in a wet Montreal but dropped off in the dry race.

I'm here, like everyone* for the Latifi redemption arc, but interested to see if Williams new kit (that was exclusively on Albon's car AFAIK) proves to be a stride in the right direction.

As for the frontrunners; I missed FP3 but Max looked pretty comfortably on it from the timings. I like Carlos and hope he pulls his season together but think he still looks a little too raw up against the likes of Max. Happy to be proved wrong but I expect Max and probs Checo to get ahead of Sainz and control the race if we get a dry race with no surprises.

I suspect RB have set the cars up with a priority for race pace at the cost of single lap pace and look the stronger team for a while now in managing a Sunday.

I'm interested how team tactics will play out too, should the opportunity present to hand Charles the lead. Will Carlos be resigned to playing wingman or will he see a chance of redemption and to make up for missing out at Canada (and his season in general)?

That's before considering either teams reliability. I felt RB had got on top of theirs as that seemed isolated mostly to the earlier fuel pump issue (flappy rear wings aside) but after last week I bet it's squeeky bum time for both teams atm.
With all due respect, you know nothing about me, or my head.

Its hard not to talk about him when he and the british media make everything in F1 about him. I wonder who will be "attacking" him next race.

And judging by the rant, i guess i am the one living rent free in your head...
 
With all due respect, you know nothing about me, or my head.

Its hard not to talk about him when he and the british media make everything in F1 about him. I wonder who will be "attacking" him next race.

And judging by the rant, i guess i am the one living rent free in your head...
I can only go off what you publically post and it seems to follow a pattern. I believe you, amongst other regulars, have mentioned him in every thread this year. It's easy not to talk about if you really try, you can't blame the BIG BAD British Media for that. So I personally found your claim that he simply doesn't concern you laughable. Same as everyone that gets in a tiz when GOATs are mentioned. And when it's pointed out no-one in the thread has mentioned the word the usual suspects go on about putting the record straight because they'll be someone on twitter saying it. Go argue with them on there.

I mean tbf, I don't know muzikant on any personal level but I absolutely know what they're going to reply most of the time, and could have telegraphed that he's giving you a like for your post. Anything pro-Max or anti Hamilton and he gives out a free gift. I think he's given out more likes than the population of the Netherlands. Because they do it... every single thread. I'd argue he's more of a squatter though.

If you're going on multiple rants about the blokes jewelery (one to moan he hasn't removed it then another when he does) he absolutly is living there rent free. In fact, it seems he's dining out there. I can totally understand why people don't want to engage in the discussion here when the quality often devolves into conspiratorial rants of things normally happening off track.

I won't be surprised if I get more replies to the first part of my original post than the actual F1 content the way discussion go here.

Anyway, enjoy the race lads. I'll leave you all to pat each other on the back and pretend that you don't care about Hamilton. God help us if he starts winning races again. :D
 

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