The British Grand Prix 2022 was the 10th round of the 2022 F1 season, and took place at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, UK, during the weekend of the 1st to the 3rd of July.
Carlos Sainz won the race from the pole, followed by Sergio Pérez, and Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 47 pit stops during the race, although only 30 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 1 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 18-20: 5 stops
- Laps 32-34: 4 stops
- Laps 38-40: 12 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 28.155 seconds during his pit stop on lap 39, while the slowest one was was Sergio Pérez's, who stopped the clock at 37.302 seconds, 9.147 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 5.
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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 4 stops.
The race winner, Carlos Sainz, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
5Valtteri Bottas
2 stops
-
7Kevin Magnussen
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-Esteban Ocon
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5Pierre Gasly
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1Charles Leclerc
3 stops
-
2Lewis Hamilton
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2Fernando Alonso
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9Sebastian Vettel
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2Sergio Pérez
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-Carlos Sainz
-
9Lance Stroll
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-Lando Norris
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2Nicholas Latifi
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1Yuki Tsunoda
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11Mick Schumacher
4 stops
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1Daniel Ricciardo
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5Max Verstappen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy gained 3.2 positions on average, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 2 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 1, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Esteban Ocon, who had a fuel pump failure on lap 37, Pierre Gasly, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 26, Valtteri Bottas, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 20, and George Russell, Guanyu Zhou, and Alexander Albon, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Fuel pump
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Esteban OconLap 37
Collision damage
-
Pierre GaslyLap 26
Gearbox
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Valtteri BottasLap 20
Collision
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George RussellLap 0
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Guanyu ZhouLap 0
-
Alexander AlbonLap 0
Qualifying
Carlos Sainz managed to get the pole position by 0.072 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:40.983. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
Track evolution
The conditions of the track worsened from Q1 to Q2, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q1 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. That being said, the changing conditions of the track made it difficult to find these limits, and only 3 drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.