Monday 15 July 2019 22:27, UK
Silverstone served up an F1 epic on Sunday with wheel-to-wheel battles throughout an action-packed race. Hamilton took another victory in front of his home fans, while several youngsters caught the eye with some stunning driving. Now, join the driver ratings debate...
It wasn't as dominant as his wet-weather showcase in 2008, nor did it require a surge through the field like in 2016. But this year's victory, a record sixth at the British GP, will certainly live long in the memory for Lewis Hamilton - who has gathered the skills and experience since that first win over a decade ago to master the iconic Silverstone circuit.
Hamilton rued his qualifying mistake on Saturday but he still only finished 0.006s behind Valtteri Bottas, less than half a metre across a 3.6-mile track, and said he wanted to do something "powerful" in the race. He always seemed to have more grip and control than his Mercedes team-mate in the opening stages and, after the two drivers swapped positions twice in an enthralling Lap Four battle, Hamilton stayed right behind the Finn and within DRS range until his pit-stop on Lap 16. Yes, Hamilton did get lucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but judging by his early form, Bottas would have had an immense challenge on his hands to keep the world champion at bay for more than 30 laps.
Hamilton cruised to victory from there, and summed up his pace by setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, on worn hard tyres. "This is the greatest single moment any athlete in the world can have, to raise their flag as the number one in their own country," Lewis said, whose 39-point advantage looks huge at this stage of the season.
Rating out of ten: 9
You've got to feel for Valtteri Bottas. The Finn has more poles than Hamilton this season - four - but has clinched just one victory from top spot. But while his other defeats to Hamilton came from poor starts and being beaten into Turn One, on Sunday Bottas was on the receiving end of some crushing bad luck.
Hamilton was all over the back of his sister W10 but Bottas out-maneuvered Hamilton on Lap Four, expertly surging through Stowe after being overtaken, and he then pitted to cover off Ferrari and Red Bull. Bottas, however, was caught out by the Safety Car four laps later, with Hamilton taking his stop and the lead afterwards. Knowing he had to take another stop, Bottas essentially knew his victory chances were up after that and had to make sure he stayed a safe distance ahead of the Ferraris and Red Bulls behind him. But whether he would have held Hamilton off without that Safety Car is still debatable.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
Have we just witnessed Charles Leclerc 2.0? That's not to say that the Monegasque hadn't already produced some great performances this year, but the lessons he took from losing out to Max Verstappen in Austria - and the fact the stewards saw nothing wrong with the Dutchman's overtaking move - were clear in his combative race-day performance at Silverstone. In fact, Leclerc described the events of the previous race as "eye-opening".
Giving Verstappen only the room that was legally required, Leclerc gave as good as he got in battle and, given he lost ground in the Safety Car phase, he deserved to return to the podium when team-mate Vettel inadvertently took out Max. No such misjudgements from Ferrari's younger man, who is showing the four-time world champion up on a consistent basis right now.
Rating out of ten: 9.5
This was an important weekend for Pierre Gasly. He still wasn't the fastest Red Bull driver at Silverstone - and that would still be some going given Max Verstappen's form right now - but he was closer to the Dutchman than he has been for most of this season and matched his career-best result from Toro Rosso with fourth.
A weekend's first practice session often turns out to be inconsequential, but for Gasly it seemed to set the tone of his weekend as the Frenchman topped a timesheet for the first time in his Red Bull career. Qualifying fifth, he raced well with Vettel and Leclerc, and team boss Christian Horner believes Silverstone proved a "great confidence builder for him".
Rating out of ten: 7.5
A fifth-placed finish equals Max Verstappen's worst race result of the season, but that doesn't tell the story of another fantastic weekend for the Dutchman. Verstappen qualified within two tenths of pole on Saturday, the first time Red Bull have done so all year, while he was then involved in an engrossing nip-and-tuck battle with Leclerc. Both drivers displayed sublime wheel-to-wheel skills, but it was Verstappen who the Safety Car benefited more and he looked to be on target for second place when he hunted down Vettel.
However, after overtaking the Ferrari around the outside into Stowe, he was shunted into by Vettel and span off into the gravel. Verstappen was in no way at fault, and while he somehow managed to continue, the Dutchman lost places to Leclerc and Gasly.
"I honestly don't know how I brought the car to the finish," Verstappen said, though he has strengthened his stranglehold on third place in the drivers' standings.
Rating out of ten: 9
Fast and opportunistic, Carlos Sainz's strong run on race days continued by securing sixth place for the second time in three races. Qualifying had proved a disappointment, slipping out in Q2 fighting instability at the rear of his McLaren, but an attacking start and then a timely Safety Car pit stop put him ahead of team-mate Norris, with the added bonus of hard tyres which took him to the end. Keeping Ricciardo's faster Renault behind in the closing laps capped a fine result.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
This was only Renault's second double points finish of the season but the French team, although still trailing McLaren, do have one major positive for F1 2019: The signing, and form, of Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo is now 9-1 up on Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying for the season as he secured an impressive seventh. Ricciardo lost out on the first lap to Lando Norris in the race but, after initially dropping back following the Safety Car, the Australian showed great wheel-to-wheel skills and was then dogged in his pursuit of Sainz in the closing stages - just missing out on sixth.
