Start, Silverstone, 2020

Rate the race: 2020 British Grand Prix

2020 British Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the British Grand Prix.

RaceFans has held polls on every F1 race since 2008 to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the Race: 2020 British Grand Prix

  • 10 (3%)
  • 9 (4%)
  • 8 (21%)
  • 7 (28%)
  • 6 (19%)
  • 5 (10%)
  • 4 (5%)
  • 3 (4%)
  • 2 (3%)
  • 1 (2%)

Total Voters: 242

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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98 comments on “Rate the race: 2020 British Grand Prix”

  1. 2/10. Dull event and even the “excitement” at the end was the most boring excitement I’ve seen in a while.

    1. Unfortunately the safety car was few laps too early :(

    2. Very dull indeed.

    3. @klon I get that. DRS, fake excitement (shout less, make less mistakes, be less bias, be more honest, Croft), ultra long sc, extreme dominance, bad steward decisions, all negativity in f1 can’t be negated what was arguably the most remarkable ending of a GP in a decade, absolutely flat race, and it meant nothing. Anti-climatic
      Some of my oldest memories of f1 are from Silverstone, the hysteria ruins this event. 3.

      1. Good luck expecting that from Crofty.

    4. Coudnt agree more. As always on Silverstone. Terrible circuit in the dry

  2. The last lap doesn’t make up for one of the most boring races I’ve ever seen, sorry.

    1. Races in the past used to seem far worse than this as at least we actually get to see the overtakes & battles in the mid field now which the local directors in the 70s/80s/90s usually didn’t show us.

      1. @roger-ayles – there were 0 overtakes today. Push-to-pass (or press X to win) isn’t passing. You’re 3-4 car lengths behind, and then DRS wide open and voila – you’re 1-2 car lengths in front. There’s 0 work to be done, just keep up a little bit, and that’s it. But for the “golden” infantile modern population, it’s certainly great.

  3. Last two laps were spectaculary dramatic, but not in a good way.

    Race was booring as hell, front runners holding station, Verstappen resorting to drive-by comedy.

    And the championship is now over.

    1. abananasplitz
      2nd August 2020, 15:50

      +1 on this!

      last few laps amazing but most of race was trash,, and we have another one of these next week… i might skip it and just catch the highlights on youtube tbh.

    2. Why do you think so? Verstappen is losing 18 points despite an unfortunate call to the pits. If Red Bull significanlty improves like they used to, this season could be on again.

      1. abananasplitz
        2nd August 2020, 15:59

        @pironi with mercs 1s+ ahead per lap there wont be anything “on” again this season, ive seen delusinal comments from you before but this one takes the cake by far.

        1. Not as delusional as Mercedes – the most dominant F1 team ever – hyping up the apparent competition since 2014

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        2nd August 2020, 16:46

        If Red Bull catches up to Mercedes this year, it will be the single most incredible thing I have ever seen in my 25 years of watching F1.

        1. abananasplitz
          2nd August 2020, 17:28

          @petebaldwin same here.

        2. You’re right!

          But have you ever seen something like the last 3 laps of today in the past 25 years?

      3. So naive. it is atypical that a team gets such a lead on stagnant rules, rules haven’t changed enough for what we are seeing.
        Again power track times were on the slow side in Q.
        Honda mentioned Mercedes! The Japanese don’t point fingers, don’t add doubt to the question. It is remarkable to see someone improve with added restrictions and finally the DAS must surely be an exploit to enable active suspension, we know Merc and RB had new things on the front suspension but now Merc has the whole front covered.

      4. Everyone else already covered it, no one is catching up to Mercedes overall. But even in a feverdream where RB catches up, they would be at a 100pt deficit (or 40pts between HAM and VER) after the 2nd British GP. I’m all for watching some great races even without any chance for a championship fight, but there are a lot of ifs just to get to that point.

  4. A relatively straightforward race except for the end.

    1. The end of therace kills Bottas’ title hopes all together… killed the season as far as the DWC is concerned. With the CWC already beeing decided after FP1 in Austria, ofcourse.

      On top of that the race was so boring only watched it with half an eye.

