Chase You -1- Formula 1

66. Ew, Beth is complaining

Race report Silverstone
By Lucy Thompson

Lewis Hamilton secured his sixth British Grand Prix victory. The current championship leader managed to take the lead from his teammate right into turn one and had not lost the position ever since.

Valterri Bottas qualified on pole position, but his chances of a race win disappeared when Lewis Hamilton passed him in the first corner. The Finn came home in second place and gave Mercedes another 1-2.

Valterri Bottas was not the only one to get disappointed after qualifying. Ferrari looked promising all weekend, the Italian team dominated the free practice sessions and they also claimed the second row in the qualification. However, that success did not last longer than half the race. Charles Leclerc was forced into the pits when he got pushed into the gravel by Max Verstappen. This is not their first battle of the season, but luckily for both Leclerc and Verstappen, this fight did not have many consequences.

Mattia Binotto claimed that Leclerc's actions had caught the team off guard. According to Binotto, this was the reason Sebastian Vettel stayed out of the pits longer than the German had estimated. When Vettel drove into the pits to box for new tyres, the pit crew was not informed and it took half a minute before Vettel got back on the racetrack again. Thanks to a miracle, Ferrari still managed to score respectable points with Leclerc in a reasonable P4 and Vettel in P10.

An impressive comeback from Carlos Sainz caused him to finish in P5. He can call himself driver of the day after dropping back all the way to P20 after an incident with Daisy Mayfield, who ended up outside of the points after receiving her first penalty of the season.

Talking about the reckless behaviour of Daisy Mayfield, her actions had serious consequences. It is rumoured that her awful qualifying session caused some frustrations. Alfa Romeo 'messed up' during Q1, according to Mayfield, which made her unable to put in another lap. This meant she had to start in P18, just in front of both Williams. The only thing she did right this race had to be the quick start, that gained her five positions before the first corner, but after that she caused chaos.

Making contact with Lando Norris in the battle for P13 ruined the race of quite a few others. The possibility that Mayfield's crash had an impact on more drivers is still being investigated. For now, is estimated that touché with Norris resulted into DNF's for George Russell and Lance Stroll. There is damage on the cars of Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and on the car of Mayfield herself. Daisy is not accountable for the damage on the cars of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg, knowing that Ricciardo spun on his own and took Hulkenberg with him into the gravel. Despite being near the accident, neither of the Renault teammates has been in contact with Mayfield.

Mayfield has been handed a 10 place grid penalty for this race, making her P13. Alfa Romeo has been fined half a million euros to make up for the damage. A 10 seconds penalty will be added to Mayfield's qualifying in Germany. Lando Norris got handed a five seconds penalty, causing him to end up in P11.

"What do you have to say about that?" Beth asked, glaring at me as she read the race report out loud.

"Congrats to Lewis," I mumbled, playing with a strand of my hair that fell loosely in front of my face. I shrugged after she gave me another stern look. "Shit happens?"

"You're a reckless driver, Daisy!" She yelled. "You made it dangerous for everyone out there, you should be thanking me you didn't get a race ban!" She crossed her arms and stood up. "You disappointed everyone! Especially the team." I opened my mouth to say something. "I expect a proper apology."

"What do you want me to say?" I asked. "I overtook people, I bumped with Lando and the results of that incident were bigger than anticipated, exactly what I told the press and the FIA. I have nothing else to add because I won't lie to make others feel better."