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A first lap incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen saw the Brit earn a 10-second time penalty, but the seven-time world champion overcame his troubles to win the 2021 F1 British Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc pushed the Mercedes driver until the end as the Ferrari driver settled for second and Valtteri Bottas coming across the line in third.
Starting Grid
Max Verstappen crossed the line first in F1’s inaugural Sprint with the Red Bull make subsequently taking pole position ahead of the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in second and third.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth with the Monegasque ahead of the two McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in fifth and sixth.
Two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso, made up a lot of positions in the Sprint as he finished seventh after starting 11th with the ex-Ferrari man joined by another one in Sebastian Vettel who starts alongside the Spaniard in eighth. Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 10 as the duo were promoted a place after Russell’s three-place grid drop.
Pierre Gasly lined up in 11th alongside Russell after relegation down to 12th. Kimi Raikkonen started from 13th with Lance Stroll in 14th, Antonio Giovinazzi in 15th, Yuki Tsunoda in 16th, Nicholas Latifi in 17th, Mick Schumacher in 18th, Nikita Mazepin in 19th and Sergio Perez started from the pit lane as his Red Bull car had to have parts changed after the Mexican’s retirement in the Sprint.
As It Happened
Verstappen got a fantastic start but so did Hamilton, however, the Dutchman remained in the lead at turn one. Only a matter of corners later, the two continued to clash into Copse corner. The Mercedes driver went down the inside on Verstappen as the two collided and the Red Bull man was sent spinning into the barrier.
Leclerc was able to ahead of Hamilton just before the Safety Car was released. Eventually, the red flag was waved as the tyre barrier needed repairing and Verstappen’s car needed to be extracted. Luckily for everyone, the Dutchman was able to walk out of his car unscathed and was taken to the hospital for precautionary checks.
After a 40-minute stoppage, the race was restarted once more from a standing start. Leclerc was able to get a good getaway as he led into turn one ahead of Hamilton in second and Norris in third.
Alonso and Vettel battled for position with the Spaniard able to edge slightly ahead, seeing the German tumble down the order after a spin.
Not long after, Hamilton was awarded a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Verstappen which saw the Dutchman retire from the race.
The sole Red Bull driver of Sergio Perez made up positions early on and was up to 12th by lap nine as he looked to bring back some points for the team.
After 10 laps of racing, it was Leclerc in first ahead of Hamilton in second and Norris in third. Then came the second Mercedes of Bottas in fourth, Ricciardo in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Alonso in seventh, Stroll in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Raikkonen in 10th.
Leclerc encountered a bit of an engine issue on lap 15 which saw Hamilton close up ever so slightly, but not long after, the Ferrari man sorted the problem out and was able to extend the gap again.
The pit stops were in full flow as Norris’ stop was anything but straightforward. The McLaren man was held stationary for six seconds which allowed Bottas to pit a lap later and get ahead of Norris into a net third place.
At the halfway point, Leclerc still held the lead ahead of Hamilton in second and Sainz in third. Bottas followed in four, Norris in fifth, Gasly in sixth, Ricciardo in seventh, Tsunoda in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Stroll in 10th.
On lap 28, Hamilton pitted and served his time penalty. The Brit returned back into the race in fifth behind Sainz, Bottas and Norris.
The Ferrari pit crew had an awful pit stop with Sainz as the Spaniard was left stationary for way too long which dropped him down to sixth behind Ricciardo.
A lap later, Leclerc made his stop but it was a perfect one as the crew perfectly swapped his tyres to released him back into the lead of the race.
In the dying embers of the Grand Prix, Hamilton was on a charge as he overtook compatriot Norris to move up into third and then team orders played their part as the Mercedes team released the Brit into second ahead of Bottas.
With three laps to go, the home-hero made the move on Leclerc into Stowe corner, where he tangled with Verstappen on the opening lap, but was able to take the position cleanly as he sent the British crowd wild.
He was able to hold onto the lead from that point on as he crossed the line to record his eighth victory around the Silverstone circuit. Leclerc and Bottas completed the podium positions with the Ferrari man doing a fantastic job from the restart to fend off any challenges from behind.
Norris finished in fourth ahead of McLaren teammate Riccardo in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Alonso in seventh, Stroll in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Tsunoda in 10th.
What’s Next?
Max Verstappen currently holds an eight-point lead at the top of the championship after Hamilton sliced the Dutchman’s previous advantage of 33 with his race victory.
F1 will return in two weeks time as they are able to recharge their batteries before they go one final time in Budapest ahead of the summer break.
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