  5. Could Red Bull have won the race?

    1. Without the stop I think he would’ve done

      1. Definitely but it would just have been luck rather than a better strategy.

        1. And better tire management. DAS Anyone?

        2. Better car for sure since RBR’s tyres resisted all race long. So, no matter how you put it RBR 1 – 0 Mercedes.

          1. Umm… apart from the end result, you mean?

      2. Mind you, Max sounded like he was not sure if he could have got to the end on those tyres.

        Given that we saw three drivers suddenly have failures, it may be that stopping also avoided a similar fate – if it failed, might we be critical of Red Bull for not stopping? Overall, I think Red Bull made the right call – better to ensure they finished than risk it.

        1. In the hindsight, the stop is perhaps not a bad decision.

        2. @anon
          Precisely. Everybody thinks they can make the proper call, and it’s easy to do in hindsight. Meanwhile, these same people would be moaning and crying if Red Bull hadn’t brought Verstappen in when they had a huge gap to the car behind and his tires fell apart. Typical.

    2. If Horner would have had a crystal ball: yes!

    3. No guarantee verstappens tyres would have lasted till the end.

      1. Max had problems with his tyres 10 laps from the end. As Horner said, it was a wrong call if we could guarantee the tyres would last. Which they couldn’t. Max got a healthy dose of points; it could have been none.

    4. @pinakghosh Strange to see RB not go for the win, their call was so strange I thought they had a puncture already. Max also did not override the call, Merc could have pitted Lewis the next lap, and avoid that ending, again what immense luck Lewis tends to have.

  6. Boring failure with an unusual ending.

  7. 6/10, end drama was top stuff. Head scratcher for Pirelli, happened in 2017 to Ferrari if im right? Bottas’ championship is dead, had to be more aggressive at the start not that it mattered in the end. Good drives from the Renault boys & Pierre Gasly, Albon salvaged a pretty dire weekend. I wonder if Stroll had power unit issue or drop in temps hurt them compared to Friday. Fingers crossed next Sunday is better

  8. Jose Lopes da Silva
    2nd August 2020, 15:47

    5/10. Very good overtaking moves by several Formula One drivers over Stroll.

  9. That was one absurd finish! Reminded me of the puncture fest of the 2013 race here. Crazy! F1 cars around Silverstone are just stunning. You don’t need overtaking to be hugely impressed!

    1. Brought back bad flashbacks from the Ferrari tyre failures in 2017

    2. Adam Blumenthal
      3rd August 2020, 3:44

      This. I’m surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. That’s what i kept thinking of. Lewis flapping the tire carcass around.

  10. Wow, this was a stuff of Hollywood movies. Gutted for Sainz, McLaren have lost a bulk of points, Hamilton was kind of lucky that Verstappen went to the pits. 6/10.

  11. I thought last weekend was bad but this was abysmally boring.

    People will say Red Bull threw away a win but they were only in contention because the leader only had three wheels left. Ridiculously dominant from Mercedes. Total bore, to be honest.

  12. The race itself ok, but the end was awful!
    The way Mercedes didn’t pit Lewis when Max did – unbelievable.

  13. 7 it was the mid field again that gave me something to watch until the last couple of laps. Next week softer tyres hotter temps.

  14. Not the best race of the year. Not the best Siverstone race either. But at least we got some excitement to make it above average.

  15. The highlight reels for this race will make it seem an order magnitude better than it was.

  16. And they want to use softer compounds next week for ‘The show’.

    These tires are an utter embarrassment to F1 & have been since they went the show route in 2011.

    The so called pinnacle of the sport continues to have by far the worst tires in the sport. Club categories have better tires than this & that should be an utter embarrassment to Pirelli & everyone else in the sport. They don’t even have the excuse that they are simply doing what they are told as since 2017 they have been told to produce the best tires they are able to, This is all on Pirelli.

    1. @roger-ayles Softer compounds next week should force a two-stop strategy, so hopefully less dull than today.

      1. @x1znet More likely going to be worse due to forcing them to do more extreme tire management which just makes races awful to watch due to how slow they have to drive to manage these awful Pirelli farce tires.

