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The most key date in the calendar for most British motorsport fans took place this weekend with the annual Formula 1 British Grand Prix. With the lowdown on that, and all the other latest developments, here's our latest F1 news roundup on TrackDays…
Perhaps knowing that a lot rested on the most important date in the F1 calendar - being on home turf and all that - current reigning World Champion and Team Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton came out fighting at Silverstone yesterday after a series of disappointments over the last month or so; but not, it has to be said, without controversy.
After three consecutive wins, Team Red Bull's Max Verstappen quite literally crashed out the running at Copse Corner after the two rivals collided, and with a finish time of 1:58:23 (despite being landed a 10 second penalty by stewards), Hamilton returned to winning ways, scoring the 99th win of his Formula 1 career.
However, a quiet, simmering tension erupted like a gas pan on the boil between the two drivers as a result. Verstappen, who blamed his crash out entirely on Hamilton, criticised him on his Twitter account, saying: "The penalty given does not help us and doesn't do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track." Furthermore, he added it was "disrespectful" and "unsportsmanlike".
Lewis' response? "I just try and stay measured in my approach - particularly with Max, he's very aggressive. And then today, I was fully alongside him and he didn't give me the space … But regardless of whether I agree with the penalty, I take it on the chin and I just kept working. I wasn't going to let anything get in the way."
Whilst the fighting spirit and drama between the two star racers has ramped up substantially for fans on what has been quite an unpredictable season thus far - Hamilton's win at the British GP now closes the gap on Verstappen's current overall standings lead by 8 points - it has also ignited and exposed some less than savoury conduct online.
The heightened feelings around the clash on track at Silverstone yesterday saw Lewis on the receiving end of racial abuse on social media. Coming just a week after the same treatment given to England football players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho in the Euro 2020 final, The FIA, Mercedes and F1 have all rightly been quick to condemn such abhorrent behaviour.
In a statement, the FIA said that those projecting the abuse "have no place in our sport … in the strongest possible terms ... We urge that those responsible should be held accountable for their actions. Formula 1, the FIA, the drivers and the teams are working to build a more diverse and inclusive sport, and such unacceptable instances of online abuse must be highlighted and eliminated."
The weekend proved eventful in other ways as well. Most of all for Charles Leclerc, with the Team Ferrari racer achieving his best result to date this season by finishing in a creditable 2nd place, marking his first top 3 finish since finishing 3rd at last year's British Grand Prix.
It was also a good weekend for Team McLaren, with both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finishing in the top 5 in 4th and 5th place finishes respectively, which has resulted in the former climbing to 3rd on the overall season to date standings, six points ahead of Team Mercedes' Valteri Bottas.
Meanwhile, although Sebastian Vettel may be disappointed with falling out the race for Team Aston Martin on Sunday, his team mate Lance Stroll fared better, finishing 8th. Both now occupy 10th and 12th on the Championship standings in turn.
Make sure you keep visiting our News page here on the TrackDays website to get all the very latest updates on the current Formula 1 season. To book your next Formula 1 Single Seater driving experience via available dates or purchase of our open gift vouchers, visit our dedicated Formula 1 Experiences page today.
