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F1 British GP: Hamilton dominates British GP as late drama strikes Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton eased to his fifth British Grand Prix victory on Sunday at Silverstone with one of the most comfortable displays of his Formula 1 career, leading home Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton went unchallenged throughout the 51-race at Silverstone, making a perfect start and quickly dropping the field to lay the foundations for his fourth win of the season.

Hamilton retained his lead through the pit stops and eventually finished over 10 seconds clear of the field, tying up with Alain Prost and Jim Clark's shared record of five British Grand Prix wins in the process.

The result saw Hamilton cut Sebastian Vettel's championship lead to just a single point after Ferrari hit late tyre trouble, with both its cars suffering a front-left failure in the final three laps.

While Kimi Raikkonen was still able to finish third despite a late pit stop, Vettel dropped all the way back to seventh, meaning his points advantage is just one at the halfway point in the season.

Bottas was able to bounce back from ninth on the grid to finish second after nailing an alternate strategy and benefitting from Raikkonen's late drama, having already passed Vettel in the final stint.

The one-two finish allowed Mercedes to extend its constructors' championship lead to 55 points, as well as bringing Bottas to within 23 points of Vettel at the top of the drivers' championship.

Max Verstappen took fourth place for Red Bull ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who recovered from P19 on the grid to take P5 at the chequered flag, completing a number of bold moves en route.

Verstappen had enjoyed his own early battle with Vettel at Silverstone, the pair going side-by-side on a number of occasions before the first round of pit stops. By getting the undercut, Vettel was able to pull ahead, only to then fall back behind after his late issue.

Nico Hulkenberg took a solid sixth for Renault ahead of the ailing Vettel, while Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez took P8 and P9 for Force India. Felipe Massa completed the points for Williams in P10. 

Zdroj: autosport.com