        1. I’m trying really hard to remain optimistic! ;)

  17. Pretty dull for the majority, just a little racing between the McLaren’s and Ricciardo which was quite good. Tyre drama at the was exciting I guess, but not the best way to create excitement since the product clearly just wasn’t up to scratch. Also, championship is completely over if there was ever any doubt. I dunno…5/10?

  18. 8…. just for the last few laps.

    HAM has more luck than rest of the field together.

    RBR just took from Ferrari the trophy for the Worst Strategy (top teams only).

  19. Good midfield battles. So throughout the race the gap between the Merc and the RB was between a third to a half that of the gap between the RB and the Ferrari. So it seems the Mercedes dominance problem that some have on here must now include the RB dominance over the rest.

  20. 8. Some big crashes and safety cars kept the start interesting, the middle wasn’t the best but the end was the most exciting in ages.

  21. Pirellis bad tyres will unfortunately get this race a high rating.

  22. The ending was great and the ending is what’s gonna last in the memory so I’m going to be generous and give this a 7

  23. I hope that what happened in those final laps won’t deter teams from letting their drivers race next week. I fear that the 2nd stint in particular will just become a conservative one with nobody wanting their drivers to go for it. I actually enjoyed that drivers seemed to be pushing for most of the race.

  24. People have short memories. Compare the races this year to the first eight last year – these ones are much better. You’d think they’d be grateful to have any racing this year. These are decent races, even if they haven’t hit the highs of last year.

    1. This is probably one of the most complaining and toxic F1 communities on the internet so…

    1. *First 50 laps – 5/10
      Last 2 laps – 10/10

  25. The fake excitement resulting from crappy Pirelli tyres that despite 2 safety cars couldn’t last a race stint and we don’t have to forget that teams are using them with their forced “user guide”.

    Despite the fact that I don’t like Mercedes running away with it but that wasn’t funny at all.

    Dull race as it is the case with the F1 state.

  26. I think they have to start asking the question about if bringing the softer tyres to next weekends race is a sensible thing to do.

    Pirelli have always said that the reason they have tended to take the harder, More conservative compound selections to circuits like Silverstone is for safety due to the high cornering loads. If the hardest compound they have seem to be a bit marginal then surely going down a step shouldn’t be considered at all.

    1. Isn’t this the first race on the new Silverstone tarmac which is super grippy? So I think the question will be asked.

      1. I believe so and AFAIR the commentators said in normal times the track is very busy, not just on race weekends.

        1. It is. The circuit is in use most days.

  27. F1oSaurus (@)
    2nd August 2020, 16:05

    Same old same old. Albon involved in an incident. Tyre issues at Silverstone. Stroll and Vettel depressingly poor. Bottas not even able to overtake Vettel for that last point. Hamilton lucky/amazing taking a commanding win. Verstappen cruising to a podium.

    Leclerc impressed though. Usually when he does a good Q3 he tends to drop off during the race. This time he at least kept his opponents behind and from there controlled the pace.

    Russel good too. Finally a good race with the Williams. Finished only about 10 seconds behind Vettel!

  28. Apart from the last few laps, dull.

  29. 1/10. The sooner we get rid of Silverstone the better. Couldn’t wait less for the next GP.

    1. Silverstone is the British GP. Mclaren, Mercedes, Racing Point, Red Bull, Renault, Williams all have their headquarters in UK. Donington Park does not reportedly want to hold a F1 race. Brands Hatch has noise limitations. So, Silverstone it seems will stay.

      1. @pinakghosh I’ve seen a season without Canadian GP. I’ve seen a season without Belgian GP. I’ve seen a season without Suzuka.

        All those tracks are miles ahead of Silverstone, yet we survived. Skipping Great Britain isn’t that much of a big deal.

        1. I agree that those tracks are better that Silverstone. But there is a legacy attached. First track to host the World Championship was Silverstone. Hence the 70th Anniversary Race.

    2. Really? Silverstone often produces good races, there are plenty of other tracks that are duller.

      1. @davidjwest Maybe Monaco and Monza but that’s about it. The track was ruined in 2010 and I really hope F1 will forget it at some point.

