Sebastian Vettel wins British Grand Prix after stuttering debut Lewis Hamilton | sport

Sebastian Vettel won the British Grand Prix, with an impressive second place finish on the grid. Lewis Hamilton's hopes of a home win were disappointed in the first round when he took a slow start and was then hit by Kimi Räikkönen and fell almost to the back of the pack. He did a remarkable comeback to finish second, but that means Vettel now has an eight-point lead in the championship. Räikkönen was third with Valtteri Bottas fourth.

This is Vettel's second win at the British Grand Prix, having won the Red Bull in 2009. His 51st career win is his fourth this season, one more than Hamilton and a real feat by refusing the British driver and Mercedes on the circuit that has been their personal fiefdom for the past four years.

Mercedes has not been beaten at Silverstone since the start of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014 with Hamilton winning all four races and we were expecting them to have a additional advantage in Pirelli using the slimmer belt tires that fit so well to their car. Still, the Scuderia played to his advantage and behaved perfectly to end his hegemony.

The title race remains finely balanced, but Ferrari will be very encouraged by the victory on a circuit where Mercedes has the upper hand. Their form here again suggests that they have a very well balanced car that is strong at a growing variety of circuits, it works equally well with its tires and they have entered the final stage of the first triple header of F1. with a terribly strong package. [19659002HamiltonenpoleawasbeenbarredbyVetteletandwasstoppedbythirdstopperbyBottasintheprimarywasthatwasnotobtainedRaeikkonandthesubtitleandwasenclosedinthirdcircumferenceBritishwasstoppedonthe18thRaikkonenmarkandwasgeneratedby10thsecondfromcausingacollapsebutthoughtwasdone

The Hamilton race became one of the damage limits. He was 14th in the third round and was in the top ten in the sixth round. Vettel took advantage, however, to take the lead for four seconds on Bottas

The public learned every time that Hamilton claimed a place and kept a good voice. He had overtaken Sauber's Charles Leclerc for seventh place on lap 10, but he was then 27sec on Vettel

Having passed the midfield, the real task was ahead. Hamilton made a quick round of laps, staying long on the soft rubber and was the last of the pilots to start on the 25th lap taking the middle tires, emerging behind Räikkönen in sixth, ten seconds behind the Finn. [19659002Auvirage32MarcusEricssons'estécraséàAbbeysortantlavoituredesécuritécequiapermisàHamiltondeserapprocherdesleadersFerrariauxprisesavecl'usuredespneusatoutdesuitemissesdeuxpilotesenquêtedecaoutchoucfraismaisMercedesaempêchéHamiltonetBottasd'accéderàlapisteLorsquelacourserepritaprèssixtoursBottasmenaVetteldeHamilton

The race had barely resumed when Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean met at Copse and the safety car was deployed once again. The race resumed on the 42nd lap and Vettel immediately charged to Bottas and rolled side by side, the Finn defended himself brilliantly as Hamilton and Räikkönen slamming on his heels, the four were lined up in a powerful battle Vettel finally took the lead with a brilliant move to inside Brooklands at round 47, enough to ensure victory. Hamilton overtook Bottas for second place a lap later, the Finn struggling with a lack of grip that saw Räikkönen also take third place from him.

McLaren, who announced that they are restructuring their team last week. history, did not expect a big improvement to their home race. They will be delighted with eighth place Fernando Alonso with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne in 12.

Williams, who also endured a terrible season with a non-competitive car, has struggled all weekend. Both Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin started from the pit lane after choosing to change their rear wings after qualifying, because of the aerodynamic problems they had. They were the last of the finishers in 13th and 14th places.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was fifth but his team-mate Max Verstappen was forced to retire with a gearbox problem. Nico Hülkenberg of Renault was sixth, ahead of the Force inde Esteban Ocon. Kevin Magnussen's Haas was ninth and Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso in 10th.