With all the drivers on wet tyres, the timing for the pitstop on slick will be crucial. Can Victor Martins on pole win again in Silverstone like he did in 2023 ?
The track was still wet for the formation lap but a dry racing line quickly came. Victor Martins struggled at the start and found himself P4. Jak Crawford took the upper hand and took the lead of the race in front of Alexander Dunne. The visibility was still poor at the beginning of the race so the drivers had to be careful.
Calm before the storm
The ART Grand Prix French driver took third place back by overtaking Roman Staněk. 10-second stop and go penalty for Cian Shields after a false start. Luke Browning and Arvid Lindblad battled for eighth after a beautiful wheel-to-wheel on multiple corners. The RedBull junior driver seemed to struggle for pace as he lost two positions. It was the opposite for both Hitech’s drivers who were clearly comfortable and both overtook Richard Verschoor on lap 4 and Sebastian Montoya the next lap. For reference, Luke Browning was a second faster than the Prema driver. Richard Verschoor complained about his tyres being completely dead. For a couple of laps, Arvid Lindblad and Leonardo Fornaroli battled hard, with the British driver defending his tenth place. Roman Staněk lost three places in one turn as Durksen, Browning and Beganovic overtook him on lap 9. Arvid Lindblad finally found some rhythm as he was closing in on Richard Verschoor. Intense battles were all over the place as Luke Browning finally overtook Durksen on lap 12 and Verschoor tried to resist against Leonardo Fornaroli. In the meantime, Sami Meguetounif kept losing positions, being P19 in mid race when he started P13.
Victor Martins struggled with grip as he could see an hungry Luke Browning in his mirrors for the last place on the podium. The Frenchman gave everything to defend his position but ultimately the Hitech Williams Academy driver overtook him on lap 19. Black and white flag for Sami Meguetounif on lap 17 for track limits. Alexander Dunne came back into Jak Crawford’s DRS zone on lap 20 while Arvid Lindblad pitted on lap 21 for a new set of wets. Sami Meguetounif took a 5-second time penalty for track limits. Kush Maini pitted but for hard tyres.
The moment where everything went down
Gabriele Mini pitted for soft tyres but it was not the best strategy as he slipped on track into Oliver Goethe, without damage. He abandoned at the end of this lap with a second spin. The leader Jak Crawford pitted under a virtual safety car for a new set of wet tyres. Roman Staněk also spun, creating a safety car. Alexander Dunne was hindered by his teammate on soft tyres in front of him. The top four of the race pitted for a new set of wet tyres, Jak Crawford took the lead of the race back, with Alexander Dunne behind and Luke Browning in third. Sami Meguetounif also pitted for soft, which resulted in him spinning on lap 26.
The race was green again with two laps remaining and the rain started to fall again. Jak Crawford kept the lead of the race but Joshua Durksen spun and abandoned on lap 28. With a broken wing, Victor Martins lost everything again. Another safety car was called and the race finished under it. Jak Crawford wins in front of Alexander Dunne and Luke Browning, he is now second in the championship.