Formula One: British Grand Prix - Hamilton takes record-breaking victory after Verstappen and Vettel collide

Lewis Hamilton won a record sixth British Grand Prix in a thrilling race that included a crash between Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.

In the best race of the year by far, there were battles throughout the field as Hamilton used the safety car to his advantage to take an insurmountable lead over Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who was on pole position.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Verstappen staged a brilliant duel for third place early on in the race.
But their battle was overshadowed by the collision between the Dutchman and the Monegasque's team-mate Vettel, for which the German was given a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his super licence.
Hamilton's lead in the championship is now at 39 points, but the talk will be on another error from Vettel, the latest in a series over the past year.

Photo from BBC Sport

Bottas converted his pole position into a lead at Turn One, closely followed for the first three laps by Hamilton.
The Finn managed to hold of the Brit, that was until Brooklands on lap four where Hamilton went outisde and cut back to pass Bottas again on the outside of the 180-degree corner of Luffield.
Hamilton then ran wide on the exit, allowing Bottas to take the inside and lead through Copse.
The fight then settled with Hamilton just a second behind, but Bottas stopped for fresh tyres on lap 16, his decision to go for the same medium compound he had used at the start committing him to a second stop.
Hamilton stayed out intending for just one stop throughout the race.
He utilised the safety car that was called out after Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi crashed at Vale to make a pit stop, rejoingin the race at the front and cruising to the finish.
Although the lead was gifted to Hamilton, Bottas' commitment to the two-stop meant he would have found it difficult to hold off his team-mate anyway.
Knowing that the win was wrapped up, Hamilton set the fastest lap on 30-lap-old tyres as he cruised to the chequered flag, beating Bottas' time from a couple of laps earlier after a stop for fresh tyres.
The Briton's commanding position in the championship just increased, and with his sixth British GP win it moved him clear of Jim Clark and Alain Prost.

Photo from BBC Sport

Leclerc was left out by Ferrari when the safety car was deployed, allowing Vettel to inherit third place, because the Monegasque and Verstappen had pitted for tyres only six laps previously.

Red Bull's Pierre Gasly was behind Vettel in third and ahead of his team-mate Verstappen in fifth.
Gasly soon let Verstappen pass though, Vettel was caught by Verstappen on lap 37.
The Red Bull overtook the Ferrari around the outside at Stowe, but Verstappen had run wide giving Vettel a chance to take the lead again.
Vettel had committed and could not stop in time as Verstappen had covered the inside track, ramming into the back of the Red Bull.
Stewards decided that Vettel deserved a 10 second penalty meaning he finished in 16th.

Verstappen and Leclerc provided the battle of the race early on, with Verstappen's pace being outdone by Leclerc's defesive driving and decision making.
The Dutchman had many chances to overtake, only for Leclerc to hold him off.
The battle continued into the pits, on lap 13 they could only be separated by a nose rejoining the track with Verstappen edging ahead after a marginally quicker stop.
Leclerc soon attacked Verstappen into Turn Three, able to sneak back ahead in Turn Four.
They continued to fight again until the safety-car period and a delayed second stop for Leclerc put him at the back of the queue of the top three teams.
But he caught and passed Gasly and then won third place back after the collision between Vettel and Verstappen.

Photo from India Today

2019 British Grand Prix Results

#		DRIVER	team	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	pts
C		L Hamilton	MERCEDES	52	1:21:08.452	26
2		V Bottas	MERCEDES	52	+24.928s	18
3		C Leclerc	FERRARI	52	+30.117s	15
4		P Gasly	RED BULL	52	+34.692s	12
5		M Verstappen	RED BULL	52	+39.458s	10
6		C Sainz Jr.	MCLAREN	52	+53.639s	8
7		D Ricciardo	RENAULT	52	+54.401s	6
8		K Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO	52	+65.540s	4
9		D Kvyat	TORO ROSSO	52	+66.720s	2
10		N Hulkenberg	RENAULT	52	+72.733s	1
11		L Norris	MCLAREN	52	+74.281s	0
12		A Albon	Toro rosso	52	+75.617s	0
13		L Stroll	RACING POINT	52	+81.086s	0
14		G Russell	WILLIAMS	51	+1 lap	0
15		R Kubica	WILLIAMS	51	+1 lap	0
16		S Vettel	FERRARI	51	+1 lap	0
17		S Perez	RACING POINT	51	+1 lap	0
NC		A Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO	18	DNF	0
NC		R Grosjean	HAAS	9	DNF	0
NC		K Magnussen	HAAS	6	DNF	0

Formula One Driver's Championship Standings
#/Driver/Team/Points/Wins/Podiums

1/L Hamilton/Mercedes/223/7/9 

2/V Bottas/Mercedes/184/2/9 

3/M Verstappen/Red Bull/136/1/3 

4/S Vettel/Ferrari/123/0/4 

5/C Leclerc/Ferrari/120/0/5
6/P Gasly/Red Bull/55/0/0

7/C Sainz Jr./McLaren/38/0/0

8/K Räikkönen/Alfa Romeo/25/0/0 

9/L Norris/McLaren/22/0/0 

10/D Ricciardo/Renault/22/0/0 

11/N Hülkenberg/Renault/17/0/0 

12/K Magnussen/Haas/14/0/0 

13/S Pérez/Racing Point/13/0/0 

14/D Kvyat/Toro Rosso/12/0/0

15/A Albon/Toro Rosso/7/0/0

16/L Stroll/Racing Point/6/0/0

17/R Grosjean/Haas/2/0/0

18/A Giovinazzi/Alfa Romeo/1/0/0

19/G Russell/Williams/0/0/0

20/R Kubica/Williams/0/0/0


2019 Races and Results
Australian Grand Prix
Melbourne, 15-17 March
1. Bottas, 2. Hamilton, 3. Verstappen

Bahrain Grand Prix
Sakhir, 29-31 March
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc

Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, 12-14 April
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Vettel

Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Baku, 26-28 April
1. Bottas, 2. Hamilton, 3. Vettel

Spanish Grand Prix
Barcelona, 10-12 May
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Verstappen

Monaco Grand Prix
Monte Carlo, 23, 25-26 May
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Bottas

Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal, 7-9 June
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Leclerc

French Grand Prix
Le Castellet, 21-23 June
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc

Austrian Grand Prix
Spielberg, 28-30 June
1. Verstappen, 2. Leclerc, 3. Bottas

British Grand Prix
Silverstone, 12-14 July
1. Hamilton, 2. Bottas, 3. Leclerc

German Grand Prix
Hockenheim, 26-28 July

Hungarian Grand Prix
Budapest, 2-4 August

Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, 30 August-1 September

Italian Grand Prix
Monza, 6-8 September

Singapore Grand Prix
Marina Bay, 20-22 September

Russian Grand Prix
Sochi, 27-29 September

Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka, 11-13 October

Mexican Grand Prix
Mexico City, 25-27 October

United States Grand Prix
Austin, 1-3 November

Brazilian Grand Prix
Sao Paulo, 15-17 November

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, 29 November-1 December

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