Race Notes - Vettel wins in Britain

By Mark Karp

Sebastian Vettel won hard fought British Grand Prix, at Silverstone in his Ferrari, by 2.264 seconds over Lewis Hamilton, who went to the back after first lap contact. Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari was third, 3.652 seconds behind the winner.

Vettel now ties Alain Prost at 51 career F1 victories. Vettel now extends his lead in the drivers championship by 8 points, Ferrari leads the constuctors’ by 20 points.

Valtteri Bottas (8.883s), after leading in the closing stages of the race and stuggling with tyre grip in the final laps, finished fouth in his Mercedes, followed by Daniel Ricciardo (9.500s) in the Red Bull-Renault in fifth, Nico Hulkenberg (28.220s) in the Renault was sixth, Esteban Ocon (29.930s) in the Force India-Mercedes was seventh, Fernando Alonso (31.115s) in the McLaren-Renault was eighth, Kevin Magnussen (33.188s) in the Haas-Ferrari was ninth and Pierre Gasly (34.129s) in the Toro Rosso-Honda was in the final points position was tenth.

Before the start it was a hot scorcher of a summer day. Pirelli is expecting a one-stop strategy, but with the warm weather teams were wondering if they will need to stop twice. The top ten starting on soft tyres, Hulkenberg in 11th starting on medium tyres.

The two Williams cars and Hartley will start from the pitlane.

Hamilton and Vettel on the front row, Raikkonen and Bottas on row two, Verstappen and Ricciardo on row three, Magnussen and Grosjean on row four and Leclerc and Ocon rounding out the top ten.

At the appointed time the grid cleared and the grid came around on the formation lap - the lights went out and the race began with Vettel adn Bottas getting the jump on Hamilton. At the first corner, Perez spins.

At the second corner Hamilton is touched by Raikkonen and Hamilton spins, going to the back of the field.

Raikkonen passes Ricciardo for fourth as Copse corner.

Hamilton reports to the team that he thicks the car is damaged.

Hartley is retired.

On lap 3 Hamilton is up to 14th.

At lap 3 Vettel leads Bottas by 3.9s followed by Verstappen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Ocon, Sainz, and Magnussen in tenth.

On lap 5 Hamilton passes Gasly for 12th.

Raikkonen is close on the tail of Verstappen in third.

On lap 66 Hamilton passes Magnussen for tenth, while complaining the rear end if moving around a lot.

The stewards hand Raikkonen a 10-second penalty for causing the collision at the start.

On lap 8 Hamilton passes Sainz, and then passes Ocon for eighth place - he is running 25 seconds behind the leader.

Raikkonen is complaining that he might have a problem with the front wing and he has a lot of understeer.

Haas team mates Grosjean and Magnussen are under investigation for causing a collision on lap 1.

Hamilton passes Leclerc, and on lap 11 passes Hulkenberg for sixth place.

At lap 12 Vettel leads Bottas by 5.7s followed by Verstappen (11.4s), Raikkonen (13.8s), Ricciardo (13.7s), Hamilton (26.4s), Hulkenberg (32.1s)m Leclerc (13.6s), Ocon (36.1s) and Sainz (38.6s) in tenth place.

Ricciardo is starting to close on Raikkonen.

On lap 14 Raikkonen pits from fourth, serving his 10-seconf penalty, and takes on medium tyres and rejoins in 11th, and then passes Magussen for tenth place. Alonso and Perez pit as well.

On lap15 Raikkonen sets fast lap at 1m32.270s.

Om lap 18 Verstappen pits from third for medium tyres. The next lap Ricciardo pits, Leclerc pits and a rear wheel is loose, and he pulls off the track soon after.

On lap 19 Raikkonen sets fast lap.

On lap 20 Vettel pits from the lead for medium tyres, his front-left tyre worn out, and rejoins in second, Bottas taking over the lead. Raikkonen goes wide at a corner, but continues.

On lap 21 Bottas pits from the lead for medium tyres and rejoins behind Vettel again, and behind Hamilton who has yet to pit.

Hamilton tells the team that the tyres are still good. Bottas on fresh tyres passes Hamilton for second place.

On lap 26 Hamilton makes his pit stop for medium tyres, and rejoins in sixth place. Magnussen pirs for medium tyres as well.

On lap 27 Grosjean pits for medium tyres.

On lap 28 Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m31.682s, and then faster still the next lap at 1m31.544s, lapping 1.5s faster than Vettel, nursing his tyres.

On lap 30 Ricciardo pits for a second set of tyres, switching to soft tyres and rejoins in sixth.

At lap 30 Vettel leads Bottas by 2.1 seconds, followed by Verstappen (14.5s), Raikkonen (17.2s), Hamilton (22.7s), Ricciardo (33.3s), Hulkenberg (67.5s), Ocon (69.7s), Alonso (70.2s) and Magnussen (72.9s) in tenth place.

On lap 33 Ericsson spins and crashes into the b

The safety car is out, and Vettel pits from the lead for soft tyres. Verstappen and Raikkonen also pit.

Under the safety car Bottas leads Vettel, followed by Hamilton, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg on hard tyres, Ocon, Magnussen and Alonso in tenth. The two Mercedes on medium tyres, while the rest of the top six on new soft tyres.

Hamilton reports to the team, “there is no way I am going to compete with new tyres.” The tean replies, “Lewis you are the fastest by miles, so don’t give up.”

Vettel tells the team that the safety car should slow down.

At the end of lap 37 the safety car comes in, and the race resumes with Bottas in the lead over Vettel, Hamilton, and Verstappen and Raikkonen close behind.

Raiikkonen passes Verstappen, but Verstappen comes back and repasses around the outside. In the same lap, Sainz and Grosjean come together at Copse and both are out. The safety car is out again.

At lap 40 Bottas leads Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Magnussen and Alonso in tenth place.

At the end of lap 41, with 10 laps remaining, the safety car is in again and the race resumes with Bottas again with a jump on Vettel.

Vettel pulls up close behind Bottas and is within DRS of the leader.

On lap 43 Raikkonen passes Verstappen for fourth place.

On lap 43 132289s

Bottas and Vettel battling for the lead going side-by-side, Bottas staying in front of the fast running Ferrari.

Raikkonen challenging Hamilton for third place. The top four running within 1.6 seconds.

On ;ap 46 Verstappen spins but continues, but

Vettel dives down the inside of Bottas and takes the lead.

On lap 47 Vettel sets fast lap at 1m30.696s.

The next lap Verstappen pulls off the track and retires with his car stuck in fourth gear. Hamilton passes Bottas for second place.

On lap 48 Raikkonen passes Bottas for third place. Ricciardo in now closing on Bottas who is struggling for grip.

The race ends with Vettel winning over Hamilton and Raikkonen.