Silverstone (England): Lewis Hamilton completed a hat-trick of home wins in the British Grand Prix ahead of Nico Rosberg at Silverstone on Sunday to cut his Mercedes teammate’s championship lead to just four points.
The defending three-time champion reeled off his fourth win in five races to close on Rosberg in the title chase, with the German subject to a post-race inquiry into radio dialogue with the team when he had a gearbox problem.
Talented Dutch teenager Max Verstappen finished third — pushing Rosberg all the way — ahead of his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, with Kimi Raikkonen fifth for Ferrari.
In a reversal of the scenes at Spielberg following last Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, where Hamilton and Rosberg collided on the final lap, Rosberg rather than his teammate was booed by fans during the podium ceremony. Hamilton celebrated with a ‘crowd surfing’ demonstration of joy.
The jubilant 31-year-old said: “We’ve got the best fans here so thank you so much... I am not sure you can be as happy as I am.”
A pre-race downpour created some havoc and an immediate call for “full wet” tyres and a plodding safety car start. Hamilton led the way for six laps before the real thing began, grumbling on lap five: “We can go, Charlie!” in a message directed at the race director Charlie Whiting.
Once the grand prix proper began, Hamilton threw up a high plume of spray ahead of Rosberg as most of the drivers — bar the top four — rushed to the pits for intermediate tyres. Hamilton pulled 3.6 seconds clear by Lap Seven. Both Mercedes men pitted for their intermediates on lap eight, ahead of the Red Bulls.
As the track improved, Verstappen and then Rosberg picked up the pace before Hamilton responded. By lap 12, he was 5.2 seconds clear with Rosberg 1.4 clear of Verstappen. In an outrageous move, Verstappen swept round Rosberg at Becketts to take second on lap 15.
The top order stayed unchanged as the top three traded fastest laps while the circuit remained treacherous, with both Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz spinning off.Rio Haryanto did the same, hit the barriers and retired. Hamilton almost did the same, but retained control as his car twitched. Verstappen slithered and the top three were separated by six seconds.
