Vettel has won the 2018 British Grand Prix in what turned out to be a thrilling final 10 laps, following two safety car interventions. Hamilton finished second, after recovering from P18, he had fallen back after being hit by Raikkonen in the opening lap. Bottas led for several laps but lost the battle to Vettel, before finishing fourth behind Raikkonen.
Vettel now leads the championship by 8 points.
The top ten at the British GP 2018 were: 1 Vettel, 2 Hamilton, 3 Raikkonen, 4 Bottas, 5 Ricciardo, 6 Hulkenberg, 7 Ocon, 8 Alonso, 9 Magnussen, 10 Gasly
Hamilton started from pole in his home Grand Prix, only to lose the lead to both Vettel and Bottas after getting hit from behind by Raikkonen. The Finn locked up and hit the Mercedes, sending both cars into a spin. Hamilton was now recovering from last after the first lap while Vettel led the race from Bottas.
After lsp 5/52, Vettel’s lead was up to 5s.
LAP1/52
Vettel powers into the lead
Kimi tags Hamilton, who drops down to P17! 😱
HAM: "Damaged car on the back, I think my car's broken, man!…"#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/eIcXKo2xkU
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2018
Hamilton meanwhile was on a recovery mission and was already up to P11 by lap 7. Raikkonen meanwhile was slammed with a 10 seconds penalty for causing the lap 1 incident. A few laps later and Hamilton was now in P8.
Raikkonen made his first stop, serving his 10s penalty before emerging in 10th place with some fresh mediums. “Other cars look to be struggling, you’re doing a great job”, Hamilton was told, he was in P5 then. Verstappen made his first stop from third before rejoining ahead of Ricciardo in P4, Ricciardo also pitted and rejoined ahead of Raikkonen and behind his teammate.
First pitstops complete at the #BritishGP 👊 They come back out on medium tyres and return P4 and P5 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/brH3UtyUxB
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 8, 2018
Vettel made his stop as well and rejoined in P2 ahead of the yet to stop Hamilton, Bottas was in the lead. Bottas also stopped and rejoined in third, a few laps later Hamilton let him through to second.
LAP 23/52
Hamilton lets his teammate past for P2
The Briton is the only leader yet to make a pit stop#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/3pC6wEkNjE
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2018
Hamilton finally made his stop as well, a 3.5s stop that saw him rejoin in P6 behind Raikkonen.
Ricciardo made his second stop on lap 30, he emerged with new softs just behind Hamilton. Yellow flags flew when Ericsson hit the barriers at turn 1, followed by the safety car. The Sauber driver was able to walk away from that huge impact. Verstappen and Raikkonen made their second stops but Bottas stayed out.
Vettel also pitted under the safety car. Hamilton, like his teammate also stayed out.
SAFETY CAR (LAP 33/52)
A HUGE off for Ericsson, as he loses it at Turn 1#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Q2qlmpX4wP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2018
Safety car was in at the end of lap 36, the race was back to green. Shortly after, Sainz and Grosjean went off and once again the yellow flags flew, followed by the safety car. It came in with 10 laps to go and Bottas led the field once more.
The final 10 laps were full of action thrills, with Bottas constantly fighting off a hungry Vettel. The top four cars were covered by only 1.6s. The action was entertaining to say the least, it was now up to the battles between leaders; Bottas-Vettel and Hamilton- Raikkonen.
LAP 44/52
Two Ferraris, two Mercedes, with INCHES between them! 😱#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/inuFpVnJE5
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2018
Verstappen the spun at the Club before quickly rejoining in sixth. Vettel then finally managed to pass Bottas for the lead. And Hamilton also passed Bottas, but Vettel had a 2s lead already. With struggling rears, Bottas lost third place to Raikkonen as well. While Verstappen retired after suffering gearbox issues.
Vettel went ahead to win the British GP 2018, away from Hamilton, Raikkonen and Bottas.