Current Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton delighted a packed home crowd at Silverstone by claiming a record sixth win at the race, surpassing the record previously held by fellow British Formula One champion Jim Clark.
Five times World champion Hamilton took full advantage of a fortuitously timed safety car to pass Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who took second place ahead of Ferrari’s rookie driver Charles Leclerc. Following a collision with Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen was beaten by team-mate Pierre Gasly to fourth place; with the now seemingly error prone German former world champion finishing the race well outside of the points.
As the race got under way, there was relatively little drama as Bottas held off the advances of Hamilton. However further back in the field, the two Haas cars came together, meaning both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen had to pit, an event which brought to an end a weekend to forget for the Haas team; following Grosjean’s collision with the pit wall during qualifying.
Throughout the initial laps of the 2019 British Grand Prix, the Mercedes duo of Hamilton Bottas served up a hard fought tussle for the lead, but their back and forth meant the cars behind them could stay relatively close, which allowed them very little breathing space.
Then following their first pit stops, Hamilton got ahead of Bottas. Then, Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi ditched his car into the gravel, bringing out the safety car before the two silver arrows had the chance to start their battle for the race lead once again.
Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc came in to change to hard tyres too late, losing a position to Verstappen, while Bottas found himself behind his team-mate on the medium compound, meaning he would need to make another stop.
With echoes of the closing stages of this year’s Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen and Leclerc continued their excellent fight once the safety car period was over; with the two drivers competing so fiercely that their cars even made contact at one point. At the front of the race, Hamilton was steadily building his lead over Bottas, while Vettel sat way back of the two dominant Mercedes team-mates.
Then, as too often happens in Formula One when two very competitive drivers are battling it out, Verstappen and Vettel collided on the 25th lap, with both cars spinning out. As the Dutchman was beginning to gain on the German, Verstappen overtook Vettel with the use of DRS, but in the next corner, Vettel slid into the back of his Red Bull car whilst under braking. As a result Vettel was hit with a 10-second penalty, although he was already running well outside of the points.
In the race for third place, Gasly was sizing up Leclerc, although at the time he was busy chasing down Bottas, who still had to pit due to his medium compound tyres. At that point the young Frenchman was less than three seconds behind the Fin following his final pit stop, but on the fresher rubber, Bottas was much faster, keeping his spot with relative ease.
The next race will be the German GP at the historic Hockenheimring on July 28. A very fast circuit, Hockenheimring is renowned for its long sweeping curve between turns 3 & 4 named ‘Parabolika’. As a sweeping, fast left turn, Parabolika is always hard on tyres. It is important that cars be setup well for this turn, to conserve tyres as much as possible.
Therefore, this may well be a race won not only by the skill of the drivers but by the ability of the teams to plan for and adapt their cars for the unique challenges that this course presents.
In terms of this year’s Formula One World Championship, Hamilton heads into the German Grand Prix 39 points ahead of team mate Valteri Bottas, with each driver on 223 and 184 points respectively. Third place is in the 2019 Formula One championship is currently occupied by Max Verstappen with 136 points with Sebastien Vettel on 123 and Charles Leclerc on 120 making up the top five places.
These current standings are refected in the current odds. According to oddschecker Lewis Hamilton is the current odds on favourite at 1/33 whilst his team-mate Valteri Bottas currently sits at 16/1, with Max Verstappen at 70/1 and Charles Leclerc at 125/1.
However, with 11 races remaining on the 2019 Formula One Racing Calendar, this year’s championship is far from already won. For further updates be sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter by entering your email address below.
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