HAMILTON WINS BRITISH GRAND PRIX IN DRAMATIC FINISH
In what was predominantly quite a quiet race ended in a way no one could have predicted with a sudden wave of front right tyres deflating and causing chaos...
After a good first lap with plenty of battles up and down the grid as the drivers vie for position it all the excitement got a bit too much for the Red Bull of Alex Albon as he collided with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen causing the Haas to spin off into the gravel trap and then the armco barrier which left him beached and with just three wheels on his car.
Nothing much happened after that until 10 laps later on lap 11 when Daniil Kvyat's Alpha Tauri caught just a bit too much kerb going through Maggotts and Becketts which threw his car through the gravel trap and into the leaving the Russian in a similar situation to Magnussen a few laps earlier but Kvyat exited his car which only had two wheels left. Both incidents bought out the Safety Car which at the time of Kvyat's crash we had had only six laps on proper racing.
With Perez out of this race and for the foreseeable future after testing positive for COVID-19, it was former Force India (now Racing Point) driver Nico Hulkenberg to step in after 500 days away from Formula One after being dropped for Esteban Ocon for this season. However it wasn't quite the return to F1 Hulkenberg had hoped for as his Racing Point simply wouldn't start being he failed to get out the garage.
The drama began with Bottas' Mercedes around lap 47 - 49 out of 52, then we saw Sainz's right front deflate just moments after causing him to drop out of the points, then on the final lap Hamilton had the same fate as his teammate but luckily for the reigning World Champion was far enough ahead of second placed Verstappen and near enough the finish to take his seventh British Grand Prix win and an 87th career victory putting him just four wins off equalling Schumacher's record of 91.
With all the drama of the sudden tyre issue sweeping the grid some stand out performances include Charles Leclerc who managed a third place finish in the under performing Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo managed fourth in the Renault and Albon who after his collision with Magnussen and the five second penalty which followed and the two pit stops which left him dead last for the majority of the race managed an incredible 8th place.
This tweet from the Formula One account sums up the end to this race perfectly
The next race is the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix (Silverstone) this is the second double header of the season.