          1. Although agreed the older track was better.

  30. Today’s race was the bright example why even the best car doesn’t guarantee a driver any point… Valtteri Bottas knows it too by now. Great race!

  31. In one word :depressing
    In more words now… Its not depressing to have Mercedes leading, as they have done the better job in every aspect. Its really ugly to see Pirelli and or the race control contributing in that tyre mess we experienced in the last laps. I’m just glad Kvyat wasn’t injured after his stunt which is likely a result of another punchure

  32. When there was an empty straightaway between Max and the Ferrari I thought of going out for coffee.
    Stayed because I thought VB had something up his sleeve.
    5 to 6, I’m sure Tire dealers will have lines outside tomorrow, folks dumping Pirelli tires.

  33. petebaldwin (@)
    2nd August 2020, 16:40

    I’d say this was just a standard, mordern-day Formula Mercedes race…. Probably a 6 is fair. We’ve seen worse and we’ve seen better.

    As a motorsports race – probably a 3. It wasn’t entertaining, exciting or fun to watch and I’m glad I had to go shopping when it was on so I could fast-forward through large parts of it.

    1. You missed all the fun!

  34. 1st few laps good..last few laps good…bit in between..not great..
    I thought the tyres throughout were too grippy…if they all had been a harder compound..would have had slower laptimes and more racing on the track, instead of a blur…Then I hear at the end nxt week is softer tyres..so racing is faster, but 2 tyre stops…that sounds right(not)

  35. I discarded the 2 Mercs (until lap 50) and Max and watched quite a pleasing race for all the other positions.

    1. F1oSaurus (@)
      2nd August 2020, 22:00

      @coldfly I know right? There was plenty going on. Why does there always need to be a battle at the front? And in fact, there even was plenty of going on at the front at some point.

  36. Was a 6/7 until the end due to a lot going on in midfield.

    The last few laps of drama make me rate this 8/10.

    If it had been closer…………..

  37. Pretty dull apart from the end, but I’m not going to get too down about it – at one stage there might have been no season at all. I’m just grateful to be able to watch a race on Sunday afternoon at the moment tbh.

  38. 1/10: Disgraceful to have so many tyre failures over the years without rubber competition to make it plausible. That with mandatory pit for options. Things like that screams that F1 is so in the wrong way.

  39. 6 for mercy, just because of the last laps’ punctures, ahah.

    Good to see a driver win on 3 wheels, too bad that without the puncture there’d be 0 competition.

    Were it not for the punctures in the end, this deserves a 2 btw, absolute boredom.

  40. 1/10

    Roll on 2022

  41. I refuse to give any race less than 7 this year. We’re lucky to be seeing any. And seriously I’m finding them all entertaining after months of waiting.

    1. that’s the spirit!
      I like it

      Fingers crossed we will have a lot more races this year, with Covid-numbers increasing everywhere

  42. Best Silverstone race of the year!*

    *subject to revision

  43. Poor for a Silverstone race. Very little to get excited about between Lap 2 and Lap 50.

    I’m hoping it was the safety cars that ruined it, and next week will be a little more interesting…

  44. Id give at least 5 points just because I could listen to the grown ups on C4 discussing F1; and not the children on Sky playing F1 bingo and listening to croft whilst he thinks a puncture is the wing and the finish line is at the old pits.
    And for a 21 year old I thought Monger was a pretty good co-commentator during the practice sessions.

  45. 9/10

    I don’t understand why y’all are so uptight about this, what more did you want for your Sunday entertainment? It’s a bunch of guys driving back to the same place 52 times.

    Drama before the flag with Hulkenburg, Good midfield racing the whole time. Then drama at the end.

    Only giving it 9 out of 10 because the crowd wasn’t there to go absolutely insane at the finish.

  46. I did only watch the highlights on C4 which actually made the race seem quite good. Good editing it seems. I am surprised to see people giving this very low scores of 1 or 2. I guess some people will never be happy.

    The median seems to be up around 7.

    On a different subject F1 needs to dump pirelli.

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