Formula 1

Hamilton crawls to British GP win after late puncture

by Matt Beer
3 min read

Up Next

Lewis Hamilton scraped home to win the British Grand Prix despite suffering a left-front puncture on the final lap.

Both Mercedes – which had dominated the entire race – were among a group of cars whose left-front tyres dramatically gave up in the final laps.

Valtteri Bottas was first to run into the problem. He had begun to fall away from Hamilton, having run within a second of him most of the afternoon, while reporting a tyre vibration.

Most of the field was trying to nurse their tyres to the end, having pitted for hards under a safety car prompted by a heavy crash for Daniil Kvyat on the way into Becketts on lap 12 of 52.

Bottas’s left front gave way on lap 50, and he had to drag the car around most of the lap on three wheels before he could pit.

Fifth-placed Carlos Sainz Jr then had the same problem on his McLaren, before Hamilton’s tyre also went flat on the final lap.

He managed to nurse the car to the finish on three wheels, with Max Verstappen giving frantic chase but falling 5.8s short of catching the Mercedes.

Verstappen had been within 13s of Hamilton before making a pitstop for fresh tyres just after Bottas’s puncture.

Motor Racing Formula One World Championship British Grand Prix Race Day Silverstone, England

With Bottas only 11th by the time he rejoined, Charles Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari, having had a lonely race.

Sainz’s puncture and a late pass on the other McLaren of Lando Norris gave Daniel Ricciardo fourth for Renault, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly sixth and seventh.

Alex Albon had a complicated run to eighth – getting a five-second penalty for a first-lap clash with Kevin Magnussen that sent the Haas into the wall at Club. He had to pit after that collision due to wheel damage, then made a second later stop for fresh mediums that allowed him to charge back to eighth.

Racing Point’s promising weekend ended in huge disappointment. An engine problem meant replacement driver Nico Hulkenberg didn’t even get out of the garage to go to the grid, while Lance Stroll was muted all afternoon and finished ninth.

Sebastian Vettel was on course to finish outside the points in 11th before the flurry of punctures meant he was at least able to hold off the recovering Bottas for 10th.

Romain Grosjean ran as high as fifth by virtue of not pitting under the safety car, and drew the ire of Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniel Ricciardo – as well as a black and white driving standards warning flag – for his defensive moves while trying to stay among the frontrunners. The strategy didn’t pay off and he ended up 16th.

Race Results

Pos Name Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 52 1h28m01.283s 1m29.238s 1 25
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 52 0 +5.856s 1m27.097s 2 19
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 52 0 +18.474s 1m29.813s 1 15
4 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 52 0 +19.65s 1m29.482s 1 12
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 52 0 +22.277s 1m30.058s 1 10
6 Esteban Ocon Renault 52 0 +26.937s 1m29.491s 1 8
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 52 0 +31.188s 1m29.603s 1 6
8 Alex Albon Red Bull-Honda 52 0 +32.67s 1m28.689s 2 4
9 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 52 0 +37.311s 1m30.475s 1 2
10 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 52 0 +41.857s 1m30.537s 1 1
11 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 52 0 +42.167s 1m29.265s 2 0
12 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 52 0 +52.004s 1m30.977s 1 0
13 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 52 0 +53.37s 1m30.862s 1 0
14 Carlos Sainz McLaren-Renault 52 0 +54.205s 1m29.948s 2 0
15 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 52 0 +54.549s 1m30.501s 1 0
16 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 52 0 +55.05s 1m29.782s 1 0
17 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 51 0 +1 lap 1m29.973s 2 0
Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 11 0 DNF 1m32.443s 0 0
Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 0 0 DNF 0s 0 0
Nico Hülkenberg Racing Point-Mercedes 0 0 DNS 0s 0 0
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks