Silverstone (United Kingdom) (AFP)

Max Verstappen won F1's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Lewis Hamilton thanks to a better tire management strategy, ending the dominance the Mercedes had held since the start of the season.

If this is the first time in five races in 2020 that the Mercedes have been beaten, Lewis Hamilton retains the lead in the world championship with a 30-point lead.

But his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who finished 3rd on Sunday, goes through Verstappen for 2nd place in the provisional classification.

"I didn't see it coming," said the 22-year-old Dutch driver who won his 9th victory in Formula 1. He finished more than 11 seconds ahead of the six-time world champion and controlled the race. race thanks to a better choice of tires, its tires having worn less during the race than those of Mercedes.

Proof of the best tactics followed by the Austrian Honda-powered team, Max Verstappen's racing engineer climbed the podium alongside him to receive the winning constructor's trophy.

Lewis Hamilton, for his part, indicated that the degradation of his own tires had surprised him and that he did not know the cause.

He won the British Grand Prix last week, contested on the same track at Silverstone, on three wheels after having a puncture on the last lap.

Bottas had also punctured and these setbacks no doubt prompted Mercedes to observe this Sunday a greater caution.

Lewis Hamilton, however, welcomed on Sunday that the victory of Verstappen and Red Bull will bring more uncertainty in the championship. This year he is aiming for a 7th title which would make him the equal of the legendary German driver Michael Schumacher.

- Leclerc 4th -

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) took 4th place, the Monegasque making only one pit stop to change tires while the first three made two.

This allowed him to compensate for the current lack of competitiveness of Ferraris, illustrated by the 12th place of his teammate Sebastian Vettel who did not help his affairs by doing a spin during the race.

Contested in hot and fairly windy weather, the race was punctuated by pit stops.

Bottas, who started from pole position, took the lead in the opening laps but had to leave it to Verstappen, stopping before him to change tires. It was then Hamilton who tried to challenge the young Dutchman for victory but without success due to the greater wear of his tires.

Mercedes opted from the start for softer tires which should in principle allow better grip but risked wearing out faster. Red Bull chose to race with harder tires, which in principle were slower but which, thanks to their greater resistance, allowed Verstappen to turn faster than the Mercedes throughout the race.

“We managed our tires from the start” of the race, said Valtteri Bottas, but that did not stop them from blistering.

"At the start of the race I tried to keep in contact with Valtteri and then I tried to hold onto my tires but there was nothing that could be done" to prevent blisters from forming and reduce their performance. share indicated Lewis Hamilton.

A sign of his relaxation, Verstappen allowed himself in the last laps of the race to joke with his engineer, reminding him to drink and wash his hands.

As for the French drivers, Esteban Ocon (Renault) finished in a good 8th place despite poor qualifying. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri- Honda) finished 11th and Romain Grosjean (Haas-Ferrari) 16th.

Like all those disputed previously, this 5th Grand Prix of the season was held behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The next scheduled race is the Spanish Grand Prix, to be held in Barcelona next weekend, also without spectators.

© 2020 AFP