The tension intensified, as the cars lined up on the grid at iconic Silverstone. Hamilton did everything he could to challenge his teammate for the lead. But the Finn was stubborn to defend his lead, and wasn't going to be robbed of it by Hamilton. Leclerc, who had started to the race on the softs, maintained his third place, and was followed by Red Bull's Verstappen. Sebastian had taken an excellent start from P6, jumping a position right away by overtaking Gasly. Bottas seemed unable to shake Hamilton off, and there was a wheel-banging battle between the Silver Arrows. On lap 4 Hamilton saw his chance and squeezed bodily past the Finn. However, Valtteri disagreed with his teammate's intention to take the lead, and passed home hero Hamilton at Copse, which isn't a typical place for overtaking at all. This was F1 racing at its best!
Sebastian struggled with his race pace, and Red Bull's Gasly managed to pass him on lap 12. The Frenchman opened the pit stop roulette on the very same lap, switching to the hard Pirellis. Leclerc and Verstappen, who had a duel of their own, drove into the pits a lap later. Now it was all down to the pit stop crew; which one of the drivers would come ahead? As the Red Team released Charles from the pit box, he was side by side with Verstappen. Aggressive Max took the upper hand, squeezing himself ahead of the Monegasque. Having re-joined the track, the duo continued, where they had left off in Austria. Charles attacked his coeval on lap 14, and made a successful overtaking move! Their racing was such a pleasure to watch. I'm pretty sure, that both of these drivers will win the world championship in the future.
Bottas pitted for a different tyre choice to his main rivals; the Finn opted for another set of medium tyres. This meant, that Valtteri was on a two-stop strategy. However, lap 20 was a turning point in the race. Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi suffered a puncture in high speed, which made the Italian go off and get stuck on the gravel. Safety car was deployed. As Hamilton and Sebastian hadn't pitted yet, they now got a free pit stop! Both drove into the pits and switched to the hard compound. Thanks to the safety car, Hamilton managed to snatch the race lead from his teammate! Sebastian had also moved up to third, and his teammate Charles, on the other hand, had dropped down to P6.
Gasly had made it ahead of his teammate during the safety car episode, but soon after the re-start Max attacked his teammate, claiming back P4. Some laps later also Leclerc made it past Gasly. Lap 38 was another turning point in the race. Flying Verstappen had closed the gap to Sebastian, and was determined to attack the German. Which the aggressive Dutchman also did, making it past Sebastian. But Sebastian didn't want to settle for the fourth place. However, he misjudged Max's moves and ended up hitting the rear of Max's RB15! They both went off, but were able continue the race. Sebastian had major damage to his Lina's front wing, and he had to limp into the pits. The nose change dropped him to the very back of the pack. Max got away from the collision with less damage, and he was now in P5. What a fateful mistake from Sebastian again! What has happened to the four-time world champion? I was absolutely flabbergasted.
On lap 46 Bottas pitted for the second time, to fulfill the tyre regulation. His second place was secured, so he re-joined the track in P2, over 20 seconds off race leader Hamilton. The Briton crossed the finish line as the race winner, claiming his 6th victory on home soil already. In addition to the victory, Hamilton also grabbed the extra point for the fastest lap time. Bottas had driven a phenomenal qualifying and a perfect-looking race, but he was still beaten by his teammate. Leclerc completed the podium, which was well-deserved. Gasly, who finally managed to deliver, finished fourth, followed by his teammate Verstappen. Renault's Sainz was "the winner of the midfield", as the Spaniard finished 6th, followed by Renault's Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo's Kimi. Toro Rosso's Kvyat and Renault's Hulkenberg completed the top ten.
Hamilton has now a 39-point lead in the drivers' championship standings. It requires a miracle, if Bottas manages to win the world championship this year. Verstappen passed Sebastian in the standings, moving third. Sebastian is now 13 points down on the astonishingly-performing Dutchman, and Charles is only three points off Sebastian. It seems, that Sebastian is losing his position as the number one driver in the team. Something has definitely happened to Sebastian after last year's German GP, where Sebastian lost the lead and race win by driving off in low speed. After that it has been mistakes one after another. It isn't easy to turn the negative cycle around, but that has to be done in one way or another. Fans, me included, believe in Sebastian, and we know, that he still has so much to give for the F1 world. Hopefully this year's German GP will make new wonderful memories!
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti