British Grand Prix 2025: Piastri’s Penalty, Rookies Fumble, Hulk Smashes the Podium (Undercutters Ep28 transcript)
Hello, everyone. In the 28th episode of the Undercutters podcast we’re looking back at the British Grand Prix. Did it live up to the fantastic 2024 race? Was it a great day for the various British drivers? Well, let’s look back at the weekend.
British Grand Prix Qualifying 00m28s
Qualifying at Silverstone was another exciting session, with one of the key moments being Colapinto’s crash when he spun out. While he was able to get going again he was advised to stop and this brought out red flags. This is not going to do his bid to stay in his seat much good and the rumours about Bottas replacing him might get a little louder. Stroll failed to escape Q1 but Alonso made it to Q3. Antonelli had a 3 place grid penalty for his crash into Verstappen in Austria, with Bearman getting a 10 place penalty for a red flag infringement during practice. That’s a shame, as the Haas rookie did very well to make it to the end of qualifying and paid the price for a silly practice mistake.
At the sharp end it was very competitive, with Verstappen putting in a great lap to claim pole, ahead of Piastri and Norris. Russell’s 4th was also pretty impressive, but Hamilton and Leclerc being down in 5th and 6th must be disappointing after how quick they seemed in practice. Margins were very tight, Hamilton was a tenth off being joint 2nd. The grid set up the race nicely, and there was a chance of rain.
Race Review 1m43s
It wasn’t raining when the British Grand Prix started, but it had been shortly beforehand. At the start of the formation lap everyone was on inters but multiple drivers dove into the pits to try slicks because part of the circuit may have been dry enough. These included Russell, Leclerc, Hadjar, Bortoleto, and Bearman. For none of them did it really work.
Colapinto, incidentally, was meant to start from the pit lane but stalled and was recorded as a DNF with no laps.
Piastri and Verstappen pulled away from Norris at the sharp end, and the Aussie was all over the back of the Dutchman. When he finally got ahead Piastri pulled a gap easily and by the time one of the various safety cars emerged the Aussie had a 15s lead. But the safety car would prove the bane of Piastri’s race. He was the fastest man, all day long, but on a restart, I think the second one, he braked to give the safety car time to get going. And he got a 10s penalty for that. I was astonished he got a penalty at all, and the 10s was enough to hand victory to Norris.
Norris had done nothing wrong, but when Verstappen spun on the restart (which I’ll cover a bit more in a moment) the British driver inherited the effective lead. We saw some rare anger from Piastri, who asked McLaren to swap the places as it was unfair. While I agree it was unfair, Norris had not done anything wrong and it wasn’t a team strategic error, so I agree with McLaren’s stance of not switching them. Neither man wants the other to get an advantage, and the team has been consistent about not playing favourites. I fully agree with Piastri’s grievance, though. This was an utterly ridiculous penalty and it did mar what was otherwise a fantastic race.
Verstappen is a master of wet weather driving, as we saw in Brazil last year. But he screwed up a restart and spun, losing a bundle of places and, while he recovered to an extent, he never threatened the podium. Why did he spin, and did this influence the stewards? It might have influenced them, but it shouldn’t. Many drivers, including top drivers like Hamilton and Piastri, went off or spun during the race. Verstappen wasn’t as adept as usual in the wet stuff because his car had a low downforce setup which cost him a lot. It’s that simple. Even the world champion can only do so much when it’s slippery and he’s got less downforce than everyone else.
So, good luck for Norris, bad for Piastri, and a rare mistake from Verstappen, but the driver of the day was undoubtedly Nico Hulkenberg. He started down in 19th, last on the grid thanks to Colapinto’s attempted pit lane start, and had his first ever podium and fourth points finish in a row. The team made good strategy calls, waiting a lap longer than Hamilton to slap on slicks at the end ballooned the German’s advantage to about 7 or 8s, but he also drove impeccably. Passing Stroll was rough but the moment DRS was enabled Hulkenberg was ahead. Hamilton then got within DRS of the Sauber but couldn’t pass and then Hulkenberg just drove away from the Ferrari until he had a lead of just under 2s.
It’s a phenomenal run of form from Hulkenberg since the Sauber upgrade, which is clearly working wonders. And it’s nice he can finally cross off the podium from his to-do list.
Hamilton’s run of British Grands Prix podium finishes ended, at last. It had gone back to 2014 but he was just not quick enough today. He got agonisingly close, right on the back of Hulkenberg at one point, but he’s still not comfortable with the Ferrari especially in the wet. During his out-lap when he put soft tyres on at the end he went off and cost himself a lot of time. But it was still an assured performance, and for once he didn’t get the rough end of the strategy stick from Ferrari. Hamilton finished 4th but Leclerc never recovered from the formation lap pit stop, and ended up 14th and second to last of those who saw the chequered flag.
Verstappen recovered to 5th which is probably the most he could’ve hoped for after his spin. On pure pace he was destined to finish behind the McLarens but he might’ve kept the podium position thanks to Stroll holding up Hulkenberg for a long time. He was unlucky with the rain which compromised him more than the others.
Gasly’s 6th won’t get talked about much thanks to the Piastri penalty and Hulkenberg podium, but it’s a great result for the Frenchman. The Alpine is probably the worst car on the grid, and he not only dragged it to Q3 but managed to keep it well into the points. Alpine remain last among the teams but they narrowed the gap to Haas today thanks to Gasly.
Stroll and Alonso were 7th and 9th. Stroll had a nigh on perfect strategy but wasn’t as quick as Hulkenberg. Or Hamilton. Or Verstappen, or Gasly, and slid inexorably down the order. Alonso, by contrast, was put on dry tyres way too early which cost him an awful lot of time, but drove well to recover into the points. Still, that’s the fourth points finish in a row for Alonso and more points for Aston Martin in their tight midfield battle.
Albon ended up 8th which is a big improvement given how his recent races have gone, with three DNFs in a row. But Williams once looked like undisputed kings of the midfield and now the competition is very stern indeed.
Last on the scoreboard was George Russell, who slid down from 4th on the grid following a great qualifying lap. As with Leclerc, the formation lap pit stop simply did not work and he never looked like being in with a shot of major points. Couple that with Antonelli’s DNF and it was a very weak race for Mercedes.
Hulk Smashes while Rookies Fumble 8m06s
The British Grand Prix was a rough one for strategists thanks to the partly wet, partly dry nature of the race and the water taking a long time to clear. But it also meant drivers whose teams got things right, notably Hulkenberg, Gasly, and Stroll, could punch above their weight. It also made things highly unpredictable.
We saw this with the rookies dropping like ninepins. Colapinto stalled, Lawson was out on the first lap, Bortoleto retired a few laps later, Hadjar smashed into a wall before the halfway point and Antonelli also retired. Of the rookies only Bearman finished, coming home in 11th, a second and a half behind Russell. Wet weather can be rough on newcomers. Earlier in the season the same thing happened in Australia, when Hadjar, Doohan, Bortoleto, and Lawson all retired. And it’s perhaps unsurprising that those who had a surprisingly good result were all the more experienced drivers: namely Hulkenberg, Gasly, and Stroll. They benefited from good strategy calls but it was very much a race where the driver could easily make a mistake and DNF.
Hulkenberg had the best performance of the day, but this is not a one-off instance. He’s scored at the last four races in a row, and his starting positions are interesting. In the UK he started 19th, in Austria he started 20th, in Canada 11th, and in Spain 15th. Every single time he was outside of the top 10 and on two occasions, including when he got a podium finish, Hulkenberg was on the back row. I hope that Audi can take the good platform Sauber are putting together this season and run with it, because Hulkenberg is in great form, and Bortoleto’s an impressive driver too, despite his mistake today.
The Piastri penalty does mar the race, though. I was surprised it even got investigated, let alone penalised. As far as I could see he did nothing wrong, and the fact it gifted the win to a British driver at the British Grand Prix is not exactly going to reduce accusations of British bias. I think those can be overdone, but this is the worst example of a dumb penalty since Verstappen got a one place grid penalty in Qatar when both he and Russell were on slow laps. I really hope this doesn’t end up affecting the ultimate result of the title race.
British Grand Prix Predictions Assessment 10m39s
Another reason the penalty was so poor is that it ruined two of my predictions: Piastri for the win and Norris for 2nd. Instead, those were inverted and Verstappen failed to get 3rd thanks to his spin. I also called Norris for pole, which was, of course, wrong.
My Hadjar points prediction also failed to come off, but even if he’d finished I think the formation lap pit stop had cooked his goose. Hulkenberg, however, very much scored points, so huzzah for that. And my prediction on Hamilton beating Leclerc came off nicely, with Hamilton 4th and Leclerc 14th.
So, overall ok but it would’ve been pretty good but for that dubious penalty.
F1 2025 Standings after the British GP 11m26s
Instead of extending his lead, the penalty means Piastri’s advantage over Norris is narrowed to just 8 points. While this is nice and tight I wish it wasn’t due to officials making questionable decisions.
In the Constructors’, Ferrari stretched their advantage over Mercedes to 12 points. McLaren have it sewn up with 460 points, while Red Bull are on 172 and seem destined for 4th. Sauber leapt from 9th to 6th and stand on 41 points. They’re 18 points behind Williams. It was also a good day for Aston Martin, who rose to 36 points and are now tied with Racing Bulls. Haas slip down to 9th on 29 points with Alpine on 19.
F1 News 12m16s
F1 news.
It’s only been an episode or two ago that we had Carlos Sainz Senior confirming he won’t stand for the FIA presidency but we already have a new contender: Tim Mayer. He’s the son of Teddy Mayer, co-founder of McLaren, and his nomination team will be subject, I’m sure, to intense scrutiny by the FIA nominations committee. This committee is, of course, answerable to the incumbent FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. It’ll be interesting to see what they find.
Mayer had been an F1 steward for 15 years before being sacked by MBS, which is not exactly a shocking turn of events given the president goes through senior personnel like a hobbit with taters. Mayer’s sacking followed him leading a right of review for the Circuit of the Americas, which had been fined due to a track invasion. Mayer’s far from the only person to be sacked or otherwise leave during MBS’ time, and getting sacked by the president might be seen as a positive sign by some people.
His formal announcement of standing came on the 4th of July, and he didn’t mince words, accusing the FIA of having a “corrosive concentration of power”. Mayer added that MBS had done the opposite of his stated promises to be a non-executive president and provide transparency. It’s also hard to argue against Mayer’s accusation that numerous changes have seen power concentrated in a single office.
We shall see how Mayer gets on. I suspect he will not succeed, whether due to the nominations committee finding something or the vote simply not going his way, but we’ll find out at the end of the year.
Thank you all for listening. We’ve got a little break of three weeks until Belgium, after which Hungary is the very next weekend.
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