It was yet another Mercedes 1-2 finish – but not as much of a snoozefest as usual with some pit stop strategies and bumper car action intervening – as defending Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton led his teammate Valtteri Bottas to the top two podium spots. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc calimed the third and final podium space in the distance.
Bottas eked out pole position over Hamilton for the race and Leclerc began in third while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen started the race in fourth. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly started in fifth alongside Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate, Sebastian Vettel, in sixth. With the exception of Vettel passing Gasly on the first lap, that starting order remained intact until Laps 12-17, when pit crossovers came into play and Hamilton took the lead which he then held onto when a safety car [caused by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi spinning into the gravel] allowed him to stay in front of Bottas from Lap 24 [when the safety car period ended].
However, behind the two Mercedes, there was chaos between the two Ferraris and two Red Bulls, finally culminating in Lap 39 with Vettel rear-ending Verstappen and getting slapped with a 10-second penalty which, combined with the damage done to his car, sent him plummeting to a 16th-place finish while Verstappen chose to remain on course and limped home to a fifth place finish.
With the victory, Hamilton pads his nearly insurmountable lead in the 2019 Formula One driver’s standings with 223 points to Bottas’ 184 while the battle for third has Verstappen with 136 points, Leclerc with 123 points and Vettel with 120 points.
Top 10 Finishers At The 2019 British Grand Prix
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari
4 Pierre Gasly Red Bull
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull
6 Charles Sainz Jr. McLaren
7 Daniel Ricciardo Renault
8 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo
9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso
10 Nico Hülkenberg Renault