The final laps of the British Grand Prix turned out to be completely different to the rest off the race with three last lap punctures.
The race started with some brilliant first lap action between the McLarens, Renaults and Lance Stroll in the racing point. Albon and Magnussen collided resulting in Albon receiving a five second penalty, which he served on his pit stop making him fall to the back of the grid. Kvyatt also suffered a big accident on lap 13 out of Beckett’s from a suspected tyre failure. Both incidents braught out the safety car.
On the second safety car most cars pit for the hard tyres, Grosjean didnt however and was promoted to fifth position on his used medium tyres. This made for some spectacular overtakes as the Renaults and Mclarens tried to pass him, whilst Grosjean moved alot in the braking zone, thus resulting in a black and white warning flag. Albon pitted again and makes a charge for the points.
Verstappen pits for softs on lap 51 to try for fastest lap, however Bottas gets a puncture and falls down the grid in before Sainz also gets a puncture and also falls down the grid. On the last lap we see Hamilton plagued with a puncture but with a 30 second lead thanks to Vestappen pitting, Hamilton just hangs on to win the race with Vestappen just behind, bringing an end to the climatic last laps of Silverstone.
Now for the driver ratings. These ratings are based on the drivers performance out of 10 throughout qualifying and the race. 10 being the best, 1 being the worst. In race order:
Hamilton-10- He qualifies on pole and wins the race, it was another spectacular drive from the Brit, even managing to nurse a three wheeled car to the finish line
Vestappen-9- A brilliant drive from Vestappen achieving the most out of the red bull, the only reason he doesnt get a 10 is due to the call to pit which cost him the rave win
Leclerc-10- Another stand out drive for Leclerc managing to get that Ferrari onto the podium.
Ricciardo- 9- Managed to get a 4th place in the Renault and made some spectacular overtakes, it would have been nice to see him a little closer to the Ferrari and challenge for the podium, getting stuck behind the Haas really hindered this.
Norris- 9- A brilliant drive for him today at his home race, made some good moves. However couldnt hold Ricciardo behind which is the reason for his 9.
Ocon- 8- He drove a decent race and managed to get some good points for his team.
Gasly-9- A great drive from the Frenchman with some brilliant battles and getting some good points.
Albon-7- A great charge back through the field from last from Albon, however his poor qualifying and first lap collision has hindered his score.
Stroll-7- He had no pace in today’s race and was swallowed by the midfield cars. However had a good qualifying.
Vettel-5- Unfortunately not another good weekend for the 4-time champion, just making the top 10 whilst his teammate is on the podium.
Bottas-8- A good qualifying and a good race gave him a good score, however the puncture dropped him outside of the points.
Russell-9- A good drive for him today in the William’s, lots of close battles and overtakes and another Q2 appearance in qualifying. However his grid penalty for not slowing down under yellows gets him a 9 instead of a 10.
Sainz-8- He was out qualified by his team mate but quickly overtook him in the starting laps of the race, he drove a brilliant race was looking good for some big points however his puncture demoted him from the points.
Giovannazzi-7- He drove a decent race gaining a few positions however his race penalty dropped him a few paces.
Latifi-7- He drove a decent race as well today and wasnt too far behind his teammate, although spinning in Q1 resulted in his teammates grid penalty.
Grosjean-6- He tried the alternate strategy which, in the end didnt pay off. He also made some dangerous moves across the track under the breaking zone.
Raikonen-5- Another poor performance from the champ today who was way behind his much less experienced teammate.
Kvyatt-6- DNF- Not a bad qualifying for him however he put it in the wall.
Magnussen-6- DNF- A good start but not a brilliant qualifying and was involved in the incident with Albon.
Hulkenburg-7- Didnt even start the race due to a power unit problem but had a decent qualifying on Saturday, very close to his teammate.
Motorsport3428 