It got tasty towards the end of the 2018 Formula 1 British Grand Prix with Mercedes and Ferrari going at each other at Silverstone with Sebastian Vettel winning from Lewis Hamilton to end the hard fought triple header.
A slow start from Hamilton allowed Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas to take the lead of the race at the start with Hamilton then colliding with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen after Vettel also went past him in the opening corner.
In the aim to follow his teammate, Raikkonen tried a move into the right-hander but a lock-up and a wobble meant the Finn hit Hamilton to a spin as the British driver dropped down the order – Raikkonen’s front left hit Hamilton’s right rear.
The stewards put the blame on Raikkonen and handed him a 10-seconds penalty which he had to serve during his pit stop. Bottas led the way at the front from Vettel with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in third.
Raikkonen lost a couple of places to the Red Bulls but fought his way to get Daniel Ricciardo in a bold move to take fourth. The moment between Raikkonen and Hamilton also hurt the Haas drivers as both lost places at the start.
They suffered front wing damage as a result. It helped Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg to be sixth from 11th on the grid with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc behind him, followed by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
Sainz like Hulkenberg also gained chunk of places to go from 16th to ninth after Lap 1. Meanwhile, at the back Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley retired while Force India’s Sergio Perez had a hairy moment when he spun on his own.
The Mexican got onto the kerbs and spun across the pit exit – just about evading the two Williams starting from the pitlane. The race settled on after that with Bottas leading Vettel and Verstappen as Hamilton was set on a comeback mode.
The British driver was complaining of damage on the radio but the team pushed him on stating of no issues. Within no time, he was already into the Top 6 after clearing the midfield drivers one by one.
The penalty to Raikkonen triggered and early stop as he pitted on Lap 8 along with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Perez. The stop for Vettel came on Lap 21 while Bottas pitted on Lap 22 with Hamilton doing his stop on Lap 26.
A safety car period for a huge crash of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson on Lap 31 changed the dynamics of the race with Mercedes choosing to stay out while Ferrari and the Red Bull pitted for a tyre change under the safety car.
It was a gamble since Mercedes didn’t have a fresh new set, however, under the circumstances, even an older set would have given them a better chance. Bottas held his lead on the re-start but soon it was safety car again for a clash behind.
Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’ Romain Grosjean came together in the right-hander – the two were side by side on the straight with Sainz seemingly managing to get ahead on the outside line but Grosjean lost control for a second.
Grosjean hit Sainz then as they slid across the gravel to retire. It was on the second re-start that the two Mercedes and Ferrari drivers came to blows for the race victory and podium positions.
Vettel on a relatively fresher tyres tried hard to pass through Bottas’ defences, but couldn’t for couple of laps. However, the German identified the corner to take on Bottas and he did it on the left-handed corner to plunge in – surprising Bottas – to take the lead.
The Finn then also lost the place to Hamilton who managed to keep Raikkonen off him. The Ferrari driver though made it stick on Bottas to take third as the Mercedes driver then had to defend all-through from Ricciardo.
At the front, Vettel took a fine win to extend his points lead with Hamilton fighting back to second and Raikkonen completing the podium despite serving the penalty. Bottas held off Ricciardo to fourth even though the Finn had a scary moment.
Red Bull had two cars in the Top 6 but a late spin from Verstappen meant he was forced to retire leaving Ricciardo alone in the fight. It helped Hulkenberg to finish sixth in the fight for fourth with Ocon in seventh.
It was a back and forth battle between Alonso and Magnussen post the safety car period. The Spaniard got the Dane on re-start but he got it back a couple of laps later. However, Alonso eventually passed Magnussen to be eighth.
Despite Alonso’s eighth place, McLaren lost the place in the constructors’ championship to Force India as they sit tied on 48 points but the latter’s podium means they are ahead. The fight for final point position went to the wire as well.
Force India’s Perez had it in his grasp but Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly barged through him as the two made contact but Gasly taking 10th eventually – the incident though was put under investigation with Perez fending off McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne for 11th.
The two remaining spots in 13th and 14th was filled by Williams’ Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin at the back. Even though Verstappen didn’t see the flag, the Dutchman was classified in 15th.
The retirement list was big with Sainz, Grosjean, Ericsson and Hartley joined by Leclerc, the Monegasque was told to stop by his team just after he had left the pits. He was under investigation for an unsafe release.
