Sebastién Vettel widens his lead to eight points above Hamilton after winning the British Grand Prix. The thrilling race at Silverstone was particularly dramatic for the Mercedes’ champion. Hamilton managed a very well deserved second position after being literally pushed back to last by Raikkonen who crashed against him on the first lap.

Everybody was confident of Mercedes’ upper hand after the four consecutive previous wins of Hamilton at Silverstone and the impeccable pole he managed the day before. Moments after the start of the race, the hearts of British fans at the stadium sank when Raikkonen sent Hamilton off-track on the first lap. Throughout the rest of the race, fans watched holding their breath as Hamilton’s delighted everyone with an epic comeback.

The race unfolds

Vettel took the lead from Hamilton on the first corner after a rapid start, typical of Ferrari. Moments later Raikkonen locked-up and slid into Hamilton’s right-rear corner. The Briton was sent off-track and to the last position from where he started a thrilling comeback. Raikkonen was handed a ten-second penalty by the stewards for his mistake.

Hamilton, despite sustaining some damage to his car, was already in the sixth position by lap 11 and didn’t go into boxes until lap 25. When he came out and at 11 seconds from Raikkonen, Ericsson’s Sauber lost control and crashed horribly against the wall. Fortunately, he was unharmed. Both Red Bulls and Ferraris took this opportunity to go to boxes but Mercedes decided to keep both drivers on the track.

Seconds after the end of this first safety car, a second one was triggered by a crash between Grosjean and Sainz with the Spaniard having to retire as a result. After this, a dramatic double fight started between Vettel and Bottas and between Hamilton and Raikkonen. In the end, Bottas, who was running on old tyres, succumbed to Vettel at five laps from the chequered flag. Hamilton and Raikkonen also passed Bottas seconds later relegating him to the fourth position followed by Ricciardo who finished fifth.

Nico Hülkenberg (Renault), Esteban Ocón (Force India), Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) completed the top 10. 

The controversy: Was the crash intentional? 

The supposed intentionality of Raikkonen’s crash has been the source of much debate, particularly as this is the second time in three races that Ferrari has had some sort of encounter with Mercedes on a first lap.

Hamilton made no comments right after the race but he did drop a suggestive line once at the podium: “We will keep fighting. Interesting tactics from their side.” Toto Wolff was rather less diplomatic when speaking about the string of first-lap crashes saying these had to be“either deliberate or incompetence.”

According to former F1 driver turned reporter Jenson Button “It’s definitely not intentional, (…) this is not the way anyone goes racing anymore. But it’s tough and there is high tension.”

In any case, the competitive level of Mercedes and Ferrari is as close as ever, making this one of the most exciting seasons of the last few years. Mercedes must get ready to give it all over the next few GP’s if it doesn’t want Ferrari to keep on widening its lead. Next date: Hockenheim, 22^nd of July.

By T.C. | Photo: www.formula1.com