Mueez Ajao
– Hamilton passes Charles Leclerc in the final laps and claim his eight home victory despite penalty for huge Verstappen crash.
– Verstappen’s race ended in the barriers, meaning he scored zero points while Hamilton took 26 points for victory and fastest lap, closing the gap to Verstappen to seven points at the top of the championship.
– However, as Hamilton celebrated in front of his home crowd at Silverstone, Verstappen was in hospital receiving precautionary checks following the high-speed accident.
– The Red Bull driver walked away from his wrecked car, but after a visit to the circuit medical centre, he was referred to a local hospital for further checks.
– Hamilton went on to win the race in remarkable fashion, dropping to second behind Charles Leclerc immediately after the collision with Verstappen, falling back to fourth when he served a ten-second penalty for causing the collision with Verstappen and recovering in the second half of the race to overtake Leclerc for the lead with three laps remaining.
– Leclerc took second place for Ferrari ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in third.
– Hamilton and Verstappen collided at the 180 mph Copse corner, resulting in the Red Bull sliding across the run off area and burying itself in the barriers.
– Leclerc initially looked comfortable in the lead of the race, and with the ten-second penalty hanging over Hamilton, the Ferrari driver appeared to be the favourite for victory.
– However, once Hamilton had served the penalty at his one and only pit stop, he ripped back through the field, passing McLaren’s Lando Norris at Copse, being given a position by teammate Bottas and passing Leclerc at Copse on the inside with three laps to go.
– The victory is crucial for Hamilton and Mercedes after Red Bull took five victories at the previous five races.
– Outside the top three finishers, Norris took fourth place ahead of McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
– Fernando Alonso took seventh after a strong weekend for the Alpine driver, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsuonda in tenth.
– Lewis Hamilton took an extraordinary eighth British GP victory after overtaking long-time leader Charles Leclerc late on, as the Silverstone home favourite recovered from a time penalty for a huge first-lap crash with title rival Max Verstappen on a dramatic afternoon.
