Lewis Hamilton secured his seventh win at the Silverstone Circuit with the driver dominating the 2020 F1 British Grand Prix in a spectacular fashion. The race had a chaotic start and left the virtual spectators with several butt-clenching moments through the multiple clashes and tyre failures. Hamilton survived late tyre-trouble to secure his seventh win at his home circuit, while a puncture resulted in a disaster for his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas who ended up finishing at P11, down from P2. The incident allowed Red Bull's Max Verstappen to finish second while promoting Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on to the podium.
Also Read: F1: Lewis Hamilton Secures Pole For British GP With A Record Lap
Valtteri Bottas scraped his way to the pits on the penultimate lap to finish behind Sebastian Vettel at P11
Hamilton started the race from pole position and was much in control closely followed by Bottas. The Mercedes cars showed incredible pace over the rest of the pack and the team seemed certain to take 1-2 finish once again. However, it wouldn't be until the final laps that the dominance was threatened. Both drivers picked up blisters on their tyres and Bottas' front-left tyre was the first to give away on Lap 50, two laps away from the chequered flag. The driver dropped from P2 to P11, barely finishing the race. Meanwhile, Hamilton saw his nearly deflated tyre give-away on the final lap and had to limp his way to the finish line. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen lost out on the win after a last-minute pitstop that increased his gap over Hamilton by 30s. While the racer closed in quickly, he lost out on the opportunity to claim his first win of the season.
Daniil Kvyat suffered a nasty crash on Lap 13 that saw the safety car out on the track for the second time after the Albon-Magnussen collision on the opening lap
While Mercedes dominated the front order, the British GP saw plenty of action behind the top drivers. Kevin Magnussen of Haas and Alex Albon in the Red Bull collided at the end of the opening lap that saw the safety car on the track. The race restarted on Lap 6 with Hamilton leaping forward followed by Bottas. Just as the race was packing in some action, there was a second major crash involving Daniil Kvyat on Lap 13 prompting the safety car once again. The driver torpedo-ed his way into the barriers at Becketts after losing control due to a possible right puncture.
The race started once again on Lap 19 and saw Hamilton and Bottas pull away, while a third-placed Verstappen struggled to keep up. The Mercedes drivers held a gap of about one second between themselves lapping the track under 1m30s. The Red Bull driver was nearly 10 seconds adrift from the top two racers despite setting the fastest lap record on Lap 41. At the front, Hamilton extended his lead over Bottas by three seconds, which further increased to seven seconds just before the final five laps. However, that's where the Mercedes drivers saw the race go haywire due to tyre issues.
Sebastian Vettel continued his struggle from qualifying and ended up at P10 after a last-corner charge over Bottas
Finishing behind Hamilton and Verstappen was Leclerc in a lonely third, while Renault's Daniel Ricciardo finished in fourth, in what is his best result so far this season. McLaren's Carlos Sains Jr faced similar tyre-trouble as Mercedes on the penultimate lap that saw the driver drop from P5 to P13. Nevertheless, his teammate Lando Norris moved up to claim P5, ahead of Renault's Esteban Ocon, who bagged P6 after a bold move over Racing Point's Lance Stroll on Lap 48.
Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri showed stellar progress starting from P11 to take P7, while Albon moved up to P8 recovering from the early collision that put Magnussen out of contention. The Red Bull driver was awarded a five-second time penalty for the same. Taking the final point was Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel with a 10th place finish, after a last-corner battle with Bottas.
Nico Hulkenberg's return to F1 ended prematurely after a technical failure with his Racing Point car
The final finishers of the race were George Russell of Williams, who started at the back of the grid, while Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi took P14 behind Sainz ahead of Williams driver Nicholas Latifi. Romain Grosjean of Haas had moved up to P5 after not and held on to the position for a long while after he did not pit, but he soon faded from the top order. He, however, received a black and white flag for his move against Sainz on Lap 23 for P5.
In a devastating result, Nico Hulkenberg's return in the Racing Point car did not happen after a last-minute technical issue with the power unit. Kimi Raikkonen was the other retirement of the race after suffering front wing damage in the final stages prior to the Mercedes drama.
