Silverstone (United Kingdom) (AFP)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) won the British F1 Grand Prix in extremis on Sunday and crossed the finish line with the front left tire flat, just ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
The Briton thus won his 7th victory in his national Grand Prix and flies to the championship. His team-mate Valtteri Bottas also had a puncture in the last laps on this very demanding Silverstone circuit when the weather is hot.
The Finn was unable to score any points in the championship, finishing only 11th. Suddenly, Hamilton, thanks to this 87th victory in F1, takes off. He now has 88 points after four races (including three wins), or 30 ahead of Bottas (58).
While the race had been relatively tasteless with the two Mercedes prancing in front of their rivals, the last laps woke up the commentators, in front of the empty stands - due to coronavirus - because of the punctures of the two Mercedes and also of the McLaren. by Carlos Sainz who was also in the points.
“Until this last lap everything was going well. When I heard that Valtteri had a puncture I looked at my tires and everything seemed to be fine, but suddenly I had a puncture too (front left). I tried to keep the speed going without breaking the rim, ”said Hamilton after the finish.
- Verstappen misses the opportunity -
Thinking he had lost the race to the untouchable Black Arrows, Verstappen arguably lost the victory by stopping on the penultimate lap to put on new tires which allowed him to break the lap record and score. an additional point.
This stoppage also cost him the time that would have allowed him to overtake Hamilton just before the finish line, and therefore the 25 points of what would have been his most unpredictable victory. "I am very happy to have finished second," said the young Dutchman, however.
It was suddenly Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) who inherited an unexpected third place after doing most of the race in fourth position. He took advantage of Bottas' puncture to get on the podium while the Italian cars are currently experiencing a slump.
His teammate Sebastian Vettel, yet quadruple world champion, had to settle for the point of 10th place. But the unlucky one of the day was certainly another German, Nico Hülkenberg: called at the last minute to replace Sergio Pérez, coronavirus positive, at Racing Point, "Hulk" could not even take the start, his engine not starting not.
The good deal of the day, thanks to developments in single-seaters, a good strategy ... and these last suspenseful laps, was achieved by the Renault team.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo took 4th place, just off the podium, and Esteban Ocon 6th, just ahead of another Frenchman, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), 7th after a great race.
© 2020 AFP