Lewis Hamilton scored a record-breaking sixth British Grand Prix victory in an action-packed race.
The Mercedes driver got ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas thanks to a mid-race Safety Car period triggered by Antonio Giovinazzi. Bottas resisted a had already pitted to cover off the threat from the cars behind him but Hamilton, running longer, was able to save time by pitting during the Safety Car period and came out ahead of his team mate.Charles Leclerc finished third despite also losing out during the Safety Car period and falling to sixth. He claimed the final podium position by passing Pierre Gasly, and benefited from a controversial collision between their team mates.
Max Verstappen brought his damaged Red Bull home in fifth place after being hit from behind by Sebastian Vettel approaching Vale. The Ferrari driver had been trying to get down the inside but found his way blocked by Verstappen. Vettel was given a 10-second time penalty but finished outside the points anyway.
The midfield battle was also shaped by the mid-race Safety Car. Carlos Sainz Jnr benefited and claimed sixth place but his team mate Lando Norris, who pitted earlier, was unhappy with his strategy and dropped to 12th.
Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and the Toro Rosso pair of Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon claimed the final points places. Nico Hulkenberg, 11th, was knocked wide by Sergio Perez after the restart, the Racing Point driver damaging his car’s front wing.
The Haas drivers made contact on the first lap of the race and had to pit for fresh tyres, dropping them to the back of the field.
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Jere (@jerejj)
14th July 2019, 15:45
Hopefully, Gasly can keep this form for the remainder of the season, i.e., hopefully, this wasn’t just a one-off.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
15th July 2019, 0:03
Good weekend from Pierre, yes. And a great overtake on Vettel too. Great to see and I also hope he keeps it up. Very likable kid.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
14th July 2019, 15:48
Was thinking, if HAAS couldn’t take Rich Energy off their livery for whatever reason this weekend, wouldn’t be much better way to punish them than not giving them the TV time.
Anyway great race, really thrilling stuff. Something about Silverstone and the regulations had these cars working nicely to provide some great racing. Hopefully that can be replicated in races to come! Truly excellent.
mystic one (@mysticus)
14th July 2019, 16:05
I think, for whatever reason, rich energy sounds like they are trying to severe the relationship, to get off the contract, but hass playing it safe to not give an inch to rich, i wonder if rich energy paid all their dues already or installments? because they sound like they want out of the contract/payments… i feel rich energy about to explode…
Phylyp (@phylyp)
14th July 2019, 18:10
Re. Rich Energy: here’s one sarcastic tweet by Storey: https://twitter.com/rich_energy/status/1150395070409007104
On a more serious note, the sponsorship amount appears to have been roughly £15 million per year: https://twitter.com/rich_energy/status/1150439445289734144
Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
14th July 2019, 15:51
The race was really really good and its obvious that the new regulations do have a big effect when following a car. Following drivers are able to stay within 0.5 of the leading car which is great. Unfortunately the strategy that Mercedes followed screwed Bottas who was really strong the whole weekend.
The battle between Leclerc and Verstappen was intense and it became instant highlight. Great to see Gasly performing, while on the other hand the whole pace and driving of Vettel indicate that he is really considering retiring from the sport
OOliver
14th July 2019, 16:23
I thought it was the safety car that lost Bottas the race.
The strategy was on point.
Andy Dancer (@spartan2000)
14th July 2019, 16:56
Absolutely agree, race was gifted deliberately to H by F1 and very dodgy decision to use SC and not VSC.
David BR (@david-br)
14th July 2019, 17:12
@spartan2000 Economy packs of tinfoil aside, Hamilton would have gone onto hard tyres and won the race anyhow. The better question is: why was Bottas unable to challenge HAM even on medium tyres after the SC restart and how was HAM able to set fastest lap on 30-lap hard tyres versus BOT on soft tyres? Same answer as to why HAM was all over Bottas in the first part of the race, he was faster in the race.
erikje
14th July 2019, 18:52
He indeed was all over Bottas, until Bottas defeated him fair and square.
It wad the SC that saved the day for Lewis.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
14th July 2019, 18:52
@david-br I was expecting Mercedes to pit Hamilton one lap after Bottas, but they didn’t. As tire degradation was fairly low, the 1-stop strategy turned out to be the winning strategy, so I don’t know why Mercedes pitted Bottas that early. Even without the safety car he was very likely to lose the race.
Martin
14th July 2019, 19:35
erikje I wouldn’t call destroying your tyres and having to go on a 2 stop defeating anyone. As soon as Bottas pitted he had effectively lost the race and that was before the safety car.
