Vettel notches 51st GP victory

After laboring with neck pain on Saturday, Sebastian Vettel found the perfect tonic 24 hours later, matching Alain Prost’s total of 51 Grand Prix victories and denying main rival Lewis Hamilton a record-setting win in his home race. The German defeated second-place Hamilton on Sunday to win the British GP in front of a partisan crowd in Silverstone, England, and extended his lead in the Formula One championship standings to eight points after 10 of 21 races. “Sebastian drove a great race, fighting like a lion despite the pain in the neck,” Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said. Vettel moved level with Prost on 51 F1 wins, trailing only Hamilton (65) and Michael Schumacher (91). A poor start and disastrous first lap all but end- ed pole-sitter Hamilton’s hopes for a fifth consecutive victory in his home race and his sixth overall to beat the record of five he shares with Jim Clark and Prost.