Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for a fifth time. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters
Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for a fifth time. Jason Cairnduff / Reuters

Lewis Hamilton wins British GP to slash Vettel's title lead to one point



Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for a record-equalling fifth time at Silverstone to cut Sebastian Vettel's lead in the Formula One drivers' championship to just one point.

The Mercedes-GP driver dominated the race as he converted pole position into the lead and led throughout, to finish ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas for his fourth triumph in 2017.

It was a difficult day for Vettel, who fell behind Max Verstappen's Red Bull Racing car at the start and spent the first half of the race behind the Dutchman.

But he got past the Red Bull man in the pit stops, but was then passed with seven laps remaining for third place by Bottas, who had recovered from starting ninth after having a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change pre-race weekend.

It looked as if he would inherit third when teammate Kimi Raikkonen suffered a puncture in the closing laps, but the four-time world champion then suffered his own puncture and eventually crossed the line in seventh place, behind the two Mercedes cars, Raikkonen, the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo and the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg.

The Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez were eighth and ninth, with Felipe Massa's Williams completing the top 10 in the 51-lap race.

The next round of the championship is the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 30.