Bottas won the 70th anniversary races of F1

Valtteri Bottas takes the starting position, but Nico Hulkenberg is the most notable name after the ranking round on Silverstone race on 8/8.

This is just the second leg of Hulkenberg driving for Racing Point F1, replacing Sergio Perez infected with coronavirus. The third starting place, thanks to the 1-minute 26,082 second class performance, right behind two outstanding Mercedes cars, is a valuable reward for the German racer thought is out of date. Hulkenberg now has a good chance to contend for a place on the podium of an F1 race.

Nico Hulkenberg achieved the third ranking in Silverstone

Racing Point’s good performance is likely to continue to make waves in F1 village. Competitors were inherently upset, complaining about the World Racing Federation (FIA) handling the Racing Point case copying Mercedes’ 2019 design, used for the RP20. Racing Point is deducted only 15 points and fined 400,000 euros for this violation.

Though overshadowed by Hulkenberg’s performance, Bottas is still very excited. Winning the pole at this F1 70th anniversary was a good signal for the Finnish driver of Mercedes, after three consecutive legs he was inferior to Lewis Hamilton, 30 points away from his teammates on the rankings. The first starting position will give Bottas a chance to go upstream, instead of continuing to be overwhelmed by Hamilton as in the past period.

Bottas performed 1 minute 25,154 seconds correctly on the last run and 0.063 seconds faster than Hamilton’s result. Both Mercedes drivers easily passed the first two qualifying rounds (Q1 and Q2) to reach the top 10. Hulkenberg surprisingly came in second, above Hamilton in the second qualifying round. Superstar Sebastian Vettel continued to grieve when the SF1000 ranked 11th and was eliminated in Q2.

In the third qualifying round, both W11s use soft tires in the first run. Hamilton’s 1 minute 25,284 second result was 0.16 seconds faster than Bottas’s performance. In the second run of Q3, the Mercedes duo switched to using medium tires. However, Bottas still improved his performance to surpass his teammate.

Bottas’s 1-minute 25,154 second result is lower than the ranking performance at Silverstone last week, but enough to stand above Hamilton.

Hulkenberg’s stellar performance made Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen accept the fourth departure, right above former teammate Daniel Ricciardo (Renault). Ferrari’s hope, Charles Leclerc won only the eighth starting right, under both Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly. The remaining two positions in the top 10 belong to Alexander Albon and Lando Norris.