Lewis Hamilton triumphed at Silverstone to take an eighth British Grand Prix win, overtaking Charles Leclerc for the lead in the dying stages of the race.
The seven-time world champion overcame a 10-second time penalty that he picked up following an opening lap collision with title rival Max Verstappen.
Verstappen was eliminated from the race, giving Hamilton the chance to cut into the Dutchman’s championship lead.
After serving his penalty at his pit stop, Hamilton dropped behind Lando Norris and team-mate Valtteri Bottas, however he swiftly made his way past both, the latter as a result of a team order.
Leclerc, who took the lead after Hamilton’s incident with Verstappen, soon had his mirrors filled with the Mercedes W12 car, and with just under three laps remaining, he dropped behind Hamilton.
The Ferrari driver took his first podium finish since last year’s British Grand Prix, while Valtteri Bottas came home in third.
Verstappen taken to hospital for precautionary checks
Verstappen suffered a 51G crash when he hit the barrier at Copse corner on the first lap of the race, according to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, which saw him emerge gingerly from the car.
The 23-year-old was assessed by medical staff at the circuit, before he was moved to a local hospital for precautionary checks.
Following the crash, the race was red-flagged for a period of time while the car was recovered and the barrier was repaired.
Upon its resumption, Red Bull’s hopes of scoring points rested with Sergio Perez, who started from the back of the field.
Running a two-stop strategy, the Mexican failed to break into the points, however he captured the fastest lap off Hamilton, denying the Mercedes driver an extra championship point.
Ferrari outscores McLaren in third place fight
With Leclerc on the podium, Ferrari marginally outscored its third-placed rivals McLaren, as both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo crossed the line in fourth and fifth respectively, with Sainz sixth.
At the early-race restart, Norris jumped Bottas off the line and kept the Mercedes driver at bay until a slow pit stop on lap 22 put an end to his hunt for a podium result.
The Briton once again out-paced his more experienced team-mate in Ricciardo, who was under pressure from Carlos Sainz for a sizeable portion of the race.
However, Sainz couldn’t pass the Australian driver, and was forced to settle for sixth on the road, ahead of compatriot Fernando Alonso in the Alpine.
Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda all took the final points on offer.
Sebastian Vettel’s hopes of scoring points for Aston Martin were undone early in the race, as he spun on his own amid a battle with Alonso. The German eventually retired from the race.
[motorsport_result id=’68724′]
As if the world needed any more evidence what a classless pr*ck Lewis Hamilton is. Guy is in true desperation mode, but at this point he can get away with whatever he wants and he knows it.
I disagree, but the racists will have your back.
What on earth does that comment have to do with race? Alt-leftists like you are deranged human beings…
Correct, Caroline, he is a dirty driver who needs to be punished for such dangerous driving.
Hamilton is a dirty bastard. He is an out and out cheat and the penalty he received was grossly insufficient. The start of today’s race was almost a replay of Monza 2018 when Hamilton tapped Vettel’s rear left with his own right front at turn one, but failed to spin him out so hit him again at the second chicane, spinning Vettel off the track. Countless times Hamilton has forced opponents off the track far more brutally than did either Norris or Perez in Austria, yet they received penalties whereas he nearly always gets away with it. Helmut Marko is correct. Hamilton should be stripped of the win and banned from at least one race as punishment for his deliberate ramming of Verstappen. He could have killed Verstappen and wouldn’t have been in the slightest concerned if he had done so. Leclerc had to swerve out of the way in fear for his life at the same corner. Hamilton is a dirty and dangerous driver who needs, however belatedly, to be given punishment which reflects that fact.
We today, as motorsport “aficionados”, have seen in front of our very eyes, the demise of the once known “pinnacle of motorsport”. A hollow and unsportsmanlike winner, and his crowd of fanatics cheering on the hollow win, getting away with deliberately taking a fellow competitor out the race. If F1 had in 2020 a feral wound with their forced involvement in politics and virtue signaling, this today was the shot of grace to end it…
Precisely so.