The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

British Grand Prix highlights: Lewis Hamilton wins his fourth at Silverstone

10th July, 2016
Where: Silverstone
When: 10pm (AEST)
Circuit length: 5.891 km (3.66 mi)
Race length: 306.291 km (190.32 mi)
Laps: 52
2015 winner: Lewis Hamilton
Motorsport is off to the Big Apple, New York City. (Photo: GEPA pictures/Andreas Pranter)
Roar Guru
10th July, 2016
65

Race Result

It was a Lewis Hamilton masterclass in fluctuating conditions at Silverstone.

In winning the British Grand Prix for the fourth time, he becomes the most successful British driver at Silverstone and joins Nigel Mansell with four wins on home soil. It is also his third consecutive victory at home.

Nico Rosberg meanwhile, has an investigation looming over his result, over the communication between his engineer and himself as the German battled a gearbox issue in the latter stages of the race. Should Rosberg receive a penalty? Most will cite the race in Baku when Hamilton’s engineer couldn’t aid his driver with that ERS problem.

A worthy ‘driver of the day’ goes to Max Verstappen, who was seen muscling his Red Bull amid the treacherous conditions early on in the race. He did, for the most part, hold onto second, but a speedy Rosberg was able to usurp that position from the formidable Dutchman.

Daniel Ricciardo’s race was quite anonymous, but he was able to salvage a healthy fourth and finished well ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen in fifth and Sergio Perez in sixth.

For Ferrari, it was a completely forgettable affair with Sebastian Vettel starting in eleventh but then the gamble to be the first to switch over to slicks backfired and saw him spin off and lose ground. Later, a five-second penalty was imposed on the German for forcing Felipe Massa off the track during their heated exchange.

Williams ended up with no points in their home race, as did McLaren despite Fernando Alonso’s close encounters in the top ten throughout the race.

Advertisement

Just four points now separate the two championship rivals now, as the momentum continues to swing in the favour of Hamilton.

There is a fortnight’s break now before the next back-to-back weekend which will see the first half of the season conclude.

Race Preview

In just seven days, Formula One has trekked from the lush Styrian hills in Austria over to the legendary Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, Great Britain. Join The Roar for a live blog of the British Grand Prix, starting from 10pm (AEST).

The historic British Grand Prix celebrates its 50th championship race at the timeless 5.8km circuit, formerly a World War II airbase.

Reigning world champion and home hero Lewis Hamilton will be staking a claim for a fourth career victory at the British Grand Prix, having won the last two races with Mercedes AMG.

A 55th career pole position was achieved at the conclusion of qualifying for Hamilton, edging out teammate Nico Rosberg by three-tenths of a second.

Advertisement

If the Briton can accomplish the victory, he will join fellow British world champion Nigel Mansell with four victories on home soil.

Red Bull have been the Silver Arrows’ closest competition all weekend, however there was a gap of a full second between the pole sitter and the third placed Max Verstappen.

Crucial for the Dutchman however was out-qualifying his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who until now hasn’t been beaten by a teammate in qualifying through 2016.

It was an awful Saturday for Ferrari by their own standards. Sebastian Vettel qualified sixth, but will for a second consecutive weekend will concede five grid positions with another gearbox penalty.

The recently re-signed Kimi Räikkönen will start fifth, albeit could be compromised during his first stint on his tyres, which were used for an extra lap in Q2.

Pirelli’s medium and hard rubber re-join the tyre fold with the soft for this 52-lap race. The medium tyres should feature predominantly during what ought to be a two-stop affair.

The infamous British weather in summertime could yet render the dry compounds redundant. That would then make it an open house a team like Red Bull to close the gap to the leaders.

Advertisement

As ever, there should be close competition amongst the others in the top ten, being very unpredictable as ever.

With the ‘rules of engagement’ altered for the Mercedes AMG cars following their clash in Austria, it shall be intriguing to see how both drivers approach each other.

Team boss Toto Wolff hasn’t ruled out handing out suspensions to whoever instigates another incident on-track.

It seems to have all the makings then of what should be another classic battle at the front. Join me please from 10pm (AEST) on The Roar for full live blog coverage of the British Grand Prix.

close