Hamilton takes victory at the British Grand Prix despite major tyre issue

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2 August 2020 at 15:26
Last update 2 August 2020 at 16:19
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  • Louis Shaw
  • Editor

Lewis Hamilton managed to hold on to take first place at the British Grand Prix despite suffering from major tyre damage on the last lap. It was a disaster for Valtteri Bottas, who was in second place for much of the race, as he suffered from a puncture with two laps to go ruining his race. Hamilton's tyre completly burst on the last lap but he managed to limp home to take the victory despite pressure from Max Verstappen.  

There was major drama on the last few laps of the British Grand Prix as the two Mercedes and Carlos Sainz suffered punctures with only a few laps to go. Bottas was the first driver to suffer tyre issues and Red Bull made the decision to bring Verstappen in to make sure the same issue didn't happen to him. This decision could have cost the Dutchman the race as the same thing happened to Hamilton but the Red Bull was too far behind to challenge the Mercedes for the victory. 

Mercedes looked in a league of their own for the whole weekend and it was the same story on race day as the Silver Arrows totally dominated the field once again. 

Despite Mercedes dominance, the British Grand Prix was the battle of the midfield. Much of the action was between the McLaren’s, Renault’s, Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll and there was plenty of exciting moves as the drivers battled it out. There was plenty of drama throughout the race and the safety car was busy, coming out twice, mixing up the strategies and tactics for the whole grid.  

There was heartbreak for Nico Hulkenberg, who was in as a replacement for the COVID positive Sergio Perez, as his Racing Point failed to start up properly before the race meaning that he was unable to make it to the start and was therefore forced to watch the Grand Prix from the pit lane. 

He wasn’t the only one who’s race was ruined as Kevin Magnussen crashed out before completing a single lap. He collided with Alex Albon coming around the last corner and ended up in the gravel with his left front wheel coming clean off bringing out the safety car. 

The safety car returned back out on lap 13 after Daniil Kvyat had an almighty shunt completely destroying his Alpha Tauri. Most drivers came into the pits to make the most of the opportunity for a fresh set of rubber but Romain Grosjean stayed out and was the only driver on the medium tyre as all other runners chose to use the hard compound. By staying out on track the Haas driver managed to hold onto fifth place for a few laps before being overtaken by the two McLarens. He was then shown the black and white flag for his defensive driving and ended the race in 16th place after finally going in for his pit stop.  

Albon stopped early on lap 7 for the hard tyre after complaining about vibrations after his incident with the Haas and his day went from bad to worse as he was given a five-second penalty for causing a collision and will once again face questions about whether he deserves his seat at Red Bull Racing. He stopped twice and had a good second half of the race, making a number of good overtakes and finishing in 8th place.

There was plenty of good clean racing with Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon going wheel to wheel early on with the pink Racing Point getting the better of the Frenchman and progressing up the field. 

Lando Norris impressed at his home Grand Prix and made an impressive move overtaking Daniel Ricciardo and going wheel to wheel with his McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz. 

It was a dismal weekend for Sebastian Vettel who really struggled to get his Ferrari to perform and the four-time world champion only just scarpped into the points and in comparison to his teammate Charles Leclerc, who finished third, many will wonder why the German was so much slower.