Sebastian Vettel won a thrilling British Grand Prix to extend his championship lead over title rival Lewis Hamilton who came home second, despite finding himself in 18th place on the opening lap.
Pole sitter Hamilton endured a poor start, dropping to third behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel, but just a few corners later he and Kimi Raikkonen made contact which span Hamilton round.
The Briton dropped down to 18th, ahead of only the two Williams cars which started from the pitlane. Raikkonen was deemed at fault and handed a ten-second time penalty by the stewards, which he served at his first stop.
Hamilton fought back hard in the opening six laps, taking back several positions and found himself inside the top ten after just ten laps. However his progress slowed as he went up against quicker cars, picking off Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz a few laps later.
Meanwhile Vettel held a comfortable lead out front, only relinquishing it briefly during the opening round of stops until Bottas stopped a lap later to hand it back. Hamilton stayed out several laps longer than his rivals as he looked to eeke out as much performance as possible from his tyres.
Related: Formula 1 Drivers' Championship Standings
The home favourite finally stopped at the half-way point and emerged sixth behind Raikkonen before making up another place as Daniel Ricciardo made a surprise second stop.
The race briefly settled down, but not for long. The drama was once again ignited when Marcus Ericsson suffered a heavy off into the barriers, forcing the first appearance of the Safety Car, which of course bunched the pack up for the restart.
Vettel pitted under the Safety Car whilst Mercedes opted to keep both its cars out, which meant the order at the restart was Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, followed by Max Verstappen, Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen and Raikkonen tussled at the start, briefly swapping positions, but just seconds later a second Safety Car was called for an incident involving Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean. The Renault and Haas made contact at Turn 1 and both ended up in the gravel.
That meant a 10-lap sprint to the finish when the Safety Car finally peeled off into the pits, which was filled with drama as the top four, Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Raikkonen – the Finn passing Verstappen on the restart – circulated for several laps covered by less than two seconds.
Vettel eventually got past Bottas as the Mercedes' tyres dropped off, which also allowed Hamilton and Raikkonen past before the checkered flag. Verstappen didn't make the finish after spinning, promoting Ricciardo to fifth.
Nico Hulkenberg was sixth ahead of Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly.
Sergio Perez narrowly missed out on the points after he and Gasly made contact at the start, which span the Force India across the pit exit and in front of the two Williams cars which were joining the circuit at the same time.
The race saw six retirements, with Sauber's Charles Leclerc retiring with a loose wheel.
