Lewis Hamilton wins record 6th British Grand Prix, extends F1 lead.
A day of dramatic English sporting glory began with a far more fortuitous — but still record-breaking — victory for Lewis Hamilton on the nation’s Formula One track.
A sixth British Grand Prix success was sealed not with a thrilling overtaking move but by a canny pit stop strategy paying off for the reigning world champion on Sunday at Silverstone.
By finishing 25 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton extended his championship lead over the Finn to 39 points and moved ahead of Jim Clark and Alain Prost to take the outright record for British GP victories.
Hours before England’s cricketers lifted the World Cup for the first time in London — sealed on a tiebreaker at Lord’s — Hamilton was part of far more familiar scenes in central England in front of a record Silverstone race crowd of 141,000.
And yet Hamilton — who is in a strong position to win the championship after 10 races — never tires of the crowd-surfacing and adulation of the Union Jack waving home crowd.
Hamilton dismissed any doubts over his patriotism and his first thought after sealing his 80th grand prix win was to slow down to collect a red, white and blue flag from a track-side safety marshal.
A Mercedes one-two was a marked improvement on the last race in Austria when Bottas finished third and Hamilton back in fifth in the team’s worst performance of the season.
By finishing 15th — including a 10-second penalty for the crash — four-time world champion Vettel now trails Hamilton by 100 points in fourth place in the standings.
What they said
Hamilton: "I can't tell you how proud I am to be here today in front of my home crowd. There's so many British flags out there and every year I see it and you think you get used to it but it feels like the first time and I'm forever grateful to everyone out here I hope you enjoyed the day."
Bottas: "I don't know what to say, congrats to Lewis, he got a free stop and got past me there. Not really my day but the pace was good. There are positives for yesterday in qualifying as I was quickest on track. I'll keep fighting this season, it's not over yet."
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