Hamilton wins in Great Britain

Photo: Ben Stansall Agence France-Presse
The british driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates his fourth triumph in a row.

The British Lewis Hamilton has reduced the advance of Sebastian Vettel in the drivers ‘ championship to a single point on Sunday after winning the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Great Britain for the fifth time in his career, while his most serious rival for the title was slipping in the standings of the race following a puncture towards the end of the test.

“In general, we have been without blame “, said the pilot Mercedes, after having commiserated with his fans at the Silverstone circuit.

Hamilton became the third driver in the history of Formula 1 to sign five triumphs in Britain after the Scottish Jim Clark, between 1962 and 1967, and the French Alain Prost, between 1983 and 1993.

With this fourth triumph in a row, Hamilton has also repeated the feat of Clark, from 1962 to 1965.

The performance of the British was so dominant that it is said to have been able to follow moments of the race, that he led from the first to the last lap, on the giant screens around the track.

“Obviously, the pendulum has swung in the course of the weekend, noted Hamilton. These struggles tight may not be that good for the Formula 1 and for the fans. “

Vettel distanced

When they approach the penultimate lap, Vettel held the third rank, but the quadruple world champion had to settle for seventh place after the tire left front of his Ferrari disintegrated.

It was his lead to 20 points over Hamilton so as to be held the 11th of 20 races on the calendar, the next weekend on the circuit of Hungaroring, in the suburbs of Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

At least, the German was able to re-enter the wells and to go back in time on the circuit to collect valuable points in the standings.

“It could have been better, that’s for sure, but a disaster ? I do not think, said Vettel. I don’t think anyone in particular deserves a reprimand. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to do, but at this particular moment, in all [the tires] was ok. “

More remarkable still, the problems of the tyres of Vettel occurred immediately after those of his team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn has managed to save his place on the podium with only Valtteri Bottas, the team-mate of Hamilton at Mercedes, has managed to double it.

“Brilliant race for Valtteri, has launched Hamilton on the radio team. Work fantastic, the whole weekend. “

The Red Bull Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth and fifth.

For Hamilton, the victory, after two steps without being on the podium, came to confirm the correctness of his decision to pay a two-day holiday in Greece after the Grand Prix of Austria last week. This truce was bored of racing enthusiasts in London, who had booed the British, one driver at a promotional event held in the middle of the week.

“There is no reason to doubt my way of preparing myself, responded Hamilton. My performances are second to none. “

A laborious weekend for a Stroll

After three consecutive races where he had managed to collect points, including his first podium at the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan, the Quebec Lance Stroll, on Williams, has had to settle for 16th position.

Taking the start of the 15th box, Stroll managed to gain three levels from the first tour, but a stop at the pits early, as early as the 23rd lap, when he passed from the soft tyres to the super-tender, has not brought the desired results.

His team-mate Felipe Massa finished in tenth place.

“It was not a good race for us, has analyzed the Quebecers 18 years of age. Yet, we have had a good start in amount up to 12th place, but we had problems with the car. I think it happened during the ninth lap, but I don’t know what happened. We stopped twice, thinking it was a problem of tires. As the race progressed, the worse it was, ” said Stroll in the minutes following the end of the test.