Home win for Hamilton
England’s Lewis Hamilton wins record sixth British Grand Prix.
A day of dramatic English sporting glory began with a far more fortuitous — but still record- breaking — victory for Lewis Hamilton on the Formula One track.
A sixth British Grand Prix success was sealed not with a thrilling overtaking move but by a canny pit stop strategy paying off for the reigning world champion Sunday at Silverstone.
By finishing 25 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton extended his championship lead over the Finn to 39 points and moved ahead of Jim Clark and Alain Prost to take the outright record for British GP victories.
Hours before England’s cricketers lifted the World Cup for the first time in London — sealed on a tiebreaker at Lord’s — Hamilton was part of far more familiar scenes in central England in front of a record Silverstone race crowd of 141,000.
And yet Hamilton — who is in a strong position to win the championship after 10 races — never tires of the crowd- surfacing and adulation of the Union Jack waving home crowd.
“I have done so many races and you would think I’d get used to it,” Hamilton said. “But this felt just as amazing as the first win I ever had here in 2008.”
While there is no doubting the affection the Silverstone crowd has for Britain’s greatest racing driver, the five- time world champion was unexpectedly dragged into a discussion on his nationality after qualifying with a reporter asking Hamilton why “people question your Britishness.”
Hamilton dismissed any doubts over his patriotism as his first thought after sealing his 80th grand prix win was to slow down to collect a red, white and blue flag from a track- side safety marshal.
IndyCar
Simon Pagenaud has won his third race of the season as IndyCar’s championship fight tightened in Toronto.
The win on the streets around Exhibition Place is the Pagenaud’s third this season, but first away from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Frenchman won the Indianapolis 500 and the road course race at the speedway to save his job with Team Penske.
Pagenaud saved fuel in the waning laps to hold off reigning series champion Scott Dixon. But Penske teammate Will Power caused a caution on the final lap and Pagenaud coasted to the finish in his Chevrolet.