Mercedes star makes history on home track

SILVERSTONE, ENGLAND Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton hailed his home fans after celebrating a record sixth British Grand Prix win Sunday and stretching his lead over luckless Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to 39 points.

Bottas, who had the pole position, finished a distant second after a safety car period turned the race decisively in Hamilton’s favour by handing the home favourite a free pit stop in a thrilling race.

It was Hamilton’s seventh win in 10 races this season and 80th of his career.

The five-time world champion, now on 223 points to Bottas’s 184, also banged out a late fastest lap, on a set of tires that had already done 30, to secure an extra point.

“Ah, what a day! I love you Silverstone,” Hamilton said over the radio as he secured the checkered flag with Bottas 24.9 seconds back.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, of Monaco, was third after teammate Sebastian Vettel rammed into the back of Max Verstappen.

Vettel, who had been third but finished 16th, had to pit for a new front wing and collected a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.

Verstappen ended up fifth. Victory lifted Hamilton clear of Frenchman Alain Prost and the late Jim Clark, who both won five times in Britain, and the champion pulled over to collect a Union Jack from a marshal on his cool-down lap.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am to be here today,” declared Hamilton. “So many British flags out there and I could see them lap after lap. Every year I’ve been coming, I’ve seen it and noticed it and appreciated it.

“You’d think you’d get used to something like that, but, I tell you, it feels like the first time.”

Montreal’s Lance Stroll finished 13th and was 81 seconds behind Hamilton.

The series resumes July 28 in Germany.