Formula 1 headed to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix this weekend, a race which marked the tenth round of the 2017 Season. In first and second practice, Valtteri Bottas looked like the man to beat after topping both sessions. When Bottas was handed a five-place grid penalty however, a win seemed unlikely for the Finn. Lewis Hamilton then took pole for his home race, and would line up on the front row of the grid.
Lewis Hamilton gets fifth British Grand Prix win as Ferrari falter
After the initial race start was aborted when Jolyon Palmer broke down on the formation lap with a hydraulic issue, the F1 field lined up on the grid for a second time. The lights then went out and the race was underway, with Hamilton leading into the first corner followed by Kimi Raikkonen, while Max Verstappen jumped ahead of Sebastian Vettel at the start for third.
The safety car was then deployed on the first lap when Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr tangled with one another in the maggots and becketts complex. This forced Sainz to retire while Kvyat was able to continue, later being handed a drive through penalty for his actions.
When the safety car pitted on lap 4 and the green flag waved, it was clear that Daniel Ricciardo was the big mover at the race start, finding himself in 12th place when he overtook Lance Stroll after starting down in 19th. The inroads that the Red Bull driver had made disappeared when he had an off track moment on the restart however, dragging his Red Bull through the gravel, dropping back down to 18th place.
From then on in, the racing was spectacular, with Valtteri Bottas performing a diving move on Esteban Ocon into Stowe and overtaking Nico Hulkenberg later on for fifth. It was also a clash of team mates with the Sauber pair getting feisty out on track, with Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson going side by side through Stowe and into Vale.
At the front of the field, Hamilton led the race comfortably, setting fastest lap after fastest lap to gain a four second lead over Raikkonen. Further down the field, Hamilton’s championship rival, Sebastian Vettel, was stuck behind Max Verstappen and attempted to overtake the Red Bull driver multiple times. When it became apparent that Vettel could not find a way past, Ferrari pitted its star driver on lap 19 to perform the undercut strategy – something that worked for the team when Vettel filtered out ahead of Verstappen in the pit stop phase.
Hamilton continued to extend his lead from Raikkonen when he continued to put in the fastest lap while Red Bull continued to make inroads, with Daniel Ricciardo now up to eighth place after overtaking Stoffel Vandoorne.
Kimi Raikkonen then pitted on lap 24 and was followed in by Lewis Hamilton one lap later, meaning that that the front runners had pitted, rejoining in first and third. On the alternate strategy was Valtteri Bottas who started on the soft tyres from ninth place. In the pit stop phase, Bottas found himself in second and pitted to rejoin in fourth on lap 32 while Ricciardo also ditched his soft tyres for a set of supersofts.
On the faster supersofts, Bottas quickly lit up the timing screens, setting multiple fastest laps to close in on and pass Sebastian Vettel to move into the podium positions. Next up for Bottas was Kimi Raikkonen who was in second place. A puncture for Raikkonen on lap 49 allowed Bottas to grab second place and Vettel third. Ferrari’s race then fell apart when Sebastian Vettel also picked up a puncture on the second last lap. This promoted Raikkonen back up into the podium positions while Vettel dropped though the field like a stone.
On lap 51, Lewis Hamilton crossed the line to take his fourth consecutive win at the British Grand Prix while Valtteri Bottas headed up a Mercedes 1-2. Kimi Raikkonen managed to recover from the late race puncture to salvage a podium finish.
With Vettel’s late race puncture, Max Verstappen was promoted to fourth place and Daniel Ricciardo to fifth, marking a successful weekend for Red Bull Racing despite losing its current podium streak. Nico Hulkenberg equaled his best result of 2017 by finishing in sixth for Renault and Sebastian Vettel emerged in seventh place through his puncture to finish there. It was a Force India 8-9 with Esteban Ocon finishing ahead of Sergio Perez. Felipe Massa rounded out the points in tenth place for Williams.
Through this result, Lewis Hamilton has closed in on Sebastian Vettel in the Drivers’ Championship, with only one point separating the pair heading to the Hungarian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas has also closed in on Vettel, and is only 23 points away from the championship lead.
My driver of the day is Daniel Ricciardo for his performances in the race. Ricciardo suffered from a turbo issue in practice which meant that he started on the last row of the grid. A hard charge saw Ricciardo up to 12th by the end of the first lap before a mistake dropped him to the back of the field again. After a hard charge, Ricciardo raced into the points and finished in fifth which is the best that he could have hoped for after qualifying.
Results from the British Grand Prix:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 25 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 18 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 15 points
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 12 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 10 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 8 points
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 6 points
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 4 points
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 2 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 1 point
- Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 0 points
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, 0 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 0 points
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 0 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 0 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Ret
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, Ret
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, Ret
Drivers Standings after the British Grand Prix:
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 177 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 176 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 154 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 117 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 98 points
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 57 points
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 52 points
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 43 points
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 29 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 26 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 23 points
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 18 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 18 points
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, 11 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 5 points
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 4 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 2 points
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 0 points
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber, 0 points
- Jenson Button, McLaren, 0 points
Constructors Standings after the British Grand Prix:
- Mercedes, 330 points
- Ferrari, 275 points
- Red Bull Racing, 174 points
- Force India, 95 points
- Williams, 41 points
- Toro Rosso, 33 points
- Haas F1, 29 points
- Renault, 26 points
- Sauber, 5 points
- McLaren, 2 points
Main Photo