David BR (@david-br)
14th July 2019, 19:59
@f1infigures Bottas knew and agreed pre-race to the second driver running a MHM strategy. What he (they) didn’t know was that the second driver – Hamilton in this case – would be able to do a MH one-stop. Hamilton’s tyre management has been better in general and the pace on the hard tyre also meant he was safe from Bottas getting past him on mediums.
@erikje The point I was making was Hamilton’s pace advantage all race. Yes Bottas defended superbly. But he was unable to mount any challenge on HAM once the latter was past, despite being on nominally quicker tyres. Or set the fastest lap. So whether Bottas could have held back Hamilton on any strategy is highly debatable.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
14th July 2019, 21:03
@david-br Thanks for the explanation. Still I’m a bit puzzled by how both Pirelli and Mercedes could get their tire predictions so wrong. When looking at the data it seems that most drivers were constantly improving their lap times, which seems to suggest there was very little tire degradation; a point proven by Hamilton’s fastest lap. So the strategies were dictated by physical tire wear, which turned out to be not very high, and probably lower than expected as well.
William Jones
14th July 2019, 22:34
@f1infigures The weather was unexpectedly cool, that’s probably a large part of the miscalculation!
David BR (@david-br)
14th July 2019, 22:36
@f1infigures I guess that mismatch between expected wear and the actual race was mostly down to the new surface being difficult to predict?
Martin
14th July 2019, 17:27
It’s hard to take you seriously since under VSC Hamilton would have still come out Infront of Bottas. In fact a VSC would have been better for Hamilton as Bottas wouldn’t have been able to catch up for free behind the SC.
The only conclusion we can draw is you have no idea what you are talking about and your opinion on the matter does not merit consideration. Have a nice day :)
David BR (@david-br)
14th July 2019, 17:44
+1 Hamilton was about 10 seconds ahead after emerging from the pits. Not sure, to be honest, what the lap time difference would be between a SC and VSC, but Hamilton would definitely have just been further ahead under the latter.
Adam
14th July 2019, 19:56
Hamilton would have still came out first even if they used a vsc
NeverElectric
14th July 2019, 20:40
Bottas was already committed to a 2-stopper before the SC. Hamilton, as we now know, was going for a 1-stop (against the team’s wishes, it would seem).
Hamilton would have beaten Bottas regardless of the SC / VSC etc.
Incredible that Hamilton was able to get the fastest lap at the end of the race on tyres that were 32 laps old – and that Bottas was not able to eat into Lewis’ lead despite Bottas having medium tyres on – new, too.
whiteq12
14th July 2019, 22:27
Dodgy decision?
Please tell me, what happened the last time they used yellow flags or vsc when there was a crane in the gravel trap? Crane near the track = safety car. Full stop.
GnosticBrian (@gnosticbrian)
14th July 2019, 21:18
If you read the article below this one you will see: “Valtteri Bottas says his choice of tyre at his first pit stop was a “mistake” because it locked him into a two-stop strategy“. [my emphasis]
MrG
14th July 2019, 22:05
Why do people keep saying Gasly was performing when even after VES had a damaged car from Vettel’s punt VES was still closing in on his teammate?
Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
14th July 2019, 22:27
It was kinda surprising to see Mercedes going for the first pit stop that early, especially since there wasnt any significant drop off. As it seems this was their initial plan, but my point of saying that Bottas wasn’t treated correctly strategy wise was that they allowed Hamilton to stay out for much more laps and didnt bring him after a couple of laps. This is an unwritten rule when the guys from the same team arebracing themselves- you follow the X strategy for the leading driver and the following one must follow a similar one. I don’t think that Bottas tyres were damaged/degraded, they just followed their initial plan for a two stopper but they didn’t follow a similar one for Hamilton. It was unfortunate coz in their 2.5 years as teammates , it was the first time that they battled on track for a big amount of time, and they both did a great show and respected the other
Kribana (@krichelle)
14th July 2019, 15:52
High speed corners do allow cars to follow better.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
14th July 2019, 18:47
And the tires are much improved
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
14th July 2019, 15:55
Seb is a really cool dude, he even went and apologized to Max right after the race, in parc ferme. But this is just embarrassing by him. Leclerc had great racecraft today yet he couldn’t handle two corners against Max.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
14th July 2019, 15:59
@panagiotism-papatheodorou
Didn’t see this, but good to know he has accepted blame and apologised.
