Lewis Hamilton Wins British Grand Prix Despite Penalty

Lewis Hamilton secured a nail-biting victory during Sunday’s Grand Prix at Silverstone, overcoming a 10-second penalty to steal first place from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

In a race which will go down in history, Hamilton challenged Max Verstappen for pole position in the first lap of the circuit.

Hamilton attempted to overtake Verstappen on the inside of Copse corner. Neither racer was willing to concede and Hamilton’s front-left tyre made contact with the Red Bull driver’s back-right. Verstappen’s car launched into the barriers, with an impact which measured at 51G.

Verstappen was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure but was unharmed.

After deliberating, race stewards issued Hamilton a 10-second penalty after finding the Mercedes driver to be “predominantly at fault”.

Charles Leclerc held pole position for much of the race and Hamilton dropped down the grid after serving his penalty. The Mercedes driver wasted no time overtaking McLaren’s Lando Norris, before teammate Valtteri Bottas was also ordered out of his way. Racing in second until the third to last lap, Hamilton again overtook on the inside of Copse corner, stealing victory from Leclerc.

This marks Hamilton’s record eighth win at the British Grand Prix and places him just eight points behind championship leader, Verstappen.

The Red Bull team were unimpressed by what they viewed to be a lenient penalty. Speaking to the BBC, Red Bull boss Christian Horner called Hamilton’s maneuver “amateur” and “desperate”.

In a Tweet following the podium ceremony, Verstappen accused Hamilton of “disrespectful and unsportsmanlike” behaviour. “The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track”.

Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on pic.twitter.com/iCrgyYWYkm

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 18, 2021

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