2018 British Grand Prix F1: Vettel wins at Silverstone ahead of Hamilton, ending the Briton's home winning run

There was no sixth Silverstone victory for Lewis Hamilton. Despite the Briton’s dominance over the last four years at the 2018 British Grand Prix, the celebrations for the win at the end of the race took place in the Ferrari garage and with Sebastian Vettel as the protagonist, a party of the highest order, as once again the German defied the predictions and keeps spicing up this 2018 World Championship.

Vettel’s key to victory lay first at the start, where he snatched the lead from Lewis Hamilton. Then, just a couple of corners later, Kimi Räikkönen attacked Hamilton, who had also been passed by Bottas, and there was contact between the two: the Briton ended up off the track and rejoining in 18th place, while the Finn escaped the incident with a ten-second penalty after race direction ruled that it had been his fault.

Hamilton had to fight back, reaching sixth place, while Vettel enjoyed a quiet race. The script seemed written, but an accident involving Eriksson brought out the safety car and the race changed completely. The Ferrari took the opportunity to change tyres, Bottas stayed in first place and Hamilton climbed to third, as the Red Bulls also pitted.

Once the race resumed, and was again neutralised when the safety car had to come out once more because Grosjean collected Sainz, Vettel began his attack on Bottas. The Finn resisted as best he could and held the lead for a few laps, but in the end Vettel overtook him and secured the win, his fourth of the season, a victory he did not expect and which cements his status as championship leader.

Hamilton ultimately salvaged the day by finishing second, as he had no trouble taking second place from Bottas. No team orders were needed for that overtake, as the other driver at Mercedes burned through his tyres in a fruitless attempt to defend the lead, and he could not even hold onto third place to reach the final podium, something that Kimi Räikkönen, the unwitting judge of the race, did manage.

As for the Spanish drivers, we have already said that Sainz did not finish the race, even though he was heading for points after a spectacular start in which he gained several positions. Fernando Alonso fared better, as he not only finished the race but also did so within the top ten. With the 4 points gained for finishing eighth, Alonso now has 40 points and is eighth in the World Championship standings.

And speaking of points and the standings, as we said earlier, Sebastian Vettel remains in the lead and with these 25 points now has a total of 171 points, which, incidentally, with this victory ties the legendary Alain Prost and will soon make him the third driver with the most wins in history. He leads Lewis Hamilton by 8 points, who is on 163 points.

The next stop of the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship will be the German Grand Prix, at the Hockenheim Circuit. This eleventh round of the championship will be held on 20, 21 and 22 July, so we will have a weekend of respite to enjoy the summer a little, though with the championship as it stands, I would not miss this race if I were you.