Hamilton takes hard fought British GP victory

F1 Grand Prix, GP Great Britain, Silverstone Circuit

Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone from pole position, mastering difficult weather conditions and fighting back after a difficult start. Rosberg similarly fought back to second with Vettel completing the podium thanks to a perfectly timed switch to intermediate tyres.

As the lights went out, Felipe Massa rocketed off the line and passed both Mercedes cars to take the lead of the race. Bottas similarly made an impressive start and initially got the advantage over Mercedes, but saw Hamilton fight back on the Wellington straight. Rosberg slotted in behind into 4th with Hulkenberg behind finding a way past the Ferraris to move up into 5th place.

At the back, Grosean and Maldonado bumped into each other, forcing both into retirement on the first lap. Alonso meanwhile locked up his wheels as he tried to avoid the Lotuses, and as a result bumped into his team mate. Button's car immediately switched off while Alonso went into the pitlane for a new front wing.

A safety car was brought on track for 3 laps in order to get the track clean again, making it a bit less painful for Alonso to see his crew struggle to get a new nose fitted on his car. The Spaniard's McLaren at the same time got hard Pirelli tyres fitted as well.

At the restart, Hamilton attempted to immediately attack Massa as they passed the safety car line, but being on the outside of the racing line at club corner, Hamilton went off track and subsequently struggled for traction on the pit straight, allowing Bottas to move back up into second place.

After Nasr already failed to start the race due to a technical problem, Verstappen became the 5th retirement on lap 5 as he got oversteer in turn 1, ending his race in the gravel.

By lap 9, Bottas closed up to 0.6s to the leader. Hamilton followed at 8 tenths, with Rosberg another second further down. Hulkenberg in 5th is 6 seconds down on the leading 4, and only narrowly ahead of Raikkonen and Kvyat. Vettel is behind in 8th after having made a pass on Perez. Sainz is 10th, ahead of Ricciardo, Ericsson, Alonso, Stevens and Merhi.

Meanwhile, with Bottas seemingly having more pace, the Finn is repeatedly asked not to race, but one lap later was told that if there really was a possibility, he can make a "very clean pass, and you have to pull away when you're in the lead". With Hamilton and Rosberg closely behind and waiting for a mistake to happen, Bottas' task was a rather difficult one.

On lap 11, Ricciardo was the first to make a regular stop to change to hards. Sainz followed suit one lap later. Two laps later, after having just passed Hulkenberg for 5th, Raikkonen pits to change to hard tyres.

On lap 15, Mercedes tried to force Williams into a pitstop as pit mechanics rushed out of the box to prepare for a stop, only to return to their seating positions when the leading four passed by the pit entry.

On lap 19, as clouds above the circuit seem to thicken, Hamilton is the first to blink and pits for hard tyres. Massa follows suit with Rosberg behind him on the next lap, with Bottas continuing. Mercedes did the better stop there, but Massa had a few cm of advantage as they ran side by side through the pitlane, allowing him to get back out on track ahead of Rosberg. Hamilton though is a few seconds ahead by that time.

Bottas pitted the next lap and rejoined the track in between Massa and Rosberg. If they'd tried it purposefully, it wouldn't have worked.

On lap 23, Ricciardo is the 6th man to retire from the race while Hamilton records the fastest lap of the race to increase his gap to Massa up to 4 seconds. Bottas and Rosberg were both still extremely close to Massa with Raikkonen in 5th about 11 seconds down. Vettel was 6th, followed by Kvyat, Hulkenberg, Sainz and Perez.

Hamilton very slowly built his advantage to 6.5s into lap 34, until Sainz came to a stop on the runoff of the final corner. The dangerous position this put the marshalls in forced a virtual safety car, requiring all drivers to drive to a target laptime. Approximately 1.5 laps later, the racetrack is green again, just at the same time as the crowds start to open their umbrellas.

One lap later, the track is too wet for slicks at Woodcot and Luffield, but still very dry at other areas.

On lap 38, Raikkonen, Ericsson, Alonso, Stevens and Merhi changed to intermediates. Rosberg at the same time managed to get past Bottas as the latter struggled to get the power down.

On lap 41, Hamilton is told the shower is over and the next is coming is the next few minutes.

Rosberg meanwhile found a way past Massa as well, catching Hamilton rapidly at the same time. Two laps later, the gap has reduced to just two seconds. Hamilton reported to have no more tyres left and pitted to switch to intermediates. Vettel did the same, with Rosberg soon requesting an immediate stop.

With rain suddenly coming down hard, Massa and Williams also pitted for inters, with Bottas stacking up behind him.

Hamilton and Vettel's earlier stops allowed them to gain considerably, with Hamilton back in the lead, 8.9 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Vettel moved up into third as both Williams lost a position.

Further back, Ericsson had switched back to medium tyres, only to go back on inters 1 lap later as the second shower entered the track. The strategy failure cost them a points scoring position, handing it to Fernando Alonso who looked set to score his first points of the season in the troubled McLaren MP4-30.

3 laps from the end, Raikkonen pitted another time to get new intermediates, having burnt his tyres in between the two showers.

Other than that, no changes in positions occurred later one, with Hamilton taking the British GP victory by 11s over Rosberg. Vettel finished third, ahead of both Williams. Kvyat challenged Bottas at the end, but failed to come close enough and finished 6th. Hulkenberg got 7th, Raikkonen 8th, Perez 9th and Alonso takes 10th.