The British Grand Prix 2020 was the 4th round of the 2020 F1 season, and took place at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, UK, on August 2nd.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 22 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 12-13: 15 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 28.208 seconds during his pit stop on lap 13, while the slowest one was was Kimi Räikkönen's, who stopped the clock at 44.085 seconds, 15.877 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 47.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Alexander Albon, Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
4Daniel Ricciardo
-
3Esteban Ocon
-
1Antonio Giovinazzi
-
4Pierre Gasly
-
-Lando Norris
-
8George Russell
-
3Nicholas Latifi
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
3Lance Stroll
-
1Charles Leclerc
-
1Romain Grosjean
2 stops
-
4Alexander Albon
-
1Kimi Räikkönen
-
9Valtteri Bottas
-
1Max Verstappen
-
6Carlos Sainz
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.83 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 2.2 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Silverstone Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Daniil Kvyat, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 11, Kevin Magnussen, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 1, and Nico Hülkenberg, who had a power unit failure on lap 0.
Accident
-
Daniil KvyatLap 11
Collision
-
Kevin MagnussenLap 1
Power Unit
-
Nico HülkenbergLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.313 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:24.303. Valtteri Bottas was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 10 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.