Chaitanya
14th July 2019, 16:03
Yeah, it was very decent of him going to apologize to max today.
FLIG (@flig)
14th July 2019, 16:02
It’s good to see the new kids performing at this level, hopefully a few more of this caliber come along and we can have a new golden age.
Vettel is a sad sight at the moment.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
14th July 2019, 17:09
@flig We do have a few more drivers who could very well be future world champions in Norris and Russell, but the only problem is if they can ever get into a top car. I have my doubts about McLaren competing at the front for some time, and Russell just doesn’t have any space at Mercedes. Unfortunately for him, he’s likely to be stuck at Williams for some time yet. But I rate both Russell and Norris very close to the level of Verstappen and Leclerc. Currently, though, I don’t particularly see anyone in the junior formulas who has the potential to be a special star of the future, in the same way, that Ocon, Verstappen, Russell, and Leclerc showed in the past few seasons. Shwartzman looks decent so far, but there is still a lot more he has to prove.
mystic one (@mysticus)
14th July 2019, 16:11
sounds like vettel is looking for retiring… i dont remember him apologizing like this ever, nor accepting any fault! like in the race chat he sort of complained/blamed max!
GtisBetter (@)
14th July 2019, 16:16
He has done it multiple times
JV
14th July 2019, 16:55
It’s just the heat of the moment.
You know what you want to do, the other guy doesn’t do exactly what you want him to, so you blame him in the moment. Anyone would do it, but after thinking it over, most will realize who was at fault in the end.
Hugh (@hugh11)
14th July 2019, 15:55
I feel like Hamilton would’ve won anyway – after Mercedes pitted Bottas onto mediums I felt Hamilton was always going to dictate the strategy and 1 stop to softs. I didn’t really feel there was a need to pit Bottas there, which could’ve prevented us from having a monumental battle if they were both on the strategy, with Hamilton the slightly quicker driver behind Bottas defending insanely well.
But even so, those first 20 laps were as good as any I can remember.
Hugh (@hugh11)
14th July 2019, 15:56
1 stop to hards* of course.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
14th July 2019, 16:02
It did seem odd that Bottas on the mediums could only go as far as the Ferraris on the softs before pitting.
Seemed a weird strategy to me.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
14th July 2019, 16:28
+1
Edvaldo
14th July 2019, 17:10
Bottas is harder on the tyres than Hamilton. If anything, who gets to pit first has the advantage.
Hamilton was faster for a few laps even after Bottas had the new tyres on.
But his race for the win was done after the SC. If he went for hard tyres to go to the end he would’ve lost position to Vettel anyway, and out of fear of him being unable to overtake as Ferrari is still too quick on the straights, they did it the way they did.
falken (@falken)
14th July 2019, 16:43
Bottas stopped the computer said so. Hamilton followed his gut
Hugh (@hugh11)
14th July 2019, 16:51
I would be interested to hear the team radio between Hamilton and Mercedes when Bottas made his first pit stop.
Andy Dancer (@spartan2000)
14th July 2019, 17:00
Yes, Lewis don’t worry we contacted F 1 Assistance and ordered a safety car to help you during the next incident.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
14th July 2019, 17:13
@falken Mercedes told Hamilton to stay out. Why would they force him to pit, when he had decent pace and was certainly not going to rejoin ahead of Bottas, so he had nothing to lose by staying out? They did the same in Austria as well. This wasn’t a stroke of genius on Lewis’ part.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
14th July 2019, 15:56
Great race good win for Hamilton, the Leclerc Verstappen battle was excellent.
Mr G
14th July 2019, 22:08
Lucky win you mean
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
15th July 2019, 0:12
No not lucky really. Hamilton went from softs to hards and completed the race on a one stop. Bottas went from medium to medium and so was always going to have to stop again.
This means that Bottas would have kept the lead if there was no safety car, but he would have then lost it to HAM regardless as he had to stop a second time.
Jon (@johns23)
15th July 2019, 7:43
Kind of Lucky, but lets be honest, no-one was going to beat him.
carbon_fibre (@carbon_fibre)
14th July 2019, 15:57
Hamilton is heading for the most wins in a season record.
Depailler
14th July 2019, 21:37
Yes. For three reasons
1. He is very quick
But also :
2. There are a lot more races now than in the 60s/70s
3. Cars are a lot more reliable now than ever before – by a big margin
4. He has the best car
5. His team mate is good – but not great.
Not a hater – a realist
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
14th July 2019, 15:57
Very entertaining race.
