Lewis Hamilton Wins Chaotic British Formula 1 GP!

• A lucky safety car period gifted Hamilton the lead after a long tussle with Valtteri Bottas.
• A race-long scrap between Ferrari and Red Bull ended with a controversial collision between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
• McLaren and Renault scored another strong points haul by finishing best of the rest at the end of the race.
• Mercedes has increased their monstrous stranglehold at the top of the championship standings.

After a difficult Austrian Grand Prix, Mercedes returned to winning ways with a dominant victory at the 2019 British Grand Prix courtesy of home hero Lewis Hamilton. But this was a race full of non-stop action, especially with some fireworks between Ferrari and Red Bull Honda for 3rd place.

The race was set up to be a cracker with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc placing himself in 3rd position behind the two Mercedes drivers of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after the start. The start turned out to be a close contest between race leader Bottas and Hamilton with hard but fair racing, eventually Bottas came out on top. Mercedes were already streaking ahead but behind them, it was a whole dose of chaos as Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen picked up from where they left off in Austria, fighting for 3rd place. Even Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly were having a scrap of their own for 4th. Lower down, the midfield was also full of action with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo battling with McLaren’s Lando Norris for 7th position 

In the first round of pit stops, Leclerc and Verstappen resumed their battle once again with the Dutchman defending thanks to a superfast pitstop by the Red Bull team. Leclerc showed great driving skills over a couple of corners  and retook the 3rd spot with some great wheel-to-wheel racing.

The race turned on its head once Antonio Giovinazzi triggered the safety car as he lost control of his Alfa Romeo and was stuck in the gravel trap at turn 16. Bottas got the short end of the stick as it gifted Hamilton a free pitstop and the lead of the race. This also affected Leclerc as he lost places to the two Red Bulls and his teammate Vettel, who like Hamilton, benefited greatly from the safety car. What ensued afterwards was part two of Ferrari vs Red Bull between Leclerc, Verstappen and Pierre Gasly for 4th. Verstappen quickly dispatched his teammate and started hunting down Vettel to fight for the final podium place.  

It was only a matter of time before this battle was going to blow up, and boy it did. On Lap 37, Verstappen looked to have had Vettel for 3rd at the hangar straight, but shortly after Vettel slammed into the back of Verstappen in an attempt to retake 3rd at Turn 16. The resulting collision gave back Leclerc his 3rd place with Gasly in 4th. Verstappen miraculously still had the car intact and was able to continue in 5th despite heavy damage. On the other hand, Vettel suffered enough damage to necessitate a pit stop, dropping him down to last. To compound that, he was handed a 10-second time penalty for the collision. 

At the end of it all, home hero Hamilton led Bottas for a Mercedes 1-2, with Leclerc finishing 3rd for Ferrari and Gasly earning a career-best 4th. Verstappen crossed the line in 5th position for Red Bull.  

Lower down the field, Carlos Sainz finished an excellent 6th for McLaren, ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in 7th, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in 8th, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat in 9th and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg finishing 10th. 

Lower down the midfield, McLaren’s Lando Norris was another victim of the safety car, finishing 11th and Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon dropping to 12th. Since this was a race of attrition, both Williams drivers - George Russell and Robert Kubica - finished 14th and 15th as a positive result for the British squad. Perhaps the most disappointing team of the weekend was Haas yet again, this time not even making it past the first few laps due to a clumsy collision on Lap 1 between Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.

This result makes Lewis Hamilton the most successful driver at Silverstone with six wins to his name. It also increased his and Mercedes’s stranglehold in the drivers and constructor’s standings respectively. Vettel was the biggest loser amongst the top three teams, losing points to Verstappen and is now only three points ahead of his teammate. 

Formula One will now head to Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix, which is scheduled to be held between July 26-28.

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Image Source: Formula One