Lewis Hamilton claimed a fourth consecutive British Grand Prix victory as he dominated from lights out to the chequered flag, while Sebastian Vettel hit late tyre troubles, costing the German a podium finish.
The Mercedes man led from start to finish at his home event, never relinquishing the lead, to close the championship gap to leader Vettel down to just a single point at the halfway mark of the season, after the German took only seventh.
Valtteri Bottas claimed second, 14 seconds adrift of his team-mate; Kimi Raikkonen had been running second, but a puncture on lap 49 of 51 handed the position to Bottas and allowed Mercedes to extend its championship lead.
Raikkonen would go on to finish third thanks to his team-mate's puncture, whilst Max Verstappen, who at the time was right behind the Finn, chose to pit on the same lap as he complained of high tyre wear – however staying out would have handed the Dutchman a podium place. He finished fourth.
Daniel Ricciardo was fifth for Red Bull, coming through from P19 on the grid, gaining a place on the last lap, demoting Renault's Nico Hulkenberg to sixth, with Vettel seventh and the two Force Indias in eighth and ninth, with Esteban Ocon leading Sergio Perez.
Williams' Felipe Massa completed the top ten, with McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne narrowly missing out on the points in P11.
The race began with an aborted start as Renault's Jolyon Palmer suffered a hydraulic issue on the formation lap, forcing his retirement before the race had even begun.
Hamilton got a strong start to stay ahead of Raikkonen, whilst Vettel came under pressure from Verstappen as the pair switched places at Turn 1. Vettel would get back past Verstappen through the Loop before switching places again during a dramatic opening lap.
Daniil Kvyat and team-mate Carlos Sainz tussled through Becketts with the Russian running wide, as he rejoined the circuit, he collided with Sainz and the pair span. Damage to Sainz's car saw him retire and the Safety Car deployed.
Kvyat was hit with a drive-through penalty for yet another opening lap incident and now has 9 points on his license – with another three forcing a race ban.
Both Fernando Alonso and Ricciardo made quick progress in the opening laps, climbing several positions before Ricciardo ran wide at Woodcote and dropped back down to last place.
Alonso later retired from the race with a loss of fuel pressure and then a loss of power as a result.
The result looked settled under drama broke out with two laps remaining as both Ferrari cars suffered punctures, costing them second and fourth places.
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