Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone over six-time defending world Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after both Mercedes experienced tire issues midway through the race.
After Mercedes dominated the practice sessions and qualifying, Bottas was the pole-sitter over Hamilton as the race begun and everything predictably stayed that way until Lap 14 when Bottas first pitted, followed by Hamilton a lap later. But shortly after they pitted, both Bottas and Hamilton experienced tire degradation issues that allowed Verstappen to pass Bottas on Lap 27 of the 52-lap race.
Verstappen would lead the race until Lap 33 when both he and Bottas pitted, handing the lead over to Hamilton for a few laps until he, too, pitted on Lap 42. That gave the lead back to Verstappen with only 10 laps to go and Hamilton was unable to make up the time difference as both Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Bottas held him up along the way and prevented him from reducing the gap to Verstappen enough to allow him to be close enough to challenge for the race victory on the last laps. Hamilton pulled back on the last lap and Verstappen won easily with no drama.
Five races into the Formula 1 racing season, Hamilton still holds a commanding 33-point lead over Bottas in the driver’s championship.
2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix Top 10
1] M. Verstappen Red Bull
2] Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
3] Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
4] Charles Leclerc Ferrari
5] Alexander Albon Red Bull
6] Lance Stroll Racing Point
7] Nico Hülkenberg Racing Point
8] Esteban Ocon Renault
9] Lando Norris McLaren
10] Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri