Verstappen's victory and the Kvyat jubilee race: how the Grand Prix of the 70th anniversary of Formula 1 ended

First day

The first free practice at Silverstone, as expected, ended with the dominance of Mercedes. The best time was shown by Valtteri Bottas (1: 26,166). His teammate and World Cup overall leader Lewis Hamilton was 0.138 seconds behind the Finn. The third was Max Verstappen of Red Bull (+0.727). 

Russian Daniil Kvyat, for whom the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix became the 100th anniversary race in Formula 1, is in ninth place in the final protocol, almost 1.5 seconds behind Bottas. But the domestic athlete presented a new special helmet. In honor of the stage at Silverstone, many riders followed suit. 

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@ danydk1's updated helmet design 🔥👌 What do you all think? #AlphaTauri # F1 #RedBull #Honda #Motorsport # Formula1⁣⁣⁣ # 📷 x @gettyimages / @peterjfoxy

Posted by Scuderia AlphaTauri (@ alphataurif1) Aug 7, 2020 2:58 pm PDT

But Sergio Perez from Racing Point did not start again. His tests for COVID-19 tested positive again. As a result, Perez was again replaced by Nico Hulkenberg, who showed the fourth result (+0.776). 

At the end of the evening training session, Bottas and Hamilton changed places. The Briton showed the best time (1: 25.606), and the Finn was 0.176 seconds behind him. Daniel Riccardo from Renault was unexpectedly on the third line. But Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel at the end of the session had serious problems with the engine. 

Kvyat this time showed only the 12th result (+1,396), but he was remembered for the race with Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard at first did not let the Russian pass on the track, and then he flew to the side of the road. 

“Decent Friday, we did a lot of useful laps today. The performance of the C4 tires did not come as a big surprise, we will continue to evaluate them to see what they love and what they don't. As always, we will analyze all the data in order to return tomorrow in the best shape for qualifying and racing, ”the press service of the Italian team quotes the Russian pilot as saying. 

Second day

The third training session also ended with a victory for Hamilton, who showed the best time (1: 26.621) and was 0.163 seconds ahead of Bottas. The third this time was Lando Norris from McLaren (0.581). Kvyat is again on the 12th line (+1,133).

But the qualification ended in a real failure for the Russian. Daniel could not even reach the second segment and showed only the 16th result. The reason for the failure, according to the rider, was a gust of wind that prevented him from passing the Stone corner. The domestic athlete drove to the curb.

“Today we were very unlucky. I could have gotten a very good circle, when suddenly at the 15th turn I was blown away by a gust of wind, it cost me a lot of time, ”the Alpha Tauri press service quotes Kvyat as saying. 

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Another unlucky day for Daniil Kvyat at Silverstone 😖⁣ ⁣ But he's got Sunday to put it right 👊⁣ ⁣ # F1 # Formula1 # F170 #AlphaTauri #Silverstone

Publication from FORMULA 1® (@ f1) Aug 8, 2020 9:44 am PDT

First place this time managed to take Bottas (1: 25,154), who was 0.063 seconds ahead of Hamilton. The third place was unexpectedly taken by Hulkenberg, who replaced Peres, who lost about a second to the leader. But the four-time world champion in the class "Formula 1" Vettel again faced with problems and the "software" became only 12th. His teammate Charles Leclair is in eighth place.

Race

How unsuccessful the qualification was for Kvyat, the jubilee race itself was so successful. At the start, Daniel narrowly escaped contact with Vettel and immediately won back two places. But Sebastian fell to the 20th. Bottas and Hamilton remained in their positions, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) easily passed Hulkenberg in the fight for third place.

And in the future, the Dutchman only increased momentum. He not only easily left the pursuers, but also closed the gap with the Mercedes pilots. Soon he came very close to Hamilton. The team members on the radio asked the pilot to act less aggressively, but he replied that he should continue to fight the leader of the overall World Cup standings, as long as there is such a chance. In turn, the Briton admitted that he was experiencing problems with the rear wheels.

Meanwhile, Kvyat passed rival after rival and quickly moved to the tenth line. In the anniversary race, Daniel was eager to get into the top 10 and score points.

Verstappen, however, very soon became the leader, taking advantage of the races at the pit stop of Hamilton and Bottas. For a long time Max himself was driving only one pit stop, but emphasized that he did not experience the slightest problems with the tires. And he was really building up his lead over Mercedes.

In the end, the Dutchman still switched to "medium" and returned to a distance of second in half a second from Bottas. But Verstappen quickly leveled this gap and regained the lead. For some time, Kvyat was seventh at all, but after the pit stop he dropped to 15th place. Nevertheless, with fresh tires, he quickly climbed into the top ten.

Hamilton also made an absolutely correct change of tires to “hard”. This step allowed Lewis to pick up a really amazing speed in the last laps. He easily passed Charles Leclair, and then calmly ahead of his teammate Bottas. But it was already impossible to get hold of Verstappen.

Max, who finished fourth in qualifying, had an excellent race and won the ninth victory in Formula 1. The Dutchman showed the result 1: 19: 41.993. Mercedes pilots failed to take first place for the first time since November last year. Then in the Grand Prix of Brazil, the victory also went to Verstappen.

But Hamilton, who took second place, climbed to the podium in Formula 1 for the 155th time and caught up with the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. And local failure did not prevent him from maintaining leadership in the overall standings with 107 points. But Max (77) moved up to second place, ahead of Bottas (73).

As a result, Kvyat remained in the top ten and managed to score cup points for the second time this season. With two points, he is in 16th place in the overall standings.

Junior series

For another Russian Formula 2 driver, Robert Schwartzman, the day was not so successful. He fought to the end to win the British Grand Prix, but fell victim to a collision with PREMA Racing teammate Mick Schumacher. The German attacked the domestic athlete along the outer radius, and Schwartzman touched the opponent's rear wheel. As a result, Robert's front wing broke.

“The start was great, I was the first from the very beginning. Mick walked behind and tried to pass me, but at some point he lost the car, and this allowed me to increase the lead and focus on my own pace. But suddenly the degradation of the front left tire began. At the end, Mick drove up along the outer trajectory, we made contact, I damaged the front fender. The last laps have become a real nightmare, "the press service of SMP Racing quotes Shvartsman.

On the damaged car, the Russian finished only 13th. Schumacher lost to Yuki Tsunode from Carlin in the fight for first place. The best time among the Russians was shown by Nikita Mazepin, who rose to eighth place. Artyom Markelov - 11th.

The day was extremely unfortunate for Alexander Smolyar, who competes in Formula 3. At the very beginning of the race at Silverstone, one of the opponents punctured him with a tire, and the domestic driver finished only 15th. The victory in a tense confrontation with Lirim Tsendeli was won by Bent Viskal.