Hamilton Wins British Grand Prix After Dramatic Collision With Verstappen

Calum Gill 18:16 18/07/2021

Lewis Hamilton made a late pass on Charles Leclerc to win the British Grand Prix, after a high-speed collision with title rival Max Verstappen on the opening lap.

After Red Bull's Verstappen had converted pole into the lead at Abbey, Hamilton in the Mercedes chased him down the Wellington Straight, but coming into Brooklands couldn't quite make a move happen. Then, as they headed along the old pit straight, Hamilton moved out to try and go down the inside of the 190mph Copse corner.

But as they rounded the corner, Verstappen pulled slightly ahead, and Hamilton tagged Verstappen's right-rear tyre, spinning the latter into the tyre barrier at high speed. Hamilton was able to continue, albeit in second place, as a fast-starting Charles Leclerc sweeped through to take the lead in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

Hamilton was awarded a 10 second time penalty for the crash, which, after the pit stops, dropped him to fourth. However, the current world champion upheld a blistering pace throughout the remainder of the race, and caught and passed Leclerc at Copse with two laps to go, after the Ferrari driver ran wide on the exit of the corner, as a result of Hamilton attempting a move on the inside.

It was harsh on Leclerc, who had led all but the final two laps, and drove superbly whilst battling engine problems. Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas claimed third place, after a slow pit stop cost McLaren's Lando Norris a home podium. Daniel Ricciardo recorded his best result for McLaren, ahead of Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz, and Alpine's Fernando Alonso. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) rounded out the top 10.

-Full weekend results

The inevitable collision happens

Ever since the lights went out for the first race in Bahrain, you thought it was only a matter of time before the two titans of the grid would collide. They had almost touched at the first corner in Emilia-Romagna and Spain, but this time the contact came, and with huge consequences for points leader Verstappen.

Hamilton, starting second on the grid after Verstappen's victory in F1's maiden 'sprint' race on Saturday, got away better and was alongside the Red Bull driver into the first corner, but Verstappen held him off. Hamilton nosed ahead into the Brooklands corner at the end of the Wellington straight, but was again held off.

Heading down into the 190mph Copse corner, he dummied Verstappen, feinting to the outside and then diving for the inside. Hamilton had more than half his car alongside Verstappen as they began to turn in, but backed off slightly as he saw the Dutchman was going to sit it out around the outside - and the Red Bull edged back ahead. Hamilton was a little wide of the apex and his front left wheel made contact with Verstappen's right rear in the middle of the corner, and the impact sent Verstappen flying into the barriers on the outside.

He climbed out of the car and was walking around before being taken to the circuit medical centre for mandatory checks after such a heavy impact and complaining of dizziness. Team boss Christian Horner said it measured 51G and Verstappen was taken to a local hospital for "further precautionary tests". In their written reasons for handing down the sanction to Hamilton, the race stewards said the Mercedes driver had "room available to the inside" of the corner and "did not avoid contact" when Verstappen turned in, and concluded that Hamilton was "predominantly at fault". 

So close for Leclerc and Ferrari

Leclerc and Ferrari's winning drought continues, despite leading all but two laps of the enthralling race. He benefitted from the first lap collision, and became the only polesitter of the weekend across all categories to convert top spot into a first corner lead. The Ferrari showed strong pace in the first stint and Hamilton was not able to challenge Leclerc, who was 2.3 seconds ahead when Hamilton made his pit stop to serve his penalty and change tyres on lap 27, dropping behind Bottas and McLaren's Lando Norris.

Hamilton passed Norris on lap 31 into Copse, and then closed on Bottas, who was ordered to let Hamilton by on lap 40.The seven-time world champion then had 12 laps to close an eight-second gap to Leclerc and pass the Frenchman for the lead. On the basis of Leclerc's pace earlier, it looked a tall order, but Hamilton was soon going a second a lap quicker than Leclerc and he was on the Ferrari's tail with three to go.

He went for the inside at Copse in a very similar move to the one that led to the Verstappen incident. But Hamilton was more cautious, backing off a little more, and then Leclerc ran wide on the exit of the corner allowing Hamilton to sweep by and extend his record of British Grand Prix wins to eight. 

The rest of the field

Pierre Gasly was 11th for AlphaTauri, ahead of George Russell in 12th, who finished just outside the points for Williams in their home race. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa-Romeo) took 13th place, ahead of Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and Kimi Raikkonen in the other Alfa-Romeo. Red Bull's Sergio Perez struggled after a pit-lane start, and came home 16th after a late pit stop in order to take the fastest lap point off Hamilton and Mercedes. The two Haas cars were the last running at the chequered flag, with Nikita Mazepin ahead of Mick Schumacher. Sebastian Vettel joined Verstappen in retirement when Aston Martin called him in with 12 laps to go. Vettel has earlier spun on the restart, and languished towards the back for the most part of the Grand Prix.

2021 British Grand Prix Classification (52 Laps)