Hamilton wins Silverstone Grand Prix, despite crash and time penalty.
Lewis Hamilton, his 8th win, overcomes a 10-second penalty for a crash with the rival Max Verstappen to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and claimed a dramatic British Grand Prix victory in front of 140, 000 crowd.
Hamilton blamed the collision with Verstappen’s Red Bull at Copse corner on the first lap of the race, which resulted the Dutchman crashing out.
Verstappen (23) was rushed to hospital for precautionary tests after the accident while Hamilton continued to win the race. The Grand Prix was stopped after the accident with Leclerc in the lead from Hamilton and the Ferrari driver retained that position until two laps from the end, when Mercedes driver passed him at the same corner at which he had crashed with Verstappen.
Hamilton starting second on the grid after Verstappen’s victory in F1’s maiden sprint race on Saturday got away better and was along Verstappen into the first corner, but the Red Bull driver held him off.
Hamilton nosed ahead in Brooklands corner at the end of the Wellington Straight, but was again held off.
Heading down into the 190mph Copse corner, he dummied Verstappen, feinting to the outside and them driving for the inside. Hamilton had more than half his car alongside Verstappen as they began to turn in, but backed off slightly as he saw the Dutchman was going to sit it out around the outside and then the Red Bull driver edged back ahead. Hamilton was a little wide of the Apex and his front left wheel made contact with Verstappen’s right rear in the middle of the corner, and the impact sent Verstappen flying into the barriers on the outside. He climbed out of the car and was walking around before being taken to the circuit medical centre for mandatory checks, after complaining of dizziness.
Leclerc who passed Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas off the line, took the lead out of Copse in the aftermath of the accident and began the re-started reace from pole position.
Hamilton made a pit stop to serve his penalty and change tyres on lap 27, dropping behind bottas and Mcalaren’s Lando Norris. Hamilton eventually passed Norris on lap 31 into Copse, and then closed on Bottas, who was ordered to let seven time champion Hamilton by on lap 40, then had to close an eight-second gap to Leclerc and pass the Frenchman for the lead. Hamilton got a second a lap quicker than Leclerc and he was on the Ferrari’s tail with three to go. He went for the inside at Copse in a very similar move to the one that led to the Verstappen incident. Leclerc ran wide on the exit of the corner allowing Hamilton to sweep by and extend his record of British Grand Prix wins to eight.
British GP race result
1) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
3) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
4) Lando Norris, McLaren
5) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
6) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
7) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
8) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
9) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
10) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri