Silverstone marshals to the rescue: Up and down at the British GP

One of the most thrilling British Grand Prix in years showed Formula 1 and Silverstone at their very best.

Brilliant racing, a legendary home hero on the podium and safety procedures coming to the rescue as danger loomed.

There was many and much going up and down at the British GP – marshals did their usual top-notch work, several slightly misguided individuals tried to stage a protest and the Scuderia’s bridesmaid finally had their day.

Goin’ Up

Halo saves 

As if any more proof was needed, the halo safety device may well have preserved Zhou Guanyu’s life on Sunday.

Images show the roll-bar to have completely sheared off, leaving only the halo for protection – and it looked like it did its job.

“The halo saved me today,” the Chinese driver said after being released from the medical centre – hardly first time in it’s been called into action since its introduction.

Citizen George

The first time I flipped a go kart, @GeorgeRussell63 stopped on track to lift it off of me. He’s always been a good egg since day 1, great role model for anyone👍🏼 https://t.co/XqLwMAJviG

— Callum Ilott (@callum_ilott) July 3, 2022

George Russell abandoned his Mercedes to immediately help Zhou and the marshals, which instantly stymied his own race.

As highlighted by IndyCar driver Callum Ilott, this is hardly the first example of the Russell putting others first, a general good egg.

Schumacher points

At last, at last Mick Schumacher gets in the points, taking a fine eighth after scrapping with Verstappen.

He nerfed himself and Sebastian Vettel out of the points-paying positions in Miami, had no pace after a promising start in Barcelona and then broke down from seventh in Montreal, but the F2 and F3 champion showed his worth in Silverstone, coming from 19th to gain those precious top-10.

Sainz

It might not feel quite as epic as Jenson Button’s journey to his first win – which was peppered with near misses – or been as treacherous as Mika Häkkinen’s, but Sainz did all the right things to win on his 150th F1 start.

The Spaniard began things in the right way by keeping out of trouble by taking pole as his team-mate Charles Leclerc spun and baulked Verstappen, then had the strategy gods smile down on him as Ferrari elected to give him soft tyres for the final mini-stint.

It was a first victory for the – whisper it – slightly overrated Sainz, but a win’s a win.

Orange army

More on this below, but the fantastic work of the Silverstone marshals was on display both in helping those in crashes and addressing the track invaders – sterling work.

In a nice touch, Nadine Lewis – Chair of the British Motorsports Marshals Club – was on the podium to help hand over the trophies to the top three.

Goin’ down

Misguided protest

Reports are saying there were some people who entered the track at the start of the race. Thank for there was a Red Flag after all, god knows what would have happened. #BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CqoaYkI2ot

— F1 Images (@F1_Images) July 3, 2022

Running onto the track during a grand prix to protest against the use of oil probably isn’t going to change the minds of shareholders of vast corporations mining fossil fuels, unfortunately – they’re slightly more ruthless than that.

Also doing it in the one sport which has promised to be net-carbon zero by 2030 doesn’t appear to have especially won the hearts and minds of the public either, whatever Gary Lineker says.

AlphaTorpedo

It was all looking dandy for AlphaTauri, until young Yuki Tsunoda got a bit overambitious.

Running eight behind his team-mate Pierre Gasly, the Japanese driver opted for a dive up the inside into Village. The Frenchman was then helpless as Tsunoda lost it into the corner and both were sent spinning out.

It was the end of the day for Gasly and left his team-mate out of the points. Cannot have been a pleasant debrief for Tsunoda as he prepared for a toasting from Tost.

Then the resultant debris wrecked Verstappen’s race too…

Ferrai fumble?

"yup, that's me. you're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation" pic.twitter.com/xhZiOgvziB

— F1 Updates (@paddock2go) July 4, 2022

Ferrari appeared damned either way in keeping both its drivers happy through various stages of the British GP.

Leclerc was clearly faster as he tracked Sainz once Verstappen was out the way, but Ferrari felt reluctant to impose team orders relatively early on in the season.

Once it was established Sainz was indisputably slower than the chasing Monegasque and let him by, Leclerc appeared to have the race in his pocket – Hamilton bearing down aside – but the leader was not brought in with the late safety car.

This was done due to the thinking if Leclerc had come in, Hamilton would have simply stayed out to gain track position, but the former was clearly unhappy with proceedings.

Binotto was seen giving a wagging finger to Leclerc immediately after exiting his car, apparently trying to nip any mardy post-race interviews in the bud, but the latter couldn’t hide his face of thunder as he congratulated his team-mate through gritted teeth.

Even when Ferrari wins, it can’t please everyone.

Latifi a bit lost

Nicholas Latifi, relegated to using the old-spec car whilst Alex Albon was given all the new toys, in a season which has featured a lot of crashing and not much else for the Canadian, managed to drag his dusty old FW44 into Q3 in an impressive wet-weather performance.

Come some brave early fighting in the race though, he gradually fell down the order and out of the points once more.