Vettel victorious at Silverstone, Raikkonen P3 as Ferrari push their advantage; Hamilton salvages P2 for Mercedes after first lap spin

The Mercedes factory team were desperate to put their disastrous double-DNF in Austria behind them. And everything was looking up after their ace Lewis Hamilton took the pole on Saturday and seemed set for another superlative Silverstone run come race day, a contest he had won four times on the trot. But all went sideways for the English pole sitter on the opening lap of his home British Grand Prix. After spinning his wheels when the lights went out leading to a slow getaway he lost the lead to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, his chief title rival and Hamilton also saw his teammate Valtteri Bottas get by him dropping him to P3. Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen smelled blood and made a move on Hamilton going into the tight Village complex. It didn’t come off and instead the veteran Finn pitched Hamilton into a spin. Fortunately for the English title contender his Silver Arrow was undamaged and he didn’t stall. But Raikonnen’s impetuous move saw Hamilton plunge all the way down to 18th in the order as the field hurtled past him, a long fall from grace from his top starting spot. From being favored to win Hamilton’s race was now about damage control but the four time World Champion set about that task brilliantly.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

First Hamilton ran longer than the two Ferraris, coming in for Medium tires three laps later than the Prancing Horses on Lap 25. He was also helped by a 10-second time penalty to Raikkonen for causing their first lap incident but it still didn’t look like it would be enough to get Hamilton back into podium position. However, a lurid crash by Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson on Lap 33 brought out a Safety Car (the Swede was unhurt) and while both Ferrari and Red Bull decided to pit yet again for fresh rubber Mercedes gambled and stayed out. While that trick hasn’t worked out too well this season for the team — see the debacle at Austria that was obscured by their twin mechanical failures  — it did this time, as both Hamilton and Bottas made up buckets of track position. After the stops were done Vettel’s Ferrari came out sandwiched between Hamilton in P3 and Bottas in P1. And while Hamilton voiced his doubts he and Bottas’ older tires were helped yet again by another Safety Car on Lap 38-39 when Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’ Romain Grosjean came together leading to a big accident (again, both drivers were unharmed).

Even with these respites under caution, Bottas was not up to the challenge of holding off Vettel on old rubber despite his best efforts. The German’s Ferrari finally made a strong pass for the lead on Lap 48. Bottas’ tires appeared to be spent, as next his teammate Hamilton got by him for P2 on the following lap. And then Raikkonen, who had an excellent dice to pass Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and really drove a storming race to recover from his penalty, picked off his fellow Finn for the last place on the podium. That’s how it stayed until the end of this 52-lap contest, as Vettel could never be caught, bringing his Prancing Horse home over 2 seconds in front of Hamilton’s Merc. Along with Raikonnen’s P3 finish that extended Ferrari’s lead in the Constructors’ points to 20 and Vettel’s victory saw him extend his Drivers’ lead to 8 over Hamilton. Ferrari have the momentum but it is hardly decisive at this stage of the season and Hamilton did well to recover for that valuable P2. Mercedes have two weeks to figure out how to maximize their race pace and defend what they regard as their rightful possession in this turbo-hybrid era — the Formula 1 Championship — from Maranello’s spirited 2018 onslaught.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time, the German Grand Prix at Hockenhiem. Hope to see you then see how it all shakes out!