British GP: Williams Racing No points but positive race

With the completion of the Sprint qualifying event and the subsequent penalty for George Russell the Williams Racing Team would see George and Nicholas Latifi starting the fifty two lap 2021 British Grand Prix from 12th and 17th. On pole was Verstappen followed by Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc, Norris, Ricciardo, Alonso, Vettel, Ocon and Sainz tenth. After his dramas in the Sprint race Perez would be starting from the pit lane. In regard to the tyres each driver would get a free choice for this race caused by the format change for the weekend. The Williams drivers would go with the medium along with the rest of the field except for Perez who was on the hard.

With the start of the race it would be a fight between Hamilton and Verstappen which would see the pair make contact with Leclerc now leading. It was a major accident for Verstappen as he limped away from his destroyed car. Hamilton would say that he had damage to his car as he joined the field now behind the Safety Car. But the race would be Red Flagged with the barrier to be repaired and to allow Verstappen to get safely out of his car after what was a high speed accident. The Williams drivers were currently 14th and 17th. Replays would show Hamilton making contact with his left front wheel with the right rear of the Red Bull. The cars would return to the pit lane as a result of the Red Flag.

After a considerable delay the cars would take to the track behind the Safety Car and would again form up for a second start. Leclerc was now on pole from Hamilton, Bottas, Norris, Ricciardo, Vettel. Alonso, Sainz, Raikkonen and Ocon in tenth. The grid would form and with the second start it would see Leclerc leading from Hamilton and Norris. George and Nicholas were running in 14th and 17th. Vettel would spin dropping to 19th as Bottas was now fourth from Ricciardo. This would see George 13th while it was announced that Hamilton was to take a ten second timed penalty.

Nicholas was now 16th behind Perez as Perez was looking to move forward. Perez would pass George seeing the Williams 14th with eight laps now completed. lap fourteen and the Williams drivers continued to run in 14th and 16th. Leclerc was leading Hamilton by 1.7s followed by Norris. But Leclerc would have a moment with his engine cutting out seeing Hamilton close to the point he had DRS. Lap twenty and the first of the pit stops started seeing Raikkonen, Perez, George and Vettel all pitting. Perez was now on the medium and the other drivers on the hard. George was now in 16th and Nicholas 13th. But the following lap Nicholas would pit also going to the hard tyre. The Williams drivers were now 15th and 16th.

Lap twenty two and Ricciardo would pit taking on the hard and returning in ninth. The next lap and Norris would pit dropping to fifth going to the hard tyre but it was a slow stop. Leclerc was still leading from Hamilton and now Bottas. Sainz was fourth followed by Alonso and Norris. Bottas would pit from third on lap twenty four taking on the hard tyre. He would return in fifth and would pass Alonso for fourth. Alonso would pit seeing him drop to ninth as we also saw Giovinazzi come in returning in 15th ahead of Nicholas. The top three were still on their medium tyres yet to pit. Hamilton would pit on lap twenty nine and would take his penalty and change to the hard tyre returning in fifth. Leclerc was now leading from Sainz and Bottas.

Lap thirty and Sainz would pit changing to the hard seeing him have a slow stop and return in sixth behind Ricciardo. Gasly had also come in taking the hard and returning in 12th. Leclerc would pit taking the hard and returning still in the lead. Bottas was second followed by Norris and Hamilton fourth. Tsunoda would pit on lap thirty two as Hamilton passed Norris for third. Tsunoda was now 13th and like most drivers running on the hard. Lap thirty six and the Williams pair were still 14th and 16th. Perez would pit again from eighth taking on another set of medium tyres returning in 17th. This would see George and Nicholas 13th and 15th.

Perez would pass Vettel for 16th with the Aston martin driver been told to retire his car on lap forty two. Perez would pass George for 13th seeing George now 14th and Nicholas 16th. With the closing laps we would see Hamilton close the gap to Leclerc and he would eventually be in a position to pass the Ferrari which he did. Outside the top ten we would see Perez pit again dropping down the order as well as Gasly coming in allowing George to move up the order to be 11th. But on the soft tyres Gasly would be able to move back ahead of the Williams seeing George now 12th while Nicholas was 14th. And this would be where they would finish the race as Hamilton took victory with Leclerc second and Bottas third. Norris was able to finish fourth followed by team-mate Ricciardo, Sainz, Alonso, Stroll, Ocon and Tsunoda tenth.

Again it was a race that promised so much for the Williams Racing Team but again failed to deliver with firstly poor starts hampering both drivers as well as the general lack of pace of the FW43B which really was only ever going to allow them at best to finish outside the top ten. Twelfth for George was still a good result showing that the team is making progress but the points they are so keen to secure are just so elusive for the team.