35-podium F1 driver ‘honestly seemed broken’ after ‘terrible’ Silverstone weekend

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The British Grand Prix produced another classic in what is quickly becoming one of the most exciting Formula 1 seasons in recent years.

Lewis Hamilton ended his wait to return to the top step of the podium while a nearly perfect drive from Max Verstappen saw him overtake his closest title rival Lando Norris in the final laps of the race.

George Russell will feel particularly frustrated that a technical issue prevented him from converting a pole position into a significant point finish.

Martin Brundle admitted that his heart sank when Russell retired although there were plenty of other drivers who may have wished their race ended prematurely.

Journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm was reviewing the 12^th Grand Prix of the season on The Race Podcast and admitted another driver looked even more dejected in the driver pen after the race.

Ferrari have gone from being Red Bull’s closest rival on the track at the beginning of the season to the fourth-fastest team on the team.

They were quickly leapfrogged by McLaren after they brought a significant update to Miami and Mercedes are now ahead of them as well.

Carlos Sainz was praised by Max Verstappen for his pace during one stint of the race but ultimately could only come home in 5^th after being out-qualified by Nico Hulkenberg.

However, Charles Leclerc once again had to settle for a finish outside of the points following an even trickier qualifying session and a strategy Martin Brundle found baffling that ruined Leclerc’s race.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Ferrari star Charles Leclerc looked devastated after British Grand Prix at Silverstone

Asked about Leclerc’s race and his ill-judged early pit stop, Mitchell-Malm said: “[It was] miserable and obviously completely by that just, it’s not even a decision you can justify in the moment and then criticise with hindsight, we all must have thought what the hell are they doing when they did that.

“Now, [Charles] Leclerc rationalises the decision to pit for intermediates when the track wasn’t really wet because he felt that the track was wet where he was at the time which I think was coming up to Stowe.

“He was being told that there was going to be heavy rain as well, so I think it was an overreaction to what he felt in the car, but I think he was steered in the wrong direction by that information.

“It was a terrible weekend anyway, he honestly seemed broken after the race.

“I’ve seen some clips of him speaking to TV, he was no better when he came over to us and he just seemed so fed up.

“He said the last four weekends in a row have been worse than a nightmare and to cap it all off, this was a weekend when Ferrari had to take their upgrade off the car, that’s how bad things are for that team at the moment.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Charles Leclerc facing close battle with Carlos Sainz in their final season as Ferrari teammates

For the third time in four races, Leclerc failed to score a point during a Grand Prix, allowing teammate Carlos Sainz to close within four points of the Monegasque driver in the Drivers’ Championship.

That’s despite the Spaniard not taking part in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when his replacement Oliver Bearman scored six points on his Formula 1 debut.

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur won’t be questioning his decision to stick with Leclerc over Sainz.

He appears to have particularly suffered with the latest updates delivered by the team after his victory in Monaco.

Leclerc’s also had his fair share of bad luck, suffering from a technical fault in Canada and being squeezed at the first corner in Austria.

He’ll be hoping his luck changes at the next race in Hungary so he can finally add to his tally of 35 podiums after four races without a top-three finish.