It's a shame not to see Ricciardo fighting at the front of the grid, but consistently scrapping with drivers in the midfield gives the Honey Badger the ultimate platform to shine in attack and defence. It almost suits him.
Rating out of ten: 8
A stealthy drive to eighth place and some more useful points for Kimi Raikkonen, who is keeping Alfa Romeo in the middle of F1's mid-pack. He was out-qualified by team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi as both Alfas just fell the wrong side of the Q2 cut line, but got ahead on the first lap and a pre-Safety Car switch to the hard tyres put him in play for a controlled run to eighth.
Rating out of ten: 7
Daniil Kvyat was the big mover on Sunday, rising eight places in the race to secure two valuable points for Toro Rosso. Kvyat says he "extracted everything from the car" but, like some other drivers, the timing of the Safety Car was key to the Russian's end result - he hadn't come in for his first stop before Lap 20.
Kvyat overtook a fading Albon in the last 10 laps and then had a "fun" battle with Raikkonen for P8. Still, his qualifying performance, knocked out in Q1 while his team-mate reached Q3, was rather alarming.
Rating out of ten: 7
The final lap of Nico Hulkenberg's race, when he overtook Alex Albon for 10th and the last point, meant the German ultimately took something away from a largely frustrating afternoon.
"It was just one of those Sundays where all the setbacks added up and cost us," Hulkenberg said, who lost ground during the pit stops, tangled with Sergio Perez on the restart and then suffered a brief power interruption when his engine went into 'limp mode'. Still, after a day like that, a point's a point.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
It was all going so well for Lando Norris at his first home race: Starring in qualifying before brilliantly overtaking Ricciardo on Lap One, Norris looked a good bet to finish 'best of the rest' on Sunday. But after being jumped in the pit-stops by Renault and Ricciardo, Norris' race was then hit with another blow by the Safety Car and, unable to get to the end on the mediums, the young rookie had to stop again on Lap 35.
He overtook Stroll and Albon, but could only manage 11th in the end and was so unlucky to miss out on points. Still, the future is bright for the teenager who now leads Sainz 7-3 in the qualifying head-to-heads.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
Alex Albon was one of the most consistently impressive performers across the Silverstone weekend, so it was a little gutting for the British-born driver not to score any points. Qualifying ninth, ahead of Renault's Hulkenberg, was a stand-out Saturday achievement but an electrical issue on his car complicated the team's Sunday strategy and Albon eventually ran out of grip in the closing laps as his forced one-stopper just fell short.
Rating out of ten: 8
"I think it's a weekend to forget," Lance Stroll said, who struggled for a Racing Point team that are pinning their hopes on a major upgrade in Germany to spark their season. Stroll was knocked out of Q1 again - that's now 14 sessions and counting - while he hasn't beaten Perez in qualifying all season. Though he has been very close to Perez recently, that really isn't a pretty statistic.
Stroll is a strong racer and he gained three places on the first lap, but was never really in contention for points.
Rating out of ten: 5.5
He is going to have to wait a little longer before he gets a car to really make an impact at his home Grand Prix, but George Russell played his part in an uplifting weekend on his British GP debut - and was rewarded with well-deserved recognition from the crowd, if not from a concrete result.
"It was great fun out there, driving flat out every single lap around a circuit as cool as this was a special feeling," Russell said. "Even before the race, seeing all the fans supporting us Brits was amazing." Fourteenth - ahead of the bruised Vettel - capped another solid weekend.
Rating out of ten: 7
The wait goes on for Robert Kubica, who has still yet to beat his team-mate on a Saturday. His Sunday was just as tough, and the Pole urged his team to "resolve the ongoing problems". After 10 races at the back of the pack, that might not be a quick fix, Robert.
Rating out of ten: 6
What a difference a year makes for Sebastian Vettel. Sublime at Silverstone in 2018, he sunk down the order in 2019 after that costly misjudgement behind Max Verstappen.
For whatever reason, Vettel has found the going tough since losing that win in Canada, even though his race had been progressing from sixth on the grid reasonably enough before he careered into the back of that Red Bull. How he now needs a 2018 vs 2019 reverse at home at Hockenheim next time out.
Rating out of ten: 5
Sergio Perez felt "P7 was on the cards" at the British GP but says an issue with his steering wheel meant he was powerless to avoid clattering into Hulkenberg at the Safety Car restart. And that ruined his race.
"It's so disappointing because we deserved a big result in our home race and we had the speed in the car to score points," the Mexican said.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
Antonio Giovinazzi was pretty close to Alfa Romeo team-mate Kimi Raikkonen before spinning into the gravel, which caused the Safety Car. The Italian insisted "something went wrong with the car" which the team will investigate.
Rating out of ten: 6
Haas boss Guenther Steiner added: "The best that our drivers could bring to the battle was a shovel - to dig the hole we're in even deeper."
You won't see many more damning quotes that that this season.
Romain Grosjean qualified 14th and ahead of Kevin Magnussen, but the two collided on the first lap and retired soon after.
Rating out of ten: 5
Kevin Magnussen. See above...
Rating out of ten: 5
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