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Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes won the Formula One British Grand Prix for a record-equalling fifth time Sunday and closed to within one point of Ferrari championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton easily converted his 67th career pole position into a 57th victory ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.dani
Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth after starting from 19th on the grid.
Ricciardo went into the race with a five-place grid penalty because he changed the gearbox on his Red Bull.
Chasing a sixth-straight podium finish, Ricciardo’s Silverstone’s issues were further compounded when his car suffered a suspected turbo failure during qualifying.
Championship standings leader Vettel finished only seventh after a last lap puncture saw him fall from third.
At the halfway stage of the season he leads Hamilton by just a single point with the next race the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 30.
Hamilton’s fourth consecutive home race triumph moves him level with F1 legends Jim Clark and Alain Prost on five wins at the British GP.
Hamilton held his lead to the first corner from pole and quickly pulled away from the pursuing Raikkonen who started second. Vettel, whose brakes were smoking before the start, lost third to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Hamilton, who took pole by a season-best margin of more than half a second on Saturday, easily had enough pace to leave Raikkonen behind as the laps added up.
“It’s never easy. The support has been incredible this weekend,” Hamilton said in his podium interview. “I am so proud I could do this for you all.
“The team were faultless all weekend. Now the plan is to win the championship.”
Raikkonen needed a late tyre change which appeared to promote Vettel to the podium but disaster struck for the four-time champion on the last of 51 laps.
A front left puncture forced him into the pits and though he recovered as quickly as possible, he lost out to Verstappen, Ricciardo in other Red Bull and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.
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