Lewis was massively lucky with the safety car (but fair play, he acknowledged that), but he showed his class with fastest lap on the last tour with old hards!
Leclerc was brilliant today, massively impressed with Gasly’s improved performance and gutted for Max. I don’t think he did anything wrong all race.
Personally gutted for Lando. He missed out on good points thru bad luck and no fault of his own.
Ajaxn
14th July 2019, 16:04
Luck had nothing to do with it.
By the time of the SC, hamilton had already set fastest laps and was eking out a significant advantage.
Hamilton would have pitted on the hards anyway, with Bottas having to pit again. Hamilton had this
with or without the SC.
David BR (@david-br)
14th July 2019, 16:08
+1 Though good luck explaining that to Bottas.
Kribana (@krichelle)
14th July 2019, 16:08
This I do not understand. Particularly, from Mercedes, as they allow the drivers to run the same strategy. Why would they put Bottas on Mediums and then Hamilton on Hards?
Ipsom
14th July 2019, 16:12
This decision came when they pitted him from the safety car… if it was a normal pit with no safety car it might have been medium tyres
mystic one (@mysticus)
14th July 2019, 16:19
@krichelle
i believe they have multiple strategies available for drivers, and allow both side of the garage to fight (fair and if possible and not to endanger whole points/team)
ham was feeling the car better, and entire time he was at botta’s gearbox! only 1 lap he backed off to 1.2 gap, rest was between .8 – 0.4 secs so bottas didnt really get away, or ham made the life not easy for him.
seeing how ham was performing, with or without sc, ham had higher chance to go to the end with the hards when bot switched for meds… driver/garage side make the decisions together…
David (@davidjwest)
14th July 2019, 16:43
They had time to see Gasly’s pace on the hards – ie it wasn’t far off the medium pace so a bit of a no-brainer. So Bottas really lost out as he was leading and pitted first on this occasion.
However, Hamilton had the better race-pace presumably due to his setup. He was quicker on the Hard than Bottas on the Medium.
JammyB
14th July 2019, 16:10
+1 I have no idea how people are ignoring the fact that Bottas was not faster than Hamilton even after he pitted and was on fresh tyres, he was always going to have to do an extra pit stop more than Lewis.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
14th July 2019, 16:34
he wasn’t instantly faster – but consider his tyres need to warm up. But then just before the safety car, he was closing the gap to hamilton. If Hamilton had a normal pit stop – the same time as Bottas, he would have come out slightly further behind Bottas than when Bottas pitted.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
14th July 2019, 16:38
After his 1st pit-stop (before the SC!) actually BOT was closing the gap to HAM. I reckon it was a big gap indeed (17sec or so) but, the weird part is that BOT was on a 2 stopper although he started from PP so, he had priority for the win. For Mercedes to stop 2 times was unnecessary, that’s why I think BOT was screwed via strategy. They didn’t hurry to switch strategy and equip him with Hards even after HAM made his pit-stop and it was obvious that his 2 stops strategy is not going to work anymore at all.
Martin
14th July 2019, 17:33
Bottas couldn’t make a one stop work, too much tyre wear.
anon
14th July 2019, 20:05
@mg1982, I believe Bottas was suffering from problems with his front left tyre wearing out more quickly than those around him, so that was probably forcing him into a two stop strategy.
As for why Mercedes did not hurriedly switch strategy, I think the reason for that was because Bottas had been caught by the safety car by that point, so they probably judged it was not worth the loss in time and position that would have potentially dropped him behind the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers, who were then going to the end on the hard tyres.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
14th July 2019, 16:25
I can’t predict what would have happened in the 2nd half of the race if a safety car hadn’t happened, nor if it had only been a VSC, but what I can say is a free pit stop is lucky unless you have gained the full gap by your own driving alone.
It wouldn’t have surprised me if Hamilton had wom anyway, but it would have been a great battle that we missed out on.
F1oSaurus (@f1osaurus)
14th July 2019, 16:43
@eurobrun nonsense. Bottas wasn’t faster than Hamilton and he still had to make an extra pitstop.
Bottas would simply have been 20 seconds behind after his second stop. Zero battle in that case either
Bottas put everything on a Q3 setup. Gambling that Mercedes restrictions on attacking your team mate would keep him in front of Hamilton’s 7 tenths faster long stint pace. It failed. Again.
I truly wish Mercedes puts an end to this. Bottas focusing entirely on Q3 setup means he’s slow during the race. Which compromises his result and if he actually manages to get in front of Hamilton, he compromises both their pace