As Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag to end his long wait for a Formula 1 race victory, their three closest rivals will be wondering what could have been.
Red Bull watched on as they witnessed another example of their car no longer being head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the grid.
Down in the McLaren garage, they’ll be ruining strategy mistakes that cost Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who both led the race at different points in the race.
Meanwhile, Ferrari could only watch on as they witnessed Carlos Sainz finish 5 and Charles Leclerc have another race to forget, finishing outside of the points in back-to-back races.
Martin Brundle was commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1 and watched Leclerc’s race quickly fall apart.
He wasn’t the only driver who was let down by his strategy but the Monegasque star wasn’t in a position to need to take the risk that he did.
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Martin Brundle laments Charles Leclerc’s strategy call during the British Grand Prix
Unsurprisingly, the British Grand Prix was ultimately determined by the changeable weather which played its part throughout the weekend.
Rain was expected at some point in the race and while running in the top ten, Leclerc decided to switch onto the intermediate tyres.
However, the three drivers that joined him in making that choice were all running at the back of the race, meaning Leclerc was either going to make significant gains on his rivals or fall to the back of the pack.
Unfortunately, for Leclerc, the latter scenario played out and as he watched Leclerc get lapped by his teammate, Brundle said: “Something I’ve said in 27 years of commentary, be on the right tyre at the right time.
“If a pit stop costs you 23 seconds but you’re hopelessly on the wrong tyre, it’s irrelevant.”
Croft: “It’s going to be interesting after the race to find out who made the call, Charles Leclerc or the team?”
Brundle: “Absolutely, but as I said earlier on, that moment is a driver’s decision. Only a driver can know with the information with the information that more weather’s coming his way, how the track is metre by metre, corner by corner.
“He’s the one feeling five times the force of gravity. It’s dry enough now to re-enable the Drag Reduction System and the rear wing opening.”
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Charles Leclerc falling away from Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship
Although Max Verstappen and Lando Norris haven’t had perfect race weekends in Austria and Great Britain, they’ve made significant gains on Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship.
He suffered damage in Austria on the opening lap that ruined his race, but his 14-place finish at Silverstone was very much self-inflicted.
Other drivers were asked on the team radio whether it was time to switch to the intermediate tyres and Oscar Piastri was one who quickly dismissed that suggestion.
For someone as inexperienced as Piastri to make that call correctly while Leclerc decided to gamble is a worrying sign.
Ferrari have gone backwards in recent races and rolled back on several updates that were expected to be key which might worry Hamilton ahead of his move to the team next year.
With two races until the summer break, it suddenly looks like Frederic Vasseur’s outfit are suddenly in damage limitation mode despite still sitting in 2 in the Constructors’ Championship.
The post ‘Irrelevant’: Martin Brundle says Charles Leclerc ignored advice he’s been giving for ’27 years’ at British GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
