But in ultimate terms on the track, there were very clear winners and losers. Here’s our pick of those with the most and least to celebrate from Silverstone.

WINNERS

Carlos Sainz

Sainz was starting to feel like the eternal bridesmaid and even after taking his maiden F1 pole position on Saturday, he felt he wasn’t the strongest driver in either the dry or wet conditions this weekend. And the race proved just that: he wasn’t the fastest driver on Sunday, but he didn’t need to be. Instead, he put up a tough defense against Max Verstappen on the second standing start, obeyed and held off the Ferrari team when it mattered and effectively passed Charles Leclerc on the final safety car restart to seal victory. A first F1 win that Sainz deserved. It’s too early to call it a breakthrough – this was an extremely unique race – but it’s an important marker in an otherwise challenging second season with Ferrari. – Josh Suttle

Max Verstappen (sort of)

Placing a pioneer driver who limped to seventh place in a car with a “flat” floor among the winners might confuse you. However, it seems that what happened after Verstappen ran over the wreckage of his AlphaTauri and RB18 was pretty much the best result. Points on the board, Ferrari fail to capitalize with Leclerc, Perez has proved second best to Verstappen all weekend. And the pace was, of course, there – there was every chance of him pulling away from Sainz and getting within distance after that initial pass. What kind of weekend are championships won? Probably not, no, although he drove well. A big mulligan? You make a bet. – Valentin Khorounzhiy

Mick Schumacher

Schumacher had a couple of races that looked like promising opportunities to end his wait for an F1 points finish. This was not one of them. Funny how F1 works isn’t it? The omens were not great for Schumacher as he started 16th at a track where Haas never looked as competitive in all conditions this weekend. But a chaotic run through the first corner set the tone for a dramatic grand prix. Sometimes now Schumacher was fast and competitive but he wasn’t there when it mattered. This was almost the opposite – although to his credit he got stronger as the race came to him. Late dice with Verstappen threatened to catch him, but Schumacher handled the situation well and took points that will be a confidence booster – and a relief. – Scott Mitchell

Sergio Perez

Considering how Perez’s race looked after his unscheduled early pitstop for a new front wing, this was a remarkable recovery. He was likely heading for fourth before the eventual safety car restart, but that gave him the chance to get on the podium and that’s exactly what he did. Perez lost some time passing Lewis Hamilton in a spirited move and then had to repeat him when Hamilton attacked Perez when he was battling Leclerc. While he had little chance of stopping Sainz, Perez locked Leclerc off the podium and helped limit the damage for his Red Bull team-mate Verstappen. – JS

Fernando Alonso

An all-road pack of cars doing incredible three-wide racing and shocking around the outside in the chaotic final laps of a grand prix. Of course, Fernando Alonso will stick his nose in there somewhere. As things grew wilder and wilder in the pack around Leclerc and his tired tires in the final laps, Alonso looked well placed to catch Hamilton, Perez or Leclerc off guard and sneak his Alpine into the pedestal. He didn’t make it, but lurking in the top six all race and taking a season-best fifth at the finish was a much-needed result. Not so much a breakthrough as just a demonstration of what Alonso felt he could deliver fairly regularly this season with better reliability. – Matt Beer

LOST

Charles Leclerc

At one point, it looked like Leclerc would take 20-25 points off Verstappen’s championship lead. Instead, there were six. There won’t be many more open goals like this, and Leclerc knows it. He was clearly disappointed after the race, although he did his best not to rain on teammate Sainz’s parade. But what should worry him more than the strategic blunder – you can replace the word ‘blunder’ with ‘decision’ if you subscribe to Mattia Binotto’s theory that Ferrari made all the right calls, which I certainly don’t – is the attitude of high command. Leclerc was the fastest Ferrari almost all year. Even after hurdles and backs for five races in a row now, he is still ahead of Sainz in the standings. If Ferrari want to win the drivers’ title this year, he is their best bet. Maybe just a bet. Does Ferrari know? Post-match satisfaction does not indicate. And, really, what else can Leclerc do to understand his team? – VK

George Russell

When he signed that 2022 Mercedes deal, Russell may well have imagined himself winning his home grand prix. And even in the midst of this year’s toil, a podium would seem relatively achievable, given his form and the expectations of the car at this track. Instead, it was a fairly underwhelming eighth on the grid, a very poor start, a scary turn at the first corner and then an unusual start because the marshals blew a car he was hoping to bring back to the pits on a flatbed truck. And Russell’s rather popular Silverstone team-mate overshadowed for much of the year put Mercedes on the podium. But in the end, who cares? The defining image of Russell and Silverstone in 2022 will be him sprinting to the catchment area to check on Zhou Guanyu after the crash. This first home grand prix in a top team was an absolute write-off for Russell in terms of results, but another great display of his human quality. – MB

Williams’ upgraded car

Williams’ long-awaited Grand British GP upgrade package didn’t have the easiest of debut weekends. Rain ruined any chance of learning in FP1 and a mismanagement of strategy in qualifying led to a Q1 exit for Alex Albon in the upgraded Williams, while Nicholas Latifi managed to progress to Q3 in the old car. Albon then didn’t even make it past the first turn in the race as Sebastian Vettel accidentally slammed him into the wall (and back into the path of Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda) as a result of the multi-car crash that sent Zhou airborne . It means there is little chance of Williams evaluating their upgrade package – and Albon’s crash means Latifi receiving the upgrades will also be delayed. – JS

Daniel Ricciardo

Slow in practice, slow in qualifying, slow in the race. There was one big mitigating circumstance on Sunday in the form of a DRS failure, but Ricciardo also admitted that even outside of that he felt no grip – and therefore no pace. The Australian is hoping for some kind of answer, possibly technical, an underlying deficiency with his MCL36 relative to that of teammate Lando Norris. But for now, without explanation, it looks downright bleak. – VK

AlphaTauri (and especially Yuki Tsunoda)

We thought we were done writing about Tsunoda doing terribly stupid things for his career and we could just write that he has fulfilled his promise in F1 now. We were premature, it turns out. After the frankly very rubbish exit from the Montreal pits, at Silverstone his attempt to pass teammate Pierre Gasly ruined both races, leaving Tsunoda to finish last on the road and ultimately forcing Gasly to retire. What made it worse was that after a fairly quiet weekend, early drama allowed them to climb to a promising seventh and eighth place – at least until Tsunoda’s clumsy move sent them falling back. Red Bull may not have immediately obvious replacements for Tsunoda in 2023, but they will surely find a way to hire one if Tsunoda continues his recent trend rather than reverting to the best version of himself. – MB