Hamilton fights back in controversial home victory

LONDON. — Lewis Hamilton fought back from a 10-second penalty for a crash with title rival Max Verstappen to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and claim a dramatic British Grand Prix victory yesterday.

Hamilton was blamed for a collision with Verstappen’s Red Bull at Copse corner on the first lap of the race, which led to the Dutchman crashing out. Verstappen, 23, was taken to hospital for precautionary tests after the accident while Hamilton set about trying to win the race. The Grand Prix was stopped after the incident with Leclerc in the lead from Hamilton and the Ferrari driver held that position until two laps from the end, when the Mercedes driver passed him, ironically, at the same corner at which he had crashed with Verstappen.

The controversial win, in front of a crowd of 140,0000, was Hamilton’s eighth in the British Grand Prix and cuts Verstappen’s championship lead to eight points after a race that will go down in the annals of F1 history.

The moment many had considered to be inevitable at some point in this titanic battle between Verstappen and Hamilton happened after an intense scrap between the title rivals on the first lap.

Hamilton, starting second on the grid after Verstappen’s victory in F1’s maiden ‘sprint’ race on Saturday, got away better and was alongside the Red Bull driver into the first corner, but Verstappen held him off.

Hamilton nosed ahead into the Brooklands corner at the end of the Wellington straight, but was again held off.

Heading down into the 190mph Copse corner, he dummied Verstappen, feinting to the outside and then diving for the inside.

Hamilton had more than half his car alongside Verstappen as they began to turn in, but backed off slightly as he saw the Dutchman was going to sit it out around the outside — and the Red Bull edged back ahead.

Hamilton was a little wide of the apex and his front left wheel made contact with Verstappen’s right rear in the middle of the corner, and the impact sent Verstappen flying into the barriers on the outside.

He climbed out of the car and was walking around before being taken to the circuit medical centre for mandatory checks after such a heavy impact and complaining of dizziness. Team boss Christian Horner said it measured 51G and Verstappen was taken to a local hospital for “further precautionary tests”. Leclerc, who had passed Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas off the line, took the lead out of Copse in the aftermath of the incident and began the re-started race from pole position.

The Ferrari showed strong pace in the first stint and Hamilton was not able to challenge Leclerc, who was 2.3 seconds ahead when Hamilton made his pit stop to serve his penalty and change tyres on lap 27, dropping behind Bottas and McLaren’s Lando Norris.