Charles Leclerc earned his first victory in almost two years for Ferrari. Unfortunately for him, all the chatter around the British Grand Prix will be about its controversial ending that resulted in the 175,000-strong crowd at Silverstone booing after they were denied a dramatic finish.
The record crowd at Silverstone was in for a thriller from the start, with Leclerc staking claim to the lead, followed by Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton behind him. 19-year-old phenom Kimi Antonelli didn’t need long to take over Hamilton. And it seemed like Antonelli was positioning himself for a stunning sixth Formula 1 victory, taking the lead after Leclerc made a pit stop.
But plans for a podium finish were derailed on Lap 41, when Antonelli’s Mercedes-Benz machine experienced what his team later suggested was a left front wheel shield failure. He ultimately finished 16th, while his teammate, George Russell, finished second to reach the podium. Hamilton came in third, though he nearly could have been bumped following a post-race investigation for a yellow flag violation. The powers that be slapped him on the wrist. No harm, no foul.
But the real drama unfolded when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen spun and found himself in the gravel on Lap 48 — four laps short of the 52-lap race. According to The Independent, the Safety Car “would be in at the end of the 51st of 52 racing laps,” meaning the boisterous crowd was in for a thrilling one-lap finale.
But the dramatic finish never came, and the British Grand Prix ended under the Safety Car and Leclerc crossed the finish line under those circumstances to earn the victory.
The controversial ending
The crowd unleashed a chorus of boos as drivers crossed the finish line, and it turns out they had every reason to be furious.
The Independent reports that the Safety Car in the final lap was “sent by the governing FIA in error – because the unlapped cars had not completed a full lap – and a grandstand finish was scrubbed off.”
The outlet reports that a spokesperson for the FIA said that the “safety car in” message was “displayed erroneously due to a software error.”
“It is understood the automated note was loaded into the system and sent out simply by mistake. An investigation has been launched by the FIA to understand how it happened,” The Independent reports.
Fans were denied a dramatic finish due to a human error, and that did not sit well with F1 analyst Martin Brundle, who warned his producers during Sky’s broadcast.
“Have you got a bleeping machine? I’m going to need it shortly,” he said fuming. “We were all denied a proper end to the Grand Prix.”
It hasn’t been the best of weeks for F1, which this week alone weathered PR disasters after Carlos Sainz proposed a penalty that could see the F1 qualifying landscape change, and crap all over F1’s LEGO parade ahead of the British Grand Prix.
