2022 British Grand Prix

The **2022 British Grand Prix** was a Formula 1.5 motor race held on 3 July 2022 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England.

## Background

The event was held across the weekend of the 1–3 July. It was the tenth round of the 2022 Formula 1.5 World Championship. It was the 73rd time the British Grand Prix has been held and the race took place two weeks after the Canadian Grand Prix and precedes the Austrian Grand Prix.

### Championship standings before the race

Following the Canadian Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas led the Drivers' Championship by 10 points from Esteban Ocon, with Lando Norris third, a further four points behind. Alpine led the Constructors' Championship, leading McLaren by 21 points. Alfa Romeo were in third place, trailing McLaren by 7 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

### Tyre Choice

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

## Practice

The weekend had three practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first session took place on 1 July and started at 13:00 local time (UTC+01:00). There was rain before and during the session, with teams deciding not to go on track as much as they normally would have, due to dry weather predictions for the rest of the weekend. Towards the end of the session the weather cleared and the track began to dry. A number of drivers attempted to drive the track on slick tyres, including Lance Stroll, who spun at turn 9, getting stuck in the gravel. The session was red flagged and not resumed. Valtteri Bottas was fastest, with Mick Schumacher in 2nd and Zhou Guanyu in third respectively.

The second session took place on 1 July and started at 16:00 local time. The rain had cleared and the session was conducted in dry conditions. No major incidents meant the whole session was under green flag conditions. The Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel picked up some floor damage in the session, but he made it back to the pits. Norris was fastest, with Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo in second and third respectively.

The third practice session started at 12:00 local time on 2 July. There were no major incidents and so the whole session was under green flag conditions. Lando Norris was fastest, with Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher in second and third respectively.

## Qualifying

Qualifying started at 15:00 local time on 2 July, and lasted for one hour. The session was held in wet conditions and ended with Carlos Sainz Jr. claiming his maiden pole position.

## Race

The race started at 15:00 local time on 3 July. Zhou Guanyu experienced a poor start and was passed by Nicholas Latifi. Gasly attempted to pass between Zhou and F1.0 driver Russell, but Russell moved to the left in an attempt to keep position. Subsequently, Gasly and Russell made contact and caused Russell to lose control and hit Zhou. The impact flipped Zhou's car and he skid across the track upside down. His car bounced over the tyre barrier, hit the protection fence and came to a rest between the fence and tyre barrier. As a result of the incident, Valtteri Bottas slowed slightly, which caused Alexander Albon to also slow. Sebastian Vettel attempted to brake, but was too close to Albon and hit him. Albon spun into the concrete pit wall, rebounded back on the track and was hit by Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon, both of whom received damage but were able to return to the pits. However, Albon was unable to continue.

Race control red-flagged the race due to both crashes. Zhou was extracted from his Alfa Romeo and stretchered to an ambulance where he was taken to the race medical centre. Albon was also taken to the race medical centre but was later transferred by helicopter to Coventry Hospital for observations. Both were later released.

At the start, a group of seven individuals from the climate activist group Just Stop Oil entered the track and sat on the Wellington Straight, they were not shown on any broadcasts and the race was red-flagged due to the first corner incident before the race got to the Wellington Straight. All of the individuals were removed from the track and arrested. Their protest was subsequently supported by Fernando Alonso though he said that the protestors should not have put themselves at risk of physical harm during the race.

The order for the race restart was set to the grid order, not on track positions, as not all the cars had passed the second safety car line before the race was red-flagged. The race restarted at 15:56 local time. The two AlphaTauri cars collided on lap 14. This later contributed to Gasly's retirement. Halfway through the race, Valtteri Bottas retired and Esteban Ocon stopped on the side of the track. This resulted in a safety car period lasting until lap 42.

## Championship Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

  1
  1

Constructors' Championship standings

  1
  1

## External Links

1. ↑  107% time rule does not apply as it was a wet session
2. ↑  Includes 1 point for fastest lap