F1 News
Safety car prevented SportPesa Racing Point succeeding at Silverstone
SportPesa Racing Point came away from the British Grand Prix with no points in the bag. Otmar Szafnauer looks back to the safety car period during the race and blames this on a result the Silverstone based team won't be pleased with.
Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi spun and left the car in the gravel causing the safety car to come out as the race was about to reach the half-way mark. Unlike Lewis Hamilton who hadn't pitted before the safety car, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll had just left the pits when the safety car was deployed.
“It’s wasn’t our day and we come away from our home race empty-handed. The safety car proved costly for us with both cars pitting shortly before it was deployed. We had hoped to get both cars home on one-stop strategies, but the safety car hurt us more than most and some of the cars we were racing effectively got a free pit stop. That’s racing and luck wasn’t on our side today. It’s a shame because we had cars capable of scoring points," the team boss said.
On the first lap after the safety car restart, Perez collided with Nico Hulkenberg near Luffield. The Mexican needed a new front wing and was forced to pit again. This led to his P17 finish.
“A brake balance issue for Sergio contributed to the contact he made with Nico [Hulkenberg] and ended any chance of recovery. We switched Lance to a two-stop race late on, in the hope that the fresh rubber might allow him to pick off some of the one-stopping cars, but we ran out of laps in the end," Szafnauer added.
Stroll finished the race in P13, equalling his best finish since the Canadian Grand Prix.