Mercedes does it again, finishing one-two, with record-shattering Hamilton on top.
SILVERSTONE, England—July 14th—Safety cars are a distraction most of the time, but it’s always a safe idea to keep whatever happened from spreading. But for Lewis Hamilton, today was different. On lap 21, Hamilton was following a car that beached just before Luffield corner. A safety car came out and that gave the Briton an opportunity to overtake Mercedes’ teammate, Valtteri Bottas.
That move gave Hamilton his record-breaking sixth British Grand Prix on at the Silverstone International Circuit. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished in third.
“I am so proud here today to be here in front of my home crowd,” Hamilton said afterward. “I don’t think you could get used to something like that. It feels like the first time.”
Hamilton and Bottas fought hard throughout the first few laps of the race with Hamilton ahead and, then, Bottas. Bottas maintained a comfortable lead during the early part of the race. But on lap 21, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi spun at sector three and was stuck in the sand. That’s what brought out the safety car.
Just as the safety car was out, Hamilton dived into the pits and stayed ahead of Bottas, who had pitted on lap 17. Leclerc later questioned why he had dropped down past the Red Bull cars of Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen in sixth by the time the safety car was removed on lap 24.
However, while the top two were very much settled, the field behind was causing the most excitement of the race.
Sebastian Vettel had moved up to second before pitting, and Leclerc was gaining on both Gasly and Verstappen. Those two had pitted earlier and, then, came out together. That’s when Verstappen took the advantage and passed Leclerc. But only a few minutes later, the Monegasque passed Verstappen and he controlled the race from there.
Verstappen, on the other hand, moved ahead of Gasly and as well Vettel. The Dutchman and four-time world champion German fought it out until lap 38 when Vettel braked too late and ran into the back of Verstappen, also at sector three.
Vettel damaged his front wing and had to drop to 16th place after obtaining a new front wing in the pits. Verstappen continued with no damage, ending up finishing in fifth. He also got an apology from Vettel after the race. Vettel, though, was given a ten-second penalty by the stewards for the infraction.
After the Verstappen/Leclerc accident, Gasly had no more competitors with which to deal and finished fourth. Carlos Sainz Jr. edged out Daniel Ricciardo for sixth. Kimi Raikkonen took eighth just ahead of Dani Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg, who recovered to finish tenth after going off the circuit just before Hangar Straight.
Hamilton celebrates at Silverstone (photo, Evening Standard)
Bottas pitted just laps from the end and that gave Hamilton a huge margin of 24.9 seconds ahead by the finish. Hamilton made things worse for the field by setting a 1:27:369 fastest lap, which earned him one more point than the 25 he already achieved by winning the race.
Hamilton was stunned afterward when he found out that he had surpassed Jim Clark and Alain Prost for achieving the record of winning five British Grands Prix. “I would never have done it if it was not for my team,” Hamilton said emotionally. “And, also, all the people at the factory, and the wives and the kids, for the whole time away and how dedicated they are to their jobs. And I am super proud of this.”
Hamilton will get another chance (and the field will get theirs) in Hockenheim, Germany on July 28.
