The 2020 British Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020) was a Formula One motor race held on 2 August 2020 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom. It was the fourth round of the Formula One World Championship. The event was the seventy-first running of the British Grand Prix as part of the World Championship since . The race was the first of two consecutive Formula One races at Silverstone with the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix following a week later. The defending race winner from the 2019 event, Lewis Hamilton, won the Grand Prix, his third consecutive win of the 2020 season, and Mercedes's fourth.
Background
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The opening rounds of the championship were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the planned opening round in Australia was called off two days before the race was due to take place; prompting the FIA to draft a new calendar. The British Grand Prix was originally intended to be held on 19 July. When the calendar was redrafted following the pandemic the Hungarian Grand Prix and British Grand Prix had swapped dates with Hungary moving to 19 July and Silverstone taking the 2 August date, the originally planned date of the Hungarian race.
Although there had been doubts over whether Silverstone would be able to host Formula One races due to quarantine measures proposed by the British government; Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, said in a statement that he believed Formula One should be given an exemption. In the end, the British Government did give approval for Formula One to be held at Silverstone. Before the races took place Northamptonshire Police reiterated the importance of fans staying away from Silverstone for public health reasons during the two racing weekends, and warned that strict measures would be in place to stop unauthorised persons from entering the circuit.
The addition to the calendar of the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix on 9 August, also at Silverstone, marked the first time in twenty-seven years the United Kingdom had hosted two Formula One races in the same season. The last season to have two British races in a season prior to this was the 1993 season, when Donington Park hosted the European Grand Prix and Silverstone hosted the British Grand Prix. It was later revealed that Silverstone offered to hold as many as 12 races in total during the season. Both the British Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix were held behind closed doors.
Championship standings before the race After the third round at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, defending champion Lewis Hamilton, on 63 points, led the championship by five points over his teammate Valtteri Bottas, with Max Verstappen a further 25 points behind. Defending Constructors' Champion Mercedes, with 121 points, led the championship from Red Bull, who had 55. McLaren sat 14 points behind Red Bull in third, and were only one point ahead of fourth-placed Racing Point, who had 40 points, while Ferrari sat 5th on 27 points. Williams were the only team without a point, heading into the race.
Entrants
The initial driver and team race entry list was identical to the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for practice. However, this changed following a positive COVID-19 test for Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez who was ruled out of the Grand Prix. He was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg.
Tyre choices Pirelli brought the C1, C2, C3 compound tyres for use in the race, the hardest three compounds available. However, the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, which was also held at Silverstone the following weekend, used the C2, C3 and C4 selection instead. This aimed to not only create strategic differences between the two races, but also to force the teams to fully make use of practice time on the second weekend, instead of relying on data from the previous week. The idea was instituted after the Mercedes team rejected an alternate plan, for a reverse starting grid to be run on the second weekend.
Practice Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the first practice session on Friday, followed by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the Racing Point of Lance Stroll. Nico Hülkenberg, in his first practice session on his return to the sport, set the ninth fastest time. During the session, Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi spun at turn 13 and scattered gravel and tyre debris onto the track, causing the session to be red-flagged for 12 minutes whilst the track was cleared. He was investigated and later issued a warning by the race stewards for failing to safely return to the pit lane. Sebastian Vettel was unable to complete any timed laps after his Ferrari suffered an intercooler issue early in the session.
Stroll set the fastest time of the second Friday practice session, followed by the Red Bull of Alexander Albon and the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. This session was also red-flagged after Albon spun at turn 15 and collided with the barriers. He was taken to the circuit's medical centre but was later declared fit. Vettel was again forced to miss practice time when a pedal issue restricted his running.
Bottas set the fastest time of Saturday morning practice, followed by Hamilton and Verstappen. Albon was forced to miss most of the session with electrical issues, and Vettel continued to suffer brake pedal problems which curtailed his running on Friday.
Qualifying Q1 and Q2 Although there was a 60% chance of rain before qualifying, all three parts would prove to be dry. In Q1 (the first part of qualifying), Nicholas Latifi spun on his last lap, exiting the slow turn 7 (Luffield); his earlier time was only good enough for last place. His Williams teammate George Russell was investigated by the stewards for not slowing down under the consequent yellow flags - he received a five-place grid penalty. In the end, the five drivers eliminated in Q1 were Kevin Magnussen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kimi Räikkönen, Romain Grosjean, and Latifi - as both Giovinazzi and Raikkonen failed to make it out of Q1, Alfa Romeo remained the only team to not reach Q2 (the second part of qualifying) in 2020.
Two different strategies were used in Q2, with both the Mercedes, Red Bulls, Racing Points and one of the Ferraris – that of Charles Leclerc – trying to get into Q3 (the third part of qualifying) on the more race-suitable medium compound tyre, and the other teams using the soft compound due to the top ten qualifiers having to start on the tyre used in Q2. Early on in the session, world championship leader Lewis Hamilton spun at turn 7; red flags were soon waved, since Hamilton had brought gravel back onto the track with him. After the session resumed, Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas set times a second clear of the rest of the field. Not all those using the medium tyres succeeded in reaching Q3 - Alexander Albon of Red Bull and Racing Point's replacement driver Nico Hülkenberg both failed to do so. Lance Stroll in 10th and Pierre Gasly in 11th set the same time, but since Stroll set it first, the latter in his AlphaTauri was consigned to going out in Q2. At the end of the session, the drivers eliminated were Gasly, Albon, Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat, and Russell.
Q3 As the cars were being sent out, there was an incident in the pitlane between Leclerc, Stroll, and Daniel Ricciardo, with Stroll complaining that Ferrari had released their driver in an unsafe manner - the stewards, after investigating the matter, decided no further action was necessary. In the first set of laps, Hamilton set the fastest lap time with a 1:24.616, with his teammate 0.15 seconds adrift. Hamilton then improved this time a few minutes later, recording a 1:24:303 to secure pole position, and Bottas achieved second place, 0.3 seconds back. (Note that it is a fastest lap time, but not an official lap record, which can only be set during a race). Max Verstappen, one of the last to cross the line, was third fastest, over a second behind pole position. The rest of the top 10 were: Leclerc, Lando Norris, Stroll, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, and Sebastian Vettel.
The pole position was Hamilton's 91st overall, and his seventh around the Silverstone circuit.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3144 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:25.9001:25.3471:24.3031277 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:25.8011:25.0151:24.6162333 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda1:26.1151:26.1441:25.3253416 Charles LeclercFerrari1:26.5501:26.2031:25.427454 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1:26.8551:26.4201:25.7825618 Lance Stroll1:26.2431:26.5011:25.8396755 Carlos Sainz Jr.McLaren-Renault1:26.7151:26.1491:25.965783 Daniel RicciardoRenault1:26.6771:26.3391:26.00989 31 Esteban OconRenault1:26.3961:26.2521:26.2099105 Sebastian VettelFerrari1:26.4691:26.4551:26.339101110 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1:26.3431:26.501N/A111223 Alexander AlbonRed Bull Racing-Honda1:26.5651:26.545N/A121327 Nico Hülkenberg1:26.3271:26.566N/A131426 Daniil KvyatAlphaTauri-Honda1:26.7741:26.744N/A191563 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1:26.7321:27.092N/A201620 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:27.158N/AN/A141799Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:27.164N/AN/A15187 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:27.366N/AN/A16198 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:27.643N/AN/A17206 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1:27.705N/AN/A18107% time: 1:31.807Source: Notes – Daniil Kvyat received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. – George Russell received a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow for double yellow flags.
Race Pre-race ceremonies A 'fight against racism' ceremony was held on the track before the race. All 20 of the drivers were out in formation directly in front of the grid, all displaying anti-racism messages on their t-shirts, and with some taking the knee and others standing, as video messages of their support for the anti-racism message were played.
Following the singing of the national anthem ("God Save The Queen"), which was performed by the UK's foremost national anthem soprano, Emily Haig, there was a flyover by a Spitfire with the message "Thank you NHS" painted on the underside of its wings, and accompanied by applause from those present, in recognition of the work done by the UK's public health services in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.
Race report
Pre-race The Racing Point team was unable to start Nico Hülkenberg’s power unit in the garage, forcing him out of the race prior to the formation lap. This was determined to have been caused by a clutch bolt having sheared off in the drivetrain and, where the bolt jammed, the engine was prevented from turning over.
Early laps Lewis Hamilton led from pole position at the race start. On the opening lap, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniel Ricciardo, starting seventh and eighth respectively, both made up two places by passing Lando Norris and Lance Stroll. 12th-placed Kevin Magnussen hit a kerb at the inside of turn 17, running wide. Alexander Albon then attempted to overtake Magnussen at turn 18, the two cars collided and Magnussen was sent through the gravel and into the barriers. He was uninjured and the safety car was deployed in order to recover his Haas. Albon was later issued a five-second time penalty after the race stewards deemed him responsible for the collision.