Lewis Hamilton wins drama filled British Grand Prix

First and foremost, what a race! A race that will be remembered for a very long time. 

It was a drama filled race, and action all around the track from the start.

Then the race sort of lulled out for a bit, then the final few laps is what will be remembered as the most tense moments of this season.

Lewis Hamilton started on pole position, his 91st career pole position. Hamilton and team mate Valtteri Bottas had been formation flying for 50 of the 52 laps at Silverstone until tyre drama struck. Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on Lap 50, costing him second place, before on the very last lap, Hamilton suffered his own issue.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with the Racing Point of Lance Stroll, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a Lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

The race highlights is enough to place the whole race into perspective.

This past weekend also marked the temporary return of Nico Hulkenberg, following the positive COVID-19 test of Sergio Perez. The Racing Point team were very quick in drafting the German to fill the vacant seat. 

Throughout practice and qualifying, Hulkenberg performed well, but he was unable to take the start when a technical issue was discovered on the car.

Lewis Hamilton thus extends his championship lead over team mate Bottas.

Next weekend is the 70th anniversary F1 race, again taking place at Silverstone.

I'm definitely looking forward to yet another exiting Grand Prix weekend. Let's hope Pirelli can sort out the tyre issues, with an investigation that have now been launched after yesterday's race.

Race Result:

1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	52	1:28:01.283	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	52	+5.856s	19
3	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	52	+18.474s	15
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RENAULT	52	+19.650s	12
5	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	52	+22.277s	10
6	31	Esteban Ocon	RENAULT	52	+26.937s	8
7	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	52	+31.188s	6
8	23	Alexander Albon	RED BULL RACING HONDA	52	+32.670s	4
9	18	Lance Stroll	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	52	+37.311s	2
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	52	+41.857s	1
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	52	+42.167s	0
12	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	52	+52.004s	0
13	55	Carlos Sainz	MCLAREN RENAULT	52	+53.370s	0
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	52	+54.205s	0
15	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	52	+54.549s	0
16	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	52	+55.050s	0
17	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	51	+1 lap	0
NC	26	Daniil Kvyat	ALPHATAURI HONDA	11	DNF	0
NC	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1	DNF	0
NC	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	0	DNS	0

Note - Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Giovinazzi received a 5-second time penalty for failing to slow under the safety car. The classification of both Racing Point cars is provisional, subject to the outcome of any decision concerning a protest over their legality from the Renault team.