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British Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton clinched his 80th F1 victory and his sixth at the British Grand Prix, making him the most successful driver at Silverstone and earning Mercedes the Constructors’ Championship trophy, writes Naman Arora.
Despite losing the top pole position to team mate Valterri Bottas by a razor thin 0.006s margin, the five-time world champion had a gentlemanly battle with Bottas on the track and took the lead when the Finn pitted in lap 17.
With Bottas pulling in at second place, 0.037s behind Hamilton, Mercedes took their seventh win at the British Grand Prix and their eighth in 10 races.
Hamilton said: “I remember my first win here in 2008 and the feeling that I had coming out of Brooklands and going down the straight and seeing the crowd, it felt so reminiscent of that today – the excitement and happiness and joy that I felt were exactly the same as back then. I’ve done so many races now, and you would think that after so many races you’d get used to it and the feeling would numb down, but it felt like it was the first win I ever had.”
It has been a challenging last few weeks for Mercedes, after losing out on the top two positions in the Austrian Grand Prix due to overheating issues with their machines but the cooler climates of Silverstone helped both drivers, with Hamilton even pulling off his fastest lap on 32-lap old hard tyres.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport CEO Toto Wolff said: “To bounce back from our worst weekend of the season with a 1-2 at our home race is a great feeling. It was exciting to see our drivers fight hard on the track; it was a tough battle, but there’s a lot of respect between the two of them and they always left each other enough space.
“Lewis was struggling a bit yesterday but drove a very strong race today and even managed to get the point for the fastest lap on 30 laps old Hard tyres; we’re still not quite sure how he managed that. It’s a great result for him in front of his home crowd.”
The German Grand Prix will be the next race and it kicks off in Hockenheim in two weeks.
