Carlos Sainz wins maiden F1 race at dramatic British Grand Prix

Spanish Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz recorded his first F1 win at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in dramatic circumstances on Sunday afternoon.

Sainz, who also started from pole for the time in the 150th race of his career, won ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in a thrill-a-minute race.

The race was stopped on the very first lap after a horror crash that saw the Alfa Romeo of rookie driver Zhou Guanyu of China flip over and careen over the gravel in the first corner’s run-off into the tire wall. Medics attended to Zhou and eventually stretched him off, as he was taken to hospital where was declared physically unhurt.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Horror crash involving F1 rookie Zhou Guanyu forces restart of British Grand Prix

After a delay of almost an hour, Sainz pipped world champion Max Verstappen off the line, unlike the first start when he had to be content with losing out to the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen capitalized on a mistake by Sainz to take the lead on the 10th lap, but his joy was short-lived as suspension damage saw the Dutchman pit and lose ground to eventually finish seventh.

Late in the race, Sainz capitalized on a mistake by Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc to take the lead, which he managed to keep despite some late safety car drama.

An almighty battle for second place between Perez, Hamilton and Leclerc saw the Monegasque driver lose out on a podium to finish fourth.

Haas driver Mick Schumacher finished eighth to score the first points of his embattled F1 career.

The results saw Perez move up to 147 points in the race for the driver’s championship, to close the gap to leader Verstappen, who moved up to 181 points, to 34 points.

Leclerc is third with 138, Sainz fourth on 127 and Mercedes’ George Russell, who had to retire on the first lap after suffering damage in the Zhou crash, fifth on 111. He leads Hamilton, who moved up to 93, by 18 points.

The next F1 race is in Austria on 10 July.

To see the full F1 championship standings, click here.