Hamilton surges to British GP winposted in F116 | 07 | 2017

    LEWIS HAMILTON DELIVERED a dominant drive to win the British Grand Prix for a record-equalling fifth time. The three-time world champ now ties with Scots legend Jim Clark, and Frenchman Alain Prost.

    And after a dramatic finish, which saw the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and world championship leader Sebastian Vettel suffer front-left problems on the penultimate lap, Hamilton has slashes the German’s advantage from 20 to just one point.

    The Englishman, who also tied Clark’s record of five British GP pole positions, led from the lights to the chequered flag, eventually backing off to win by 14-seconds ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

    The Finn, forced to start from ninth on the grid after a five-place gearbox penalty, delivered another masterclass in composed aggressive driving.

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    Bottas ran deep into the race on his soft compound Pirellis, with Mercedes finally calling him in on lap 33 of 51, round the 3.6-mile Silverstone circuit. The only driver in the top 10 to start on the softs, Bottas swapped them for super-softs and rejoined the race in fourth, behind Vettel.

    Maximising the better grip, the Mercedes driver reeled in the championship leader before launching an attack on the run to Club. Under intense pressure, the Ferrari driver locked up his front-left tyre and kept the position.

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    On the next lap, Bottas was much closer to Vettel on Hangar Straight and swept around the outside of Vettel with ease before they reached Stowe.

    But as the race entered its final three laps, there was drama involving the two Ferrari cars. First the front-left on Raikkonen’s car delaminated and he was forced to pit from second. The Finn recovered to finish third.

    Worse though was to follow for Vettel. Just seconds after Raikkonen’s problem three laps from the end, on the penultimate lap Vettel’s front-left suffered a puncture.

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    Forced to limp back to the pits with his wrecked tyre, the German finally returned to eventually cross the finish line in a distant seventh place.

    The start of the race was marred by yet another incident triggered by Daniil Kvyat. The Russian ran wide on to the grass, lost control and hit his Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.The Spaniard was forced to retire on the spot.

    When the safety car left the circuit, Hamilton pushed ahead, first holding a steady gap to Raikkonen before putting the hammer down ahead of the pitstops.

    Max Verstappen, who had cruised round the outside of Vettel at the start to take this place, found himself under pressure. The Ferrari driver attacked the Dutchman’s Red Bull down the inside of Stowe, only for Verstappen to hold on around the outside.

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    The Red Bull driver managed to stay ahead under braking for Vale, squeezing Vettel wide into the chicane. The firm defence prompted the Ferrari driver to raise his hand in frustration.

    While Verstappen held on to finish fourth, his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was a man on a mission. Starting a lowly 19th — after a series of grid penalties for engine component and gearbox changes — the Aussie battle through to finish fifth, just 13s behind his team-mate. And that despite dropping to last early on having run into the gravel when trying to pass Kevin Magnussen for 10th.

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    Renault drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer suffered contrasting fortunes. While Palmer failed to take the start of his home grand prix after reporting brake-by-wire and hydraulic problems on the formation lap, Hulkenberg equalled his best finish of the season with sixth.

    With Vettel in seventh, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez gave Force India an eighth double points finish in 10 races with eighth and ninth ahead of the of Felipe Massa. The Williams finished just ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, hose McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso was forced to retire again with engine problems having got up to 14th from the back of the grid.

    F1 — British Grand Prix Race, Silverstone (Result):

    1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes - Mercedes 51 laps

    2. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes - Mercedes +14.0

    3. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - Ferrari +36.5

    4. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull - TAG +52.1

    5. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull - TAG +1m 05.9

    6. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault - Renault +1m 08.1s

    7. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - Ferrari +1m 33.9s

    8. Esteban Ocon FRA Force India-Mercedes +1 lap

    9. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +1 lap

    10. Felipe Massa BRA Williams - Mercedes +1 lap

    11. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren-Honda +1 lap

    12. Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

    13. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

    14. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber - Ferrari +1 lap

    15. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap

    16. Lance Stroll CAN Williams - Mercedes +1 lap

    17. Pascal Wehrlein GER Sauber - Ferrari +1 lap

    Retired:

    18. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 32 laps completed

    19. Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 1 lap completed

    20. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault - Renault 0 laps completed

    Related: Bottas dominates in Austria

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    Jim McGill

     

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