Drama off the track at British GP continues to intrigue
They had been upstaged in qualifying by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, partly thanks to a low-drag rear wing last used in Suzuka earlier in the season, and partly due to the world champion's extraordinary skill. But when the rain came at the start, Verstappen was pretty quicky doomed. After early Virtual Safety Car interventions, when things finally got going Piastri slipped ahead and opened a 14.4 second lead – until race director Rui Marques deemed that the actual Safety Car should be deployed to slow the cars down as there was too much standing water. The fact that Isack Hadjar crashed his RB into the back of Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes as soon as the track went green again suggested that Marques had done the right thing initially, since visibility was still poor.
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