Hamilton ready for record six at Silverstone

SILVERSTONE: Silverstone can provide the antidote to Austria for Lewis Hamilton this weekend, with a record sixth British Grand Prix win – and his fifth in a row – there for the taking.

The reigning Formula One world champion has been unbeatable in front of his home crowd in recent years and is firm favourite to continue that success and retake the overall lead from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Last Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix saw Hamilton’s first retirement since 2016, ending a record run of 33 successive scoring finishes, and left him a point behind his German rival after a race won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Silverstone should come back to Mercedes’ strengths.

The team have gone through what went wrong in Spielberg, where tactical errors were made and Valtteri Bottas also retired due to mechanical failure, and intend to hit back hard.

“When you get knocked down to the ground, you can either stay on the floor or get back up and fight even harder. I am ready to fight,” Hamilton told his 6.6 million followers on Instagram.

The four-time world champion can always count on massive support at Silverstone and that energy has inspired some exceptional performances at a circuit that hosted the first world championship race back in 1950.

The only Briton in a grand prix that comes a day after England play Sweden in a World Cup quarter-final in Russia, Hamilton will feel the love and is ready to reciprocate.

“I feel very proud to represent Britain, and to be at the top of the sport, and being the one raising the Union Jack, hopefully against a German one, is an honour and a privilege,” he said recently. — Reuters