Mercedes´s local hero, Lewis Hamilton, has won the F1 British GP this Sunday at the Silverstone Circuit, after beating Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) on the antepenultimate lap. 

With Max Verstappen’s crashing out on the first lap, the Briton has finally won again amidst the ectasis of his fans, who have had the privilege to see their idol take his eighth victory at home in the flesh. This is Hamilton’s first victory after Spain, fourth of the season with Bahrain & Portugal. 

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top five. Carlos Sainz finished one place down in sixth. The Spaniard suffered a bad pit stop and then was unable to overtake Ricciardo, who was blocking his way during the last part of the race. 

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Behind Sainz came a sensational Fernando Alonso, who is managing to extract all of the juice from his very deficient Alpine machine. His outstanding performance has allowed him to come into the points for the fifth consecutive round. 

Hamilton’s victory has tightened the title fight at both the Drivers and Manufactures’ standings. Verstappen, who scored no points in England, maintains his 185 against Hamilton’s 177.

In the battle for the team’s title, things are getting even more competitive with Red Bull currently treasuring 286 points, just one more than the German team. 

The Blue Force has suffered its worst weekend of the season with both its pilots getting no points while their greatest rivals had its two drivers on the podium. 

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Verstappen crashes out after touching Hamilton  

Verstappen and Hamilton engaged in a vibrant duel right from the get-go at the F1 British GP but before the first lap was over they were involved in a serious crash.

The Briton touched the Dutch’s right rear wheel with his left front wheel sending the blue car spinning against the barriers at Copse Corner. 

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Fortunately, Verstappen, stunned but unharmed, got out of the car on his own foot and was taken away by an ambulance to the medical centre. Given the severity of the collision, the race was stopped for more than twenty minutes, the time required to repair the damaged barrier. 

Todavía estamos con el susto en el cuerpo. Así fue el tremendo accidente de Verstappen en Silverstone

— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) July 18, 2021

Leclerc keeps the lead at the restart  

Leclerc held on to his first place at the restart British GP, followed by Hamilton. Bottas, on the other hand, lost his third place to a very bold Norris. 

After the seventh lap, Leclerc had opened a 1.7-second gap with Hamilton, who was in turn chased by Norris. Bottas and Ricciardo completed the top 5 with Sainz behind in sixth. 

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Leclerc nightmare SF21 issues  

On the sixteenth lap came the moment that would ultimately decide the fate of the British F1 GP. Leclerc reported intermittent engine problems with his SF21.

Taking advantage of the situation, Hamilton went on the attack closing in on the Monegasque until he was just eight-tenths of a second behind. 

Having overcome his engine problems, Leclerc kept the lead of the British GP. Meanwhile, Hamilton made his pitstop on the 28th lap, and served a ten-second penalty for the Verstappen touch, before mounting hard compounds. 

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After overtaking Norris for third, Hamilton closed in on his teammate Bottas. By lap 41 the Briton was in a prime position to conquer the lead and so Mercedes ordered the teammates to exchange places. 

Hamilton then commenced his great pursuit of the Monegasque until he finally passed him with three laps to go for the checkered flag. 

Images of F1 British GP: Mercedes AMG F1.