Lewis Hamilton can’t ask for anything more after his British Grand Prix win as he not only delighted online betting fans with a sensational and record-equalling weekend but also reduced the gap to rival Sebastian Vettel to just one point.
To add more joy to the Mercedes victory, his teammate Valtteri Bottas defied betting odds and surprised live betting with a second-place finish despite coming all the way from ninth after being given a five-place grid penalty.
Indeed, in a day that British fans showed their support to their homegrown hero, Hamilton and his team didn’t disappoint.
The 32-year-old knew that he needs everything to go his way on a weekend which he started 20 points behind Ferrari’s Vettel in the championship standings, and he did well to make the most out of his pole position to establish his lead.
The result was never in doubt after Hamilton built a 3.1-second lead after 12 laps and five seconds after 18. Kimi Raikkonen went closest to challenging the Brit star, but the gap just grew bigger after the two made their pit stop and Hamilton cruised comfortably to the chequered flag.
Bottas, on the other hand, lessened the damage of his penalty, battling past the cars in front of him to get to fifth by Lap five. However, he did not stop there as he continued to run long, surpassing Vettel to third on Lap 43.
The Finn was behind Raikkonen in the closing stages, but a tyre problem gave Bottas the opportunity to bypass him for a Mercedes one-two finish.
Although Raikkonen eventually recovered and held his ground for third, the Ferrari team had a race to forget as their star driver Vettel dropped to seventh after suffering a front-tyre failure when competing for a podium finish with two laps to go.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had a tense battle with the German ace in the early laps, took advantage of Vettel’s tyre problem to finish fourth, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo settled for fifth.
The win is Hamilton’s fifth career win in the tournament, tying the all-time record set by Jim Clark and Alain Prost. It is also his fourth straight home win to add to his first victory for McLaren way back in 2008.
Hamilton now has 176 points in the drivers’ standings while Vettel has 177. Bottas, meanwhile, stays third but with 154 points and well in contention for the championship.
In the Constructor standings, Mercedes are pulling away with 330 points while Ferrari have 275. Red Bull Racing are the only other team with three-digit points (174).
The next race is the Hungarian Grand Prix, which is the final stop before the F1 season enters a four-week summer break.
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