Sainz wins wild British GP

The race required a restart after a huge first corner crash for Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo, which flipped over and hit the catch fencing, and climate change protesters who invaded the track.

Sainz led until Red Bull’s Max Verstappen past him, but Verstappen then suffered bodywork damage and dropped back down the order.

Sainz gave up his position to teammate Leclerc, who was leading when a safety car was required to retrieve a stranded Alpine.

In a wild restart, Sainz passed Leclerc for the win, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez surging up to second, ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes after some amazingly close racing. Leclerc fell to fourth due to a tyre disadvantage to those around him.

2022 British Grand Prix race results

How the British Grand Prix unfolded

Verstappen started on softs and launched ahead of pole sitter Sainz, with Hamilton surging up to third from fifth, shoving Leclerc wide at Turn 3, but a red flag was required almost immediately.

Zhou’s Alfa Romeo was flipped over on the approach to Turn 1 and crashed hard into the barriers and catch fencing after a long, inverted slide across the gravel trap.

The shunt was triggered when Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri was pinched between Zhou and George Russell (Mercedes), the latter spinning into Zhou’s right-rear tyre and sending him flying. Russell got out of his car and rushed to help Zhou, whose car was wedged between the Armco and the debris fence.

Also involved were Alex Albon (Williams) who was clipped from behind by Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin and slammed into the pit wall before his spinning car was collected by Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri). They both crawled back to the pits with damage, while Albon joined Zhou in the medical centre for checks.

As well as the crash, a group of climate change protesters had invaded the track on the Wellington Straight.

The race restarted in its original order, as the first attempt had been halted so quickly. This time, Verstappen was on mediums like Sainz.

Sainz just on to held his lead through the opening corners, while Verstappen came under a huge attack from Leclerc and Perez, the latter sustaining front wing damage against Sainz as the leaders briefly ran four wide at The Loop. Leclerc also suffered wing damage as he lunged inside Perez.

Sainz initially got out of Verstappen’s DRS range out front, with Leclerc in third ahead of Perez, Norris and Hamilton. Perez decided to pit for a new nose, while…