#Vettel wins thrilling #BritishGP for @ScuderiaFerrari, extends title lead #F1

Sebastian Vettel passed Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages to win an entertaining British Grand Prix which saw Lewis Hamilton charge to second after being spun on the opening lap.

Mercedes used the safety car to get Bottas in-front of race leader Vettel, but the German used his fresh set of soft tyres to snatch the victory with a great move down the end of the Wellington Straight into Brooklands with five laps remaining.

Hamilton then made the move by Silver Arrows team-mate Bottas in the same spot a lap later to take second and Kimi Raikkonen relegated his fellow Finnish compatriot off the podium with a hat-trick of late overtakes at Brooklands.

How the British GP unfolded

Polesitter Hamilton fell to the back of the pack at the start after being spun by Raikkonen who locked his front-right tyre at the turn three Village corner and tangled the Mercedes.

The Finn continued behind the two Red Bulls but was hit with a 10 second time penalty, which revoked his move on Daniel Ricciardo into Copse corner whilst Hamilton was in 17^th place.

Vettel took a great lead after flying passed Hamilton off the line and built a comfortable gap in the opening part of his first stint, making a six second lead over Bottas.

Hamilton pushed his way into the points by lap six and got into sixth four laps later, which saw the Briton already more than a pit-stop distance behind the leader.

Bottas began to slowly close the gap on at Vettel as his SF71H racer struggled on it’s tyres and the lead dropped to 4.8 seconds when the German pitted from the lead on lap 20.

He came in a lap later, and Mercedes made the call for Hamilton to let the Finn by with a clean swap at Brooklands on the next lap, and Bottas started to eat into Vettel’s gap.

Bottas brought the lead down to 2.4 seconds when Marcus Ericsson lost the rear of his Ferrari-powered C37 when he turned with DRS wide open and flew across the gravel and into the tyre wall.

That deployed the safety car with 20 laps remaining and Ferrari took advantage by pitting Vettel, but Mercedes kept Bottas out to claim the lead.

Behind the leaders, Hamilton was promoted to third as Verstappen and Raikkonen pitted, with Ricciardo remaining in sixth place just as the safety car was called right after he made his final stop and gave track position to Raikkonen.

Bottas hit full-throttle at the end of the Hangar Straight on lap 37 and held Vettel behind, as Raikkonen and Verstappen fought in a great battle which went in the favour of the Red Bull.

The race was once again equalised when an accident at Copse corner between Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean, when Sainz charged on the outside but Grosjean wobbled at the apex.

Both slid into the gravel and retired, with Grosjean ending a gloomy race that saw the Frenchman fall out of the points on the first lap thanks to a clash with Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

The safety car’s second period lasted three laps, giving the field an 11-lap dash until the end.

Bottas kept his cool with Vettel at the restart before falling under pressure into Brooklands at the end of the Wellington Straight for three consecutive laps.

He held the lead until lap 47, when Vettel saw the opportunity of a small wobble from the Mercedes exiting Aintree corner onto the Wellington Straight and got into the slipstream on the rundown towards Brooklands before making the move stick onto the inside very late as Bottas failed to cover the Ferrari.

Vettel took the lead and held on until the end to claim his 51^st career victory, while Hamilton made his way passed Bottas at the same corner lap later.

Raikkonen went by Verstappen before the Dutchman retired due to a brake-by-wire failure then flew ahead of Bottas around the outside at Brooklands corner with DRS assistance and grabbing third place.

Bottas kept Ricciardo behind to settle for fourth, with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg finishing sixth after jumping five places during a crazy start to the Grand Prix.

Force India’s Esteban Ocon came home in seventh place and in-front of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who had a fiery encounter with Magnussen at the end and kept eighth place.

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 and took the final point on offer.

The other Force India of Sergio Perez ended the race in 11^th place and ahead of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne who was 12^th and the two FW41 Williams of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin who finished at the rear.

Formula 1 2018 Rolex British Grand Prix Race Results Classification (52 Laps)

2018 Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship Standings

1. Sebastian Vettel – 171 Points.
2. Lewis Hamilton – 163 Points.
3. Kimi Raikkonen – 116 Points.
4. Daniel Ricciardo – 106 Points.
5. Valtteri Bottas – 104 Points.
6. Max Verstappen – 93 Points.
7. Nico Hulkenberg – 42 Points.
8. Fernando Alonso – 40 Points.
9. Kevin Magnussen – 39 Points.
10. Carlos Sainz – 28 Points.

2018 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Scuderia Ferrari – 287 Points.
2. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 267 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 199 Points.
4. Renault Sport F1 Team – 70 Points.
5. Haas F1 Team – 51 Points.
6. Sahara Force India F1 Team – 48 Points.
7. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 48 Points.
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 20 Points.
9. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 16 Points.
10. Williams Martini Racing – 4 Points.

Round 11 of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the historic Hockenheim in Germany for the Formula 1 Emirates Grosser Preis Von Deutschland 2018 from Friday July 20- Sunday July 22.