The Times - UK (2020-08-03)

the times | Monday August 3 2020 1GM 59

Sport

With a second race to follow at

Silverstone next week in the reshaped

Formula One calendar, Hamilton’s

rivals are despairing of catching him

Kvyat survives smash

Daniil Kvyat walked away from the

spectacular crash that dislodged

several parts of his AlphaTauri after

he spun off at Maggotts and

careered into a barrier on lap 13. The

Russian driver blamed himself for it,

telling his team via radio, “Oh guys, I

am so f***ing sorry,” but footage

suggested the accident may have

been caused by tyre failure.

LAP 51

Second-placed Valtteri

Bottas gets a puncture

having just passed the

Mercedes pits (1). He is

forced to drive for the

majority of the lap

before he can pit.

Max Verstappen, who

had been third, 7sec

behind Bottas, pits in his

Red Bull (2), seemingly

too far behind the

leader Lewis Hamilton

(about 15sec) to catch

the Mercedes driver. He

comes out of the pits in

second place, 34sec

behind Hamilton.

LAP 52

Hamilton’s front-left tyre

gives way halfway

around the final lap (3).

Red Bull tell Verstappen

that he can catch

Hamilton “if you get on

with it”. He crosses the

line just 5.86sec behind

Hamilton, who wins his

seventh British Grand

Prix (4), despite his tyre

being in pieces (5).

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MARK THOMPSON/GETTY IMAGES; FRANK AUGSTEIN/AP; MARIO RENZI/FORMULA 1/GETTY IMAGES

found himself pursuing an unlikely

victory. In the end Hamilton was able to

stagger across the line, his shredded

tyre barely attached to the wheel rim.

“I heard that Max was catching at

crazy speed — I was trying to pick up

the speed but the wheel was making a

real mess,” said Hamilton, who was pre-

sented with a special commemorative

trophy to mark the 70th anniversary of

the British Grand Prix, along with sil-

verware for his race win.

The slim margin of victory meant

Verstappen might have won the race if

he had not paused to change his tyres

but he did not harbour any regrets.

“Everyone is asking whether we should

not have pitted because we could have

won, but you can always ask these ques-

tions with hindsight,” Verstappen said.

‘It’s not the battle I hoped for. I wish it was closer’

“I don’t regret anything and I

believe we made the right decision,

who knows if I would also have got

a puncture? You just can’t predict

these things.”

The victory continued Hamil-

ton’s extraordinary record in his

home grand prix, where he has

won six of the past seven races. It

was also his third consecutive

victory this season, putting him in

a strong position to win a seventh

world title, which would equal the

record held by Michael Schuma-

cher. After four races, Hamilton is

30 points ahead of Bottas, with

Verstappen, the runner-up in the past

two races, a distant third as the

Mercedes cars continue to outperform

their rivals and maintain the domi-

nance that has brought them the past

six constructors’ championships.

this season. “It’s so big [the gap],”

Verstappen said last night. “Maybe

you find a tenth [of a second] and

we go a bit closer, but it’s not

enough. I’m trying, but it’s not

possible at the moment.”

Hamilton, despite his close

shave yesterday, expressed frustra-

tion that the tussle for the title was

being seen as a foregone conclu-

sion by many observers. “I’m a

through-and-through racer at

heart, that’s what has always excit-

ed me and gets me up in the morn-

ing,” he said. “This is not the cham-

pionship fight I had hoped for, I’d

prefer to be having a super-close battle.

But every team is given the same rules,

we’ve just done an exceptional job

collectively and you can’t fault my team

for that. You have to look at the people

who run the sport to do a better job.”

continued from back

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A Spitfire plane flies over Silverstone

before the race with a clear message