2016 F1 British GP: Lewis Hamilton Wins as Rosberg Finishes Second

Lewis Hamilton claimed the number one position at the British Grand Prix, ahead of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes-AMG and Max Verstappen of Red Bull in an epic race of sliding proportions.

By Sameer Contractor

1 mins read

Published on July 11, 2016

Highlights

The British GP marks Hamilton's 4th victory this F1 season
Max Verstappen showed some serious skills finishing 3rd behind Rosberg
Hamilton is now just 4 points behind Rosberg in driver standings

Lewis Hamilton claimed the number one position at the British Grand Prix, ahead of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes-AMG and Max Verstappen of Red Bull in an epic race of sliding proportions. The race marked Hamilton's fourth win this season and third consecutive win at the Silverstone circuit. The true battle though turned out to be between Rosberg and Verstappen as they clenched to hold on to the second position with Verstappen taking the lead in the inital stages of the race, whereas Rosberg passed him in the dry later. Hamilton finished the race with a lead of 6.911 seconds ahead of Rosberg, while Verstappen finished ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull with a lead of 17.96 seconds. The wet to dry race started behind a safety car for the first five laps with Hamilton at the pole. The Mercedes-AMG driver managed to maintain his dominance throughout the 52 laps. Apart from the close shave at the high speed but damp Abbey corner, there was no chink to count in Hamilton's otherwise flawless victory. All drivers started the race on wet tyres, but quickly moved to intermediates after the sixth lap, while subsequently moving to medium softs for the remainder of the race. Coming as a blow to Mercedes and Rosberg fans alike, Nico's second position is now under investigation after a Mercedes team engineer gave him instructions on radio on how to manage his gearbox after the driver reported problems towards the end of the race. As per the current FIA rules, drivers cannot receive instructions on the radio that coach driver through settings from the team until it's a safety related issue or if the car is about to stop. This comes as a second shocker for the German driver after being penalised by the stewards for his rather unwanted collision with Hamilton just last week at the Austrian GP. Mercedes AMG F1 Nevertheless, the British GP was also a spectacle of Verstappen's skills on the track as he closely clenched to Rosber for most of the race and also a pulled an action packed overtake on lap 16 at the Becketts corner, especially in damp conditions. While Rosberg did overtake the Red Bull in later laps, the move certainly got the teenager a lot of followers in the UK. Finishing fifth ahead of Sergio Perez of Force India was Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, while Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh followed by Carlo Sainz of Torro Rosso. Sebastian Vettel was one of the firsts to move to intermediate tyres and set the fastest lap, but spun at the Abbey corner losing his position. He did manage to drive back to the ninth spot passing Daniil Kvyat and Felipe Massa, while also attracting a 5 second penalty after Massa complained of the German driver pushin him off the track. Pascal Wehrlein spun at turn 1, which subdequently resulted in the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) being called, in order to allow the marshals to recover his car. Marcus Ericsson was the first retirement in the race after his Sauber was rebuilt overnight due to the massive FP3 crash on Saturday. Jolylon Palmer of Renault was released by the team without the right rear tyre during his pit stop for slicks and attracted a 10 second stop/go penalty. Palmer retired on lap 50 after a gearbox issue, along with Grosjean’s Haas. Rio Haryanto crashed at lap 26 at the Abbey corner. Max Verstappen and Nico Rosberg F1 Hamilton's fourth win this season has certainly stirred this season's driver standings as the Brit is now lagging by just 4 points behind teammate Rosberg, while Raikkonen is now third with 65 points behind Raikkonen. With 11 out of 21 races left this season, the action is certainly going to increase in the coming weeks. All the F1 action will now head for the Hungarian GP scheduled to start on July 22.