The British Grand Prix came to an anticlimactic end on Sunday with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc winning his first race since October 2024 under safety car conditions.A dramatic final lap looked set to take place at Silverstone, but a “software error” meant that the restart had to be aborted.Max Verstappen spun into the gravel at Stowe with four laps to go, bringing out the safety car which neutralized the race.Several drivers rushed into the pit lane to take advantage of the shortened stop, though Mercedes left George Russell out on the track, promoting him from third to second.The timing of the incident left the marshals at Silverstone with a tight turnaround to clear the track before the end of the race on Lap 52.All 22 drivers followed safety car driver Bernd Mayländer until lapped cars were permitted to unlap themselves, to get them back into order, with race control issuing the “safety car in this lap” message on the penultimate trip round the track.
The stage was set for a dramatic final lap of racing, though the safety car was not brought in and instead took the cars to the checkered flag. A “safety car deployed” message was issued as the cars began their final trip around the circuit.In a statement after the race, the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, said that the race could not be restarted due to the cars unlapping themselves and the initial message was wrongly issued.“The Safety Car period regulation, Article B5. 13.5, states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure,” it said.“This process was followed by Race Operations. The ‘Safety Car In This Lap’ message was displayed erroneously due to a software error.”As the message was issued after race leader Leclerc began Lap 51, the required lap following the unlapping procedure would have been the final lap of the race, leaving no time to get back to green flag conditions.The situation denied Hamilton the chance to regain second place, with the seven-time world champion forced to settle for third.At the final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi in 2021, the race famously looked set to end under a safety car until then-race director Michael Masi applied the safety car restart rules incorrectly, allowing for one lap of racing that saw Verstappen overtake Hamilton to win his first world championship.Jul 5, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms
