The Briton’s 47th victory added to his momentum in a championship that Rosberg started off dominating with four wins in a row but has since turned in Hamilton’s favour.
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“A great job and thank you so much guys for your efforts back at the factory”, Hamilton said on his victory lap.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the podium standings at Silverstone, while his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo claimed fourth place, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in fifth. Force India’s closest rival Toro Rosso also enjoyed a double points finish with Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat securing eighth and 10th spots respectively.
Vettel’s torrid weekend continued, when after a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, the four-time world champion lost time with a spin on lap 18 and was later given a five-second penalty for forcing Felipe Massa of Williams wide, which dropped him a place to 10th.
The race started in pelting rain with the safety vehicle leading the racers for the first five laps, then with the skies showing signs of clearing Red Bull called Ricciardo in on lap seven to change his rain tyres for longer-lasting intermediates. Hamilton led the way for six laps before racing began. Perez was 10 seconds adrift in fourth.
Verstappen however, was seen to be in scintillating form, with a pleasing display of driving in hard conditions showing a level of maturity, perhaps beyond his years, with his aggressive overtaking of Rosberg particularly impressive.
In fact, on lap 15, he was caught by wunderkid Max Verstappen who passed him on the outside at Becketts on the following lap, and kept second even after the following stop for slicks. F1’s radio rules state drivers are only allowed to receive instructions for safety reasons or when a vehicle failure is imminent.
At the time Rosberg was stuck in seventh gear and was issued with a code to input into his panel. The race stewards claimed that since the new regulations state that the driver must drive the auto alone and unaided, Mercedes’ aforementioned instruction was a breach of the Art. 27.1 of the Sporting Regulations.
“The team accepts the stewards’ interpretation of the regulation, their decision and the associated penalty”, Mercedes said.
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In Austria, the race before Silverstone, Mexican Sergio Perez crashed his Force India vehicle after a brake failure that the team felt unable to inform him about even for safety reasons.
