Did switching to slicks before the start really “make no sense”? British GP data

A light rain shower stopped 15 minutes before the start of the British Grand Prix. The track was wet and more rain was due around 20 minutes after the start, but a handful of drivers spied an opportunity.

The 20 cars took the formation lap on intermediate tyres but half-a-dozen peeled into the pits at the end of it to take slicks. George Russell was followed by Charles Leclerc, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto (though the latter never got away from his pit box due to a race-ending technical failure).

Red Bull did not take the gamble with either pole-winner Max Verstappen’s car or that of 11th-placed Yuki Tsunoda, who potentially had much more to gain. “I thought going onto the slicks was very risky at the start of the race,” said team principal Christian Horner. “The cars that pulled in at the beginning, that seemed to make no sense.”

The drivers who took the gamble largely lost out. But was it inevitably doomed to failure?

While Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff said it was the “wrong” call George Russell – who called for the switch to slicks – said it could have worked. Russell claimed those who switched to slicks were unable to gain the full benefit of them due to the two early Virtual Safety Car periods.

The VSC was deployed from laps two to four due to Liam Lawson’s first-lap crash. Soon after the restart on lap four Gabriel Bortoleto crashed and the VSC resumed again from laps five to seven.

The rain returned soon afterwards. By lap nine, the first driver who started on intermediates had come in for another set of the same type, in order to have the best possible grip as the conditions deteriorated. That was Nico Hulkenberg, whose call put him on course for a remarkable podium finish.

Russell was the fastest driver on the track by two seconds on lap nine. He was almost three seconds quicker than the fastest driver still on intermediates – race leader Oscar Piastri. Over the next two laps Russell continued to take a similar amount of time out of Piastri, but by lap 11 the intensifying rain had forced almost everyone in for more intermediates.

It’s clear that by the time the second Virtual Safety Car period ended, the race neutralisation was costing the slick-shod runners time compared to the others. But earlier on they were losing far more time.

On the first lap, before the Virtual Safety Car was triggered, Russell lost 4.7 seconds to leader Verstappen through the middle sector alone. Through the same sector on lap four, in between the two VSC periods, Russell lost another two seconds.

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So the first VSC period actually helped the drivers on slick tyres to keep up when instead they would have lost a lot of time. The ‘crossover’ point where slick tyres became a better choice than intermediates occured during the second VSC period. Aston Martin spotted this and pitted Lance Stroll for a set of soft tyres.

Had neither VSC period happened, all the cars would have circulated more quickly, accelerating the rate at which the track dried out and pulling the crossover points earlier. But that wouldn’t have made up for the fact those on slicks would have lost more time when the conditions were at their worst. Those ahead would have had a large enough gap to pit for slicks if they chose to.

The irony is that the second VSC period, which was most inconvenient for those who started on slicks, was caused by one of those drivers: Bortoleto. The gamblers were arguably unfortunate that race control opted to use a VSC rather than a Safety Car for both incidents, as the latter would have helped them catch up to those ahead. But that’s part of the risk that comes with changing tyres at the end of the formation lap instead of on the grid.

2025 British Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2025 British Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2025 British Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2025 British Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

2025 British Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2025 British Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

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