2018 British GP : Drivers of the Day

The British Grand Prix was a showcase of the difference between qualifying vs race set-ups with Gojira AutoSport performing well on the Saturday before Tornado Motorsport took to the fore on the Sunday. Of the 22 drivers, who was superb at Silverstone?

5. Tomas Gonzalez

After another engine failure at the Österreichring, Gonzalez was hoping for better at Silverstone, but the CBA car didn’t appear well-suited at Silverstone compared to previous races with both Gonzalez and Mason Taylor being somewhere in the midfield. The plan therefore was to focus on the race but it didn’t go to plan at the beginning with Gonzalez being one of three drivers to sustain damage from Sebastian Vettel’s lap 6 smash at the exit of Becketts. The original plan for the Argentine was to run a two-stop strategy, and rather than switching to a three, CBA stuck with plan A which helped Gonzalez to run 8th in the closing stages with Catharina Caracciola unable to pass. It looked as if Gonzalez would pull off an unlikely result but an engine failure at the last corner prevented him from doing so.

4. Catharina Caracciola

FJR’s number two driver has probably had the worst luck out of all drivers this season with the first eight races featuring some sort of mechanical issue, be it terminal or forcing an unscheduled pitstop. Furthermore, Caracciola has often fared worse from FJR’s experimental set-ups and qualifying at Silverstone was no different with last on the grid, but the race promised better after topping Sunday warm-up. A conservative ERS approach meant that she seemed to spend pretty much the entire race being stuck behind CBA drivers, but at least the car was reliable this time, and this came handy when Gonzalez’s engine let go coming out of Luffield on the final lap, allowing Caracciola through for a hard-earned point.

3. Lewis Hamilton

Although he hadn’t looked like winning a race this season, Hamilton has been going through a purple patch with better speed from his Mitchell and two podiums in the North American leg. Things didn’t go to plan at the Österreichring with Mitchell suffering a lack of straight line speed and the wrong strategy, but at his home race, Hamilton was competitive and consistent. He also enjoyed a race-long battle with Kevin Magnussen as the two trades places throughout the race and at one point, this briefly became a battle for the final podium place as they gained track position over the three-stopping Vaino Kimminen and James Clark. Ultimately the three-stoppers had the advantage, but at least Hamilton got back ahead of Magnussen during the final stint.

2. Vaino Kimminen

Once again, Kimminen’s champion qualities shone through in the race after qualifying down in 10th but with a good race set-up underneath. The field was mostly split 50-50 between two and three stops and Kimminen ended up choosing the latter strategy. It was his second stint that was particularly impressive as a comparatively lighter fuel load meant that he could be more aggressive on his tyres. He moved up to 2nd at half distance after overtaking both Gojira drivers and set the fastest lap in the process. Although he dropped to 5th after his second stop, he made light work of Hamilton and Magnussen on consecutive laps before taking Alessandro Farina in his final stint for another well-earned podium.

1. Charles Leclerc

If Kimminen’s performance in the race was impressive, Leclerc’s performance throughout the entire meeting was sublime. Considering the set-up he had, his qualifying lap for 5th on the grid was a brilliant effort and a good start up to 3rd only strengthened his cause for a win. He overtook Farina for 2nd on lap 4 and kept up with race leader James Clark despite being on a heavier fuel load. Once Clark pitted on lap 13, Leclerc had control of the race and despite dropping behind Clark after his first stop, he retook the lead on track on lap 26 and never looked back for his second career win.