LONDON • Lewis Hamilton yesterday won the British Grand Prix, taking the victory after an initial dogged fight with his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas fell in his favour during a safety car period.

Once in the lead, he ran a controlled race from the front to ensure a record sixth win at Silverstone.

Bottas was second, in front of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who had enjoyed an almost race-long scrap with the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen, who came in fifth, and Pierre Gasly, who was fourth.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel's tough run continued as he also vied with Verstappen, but came off badly after he hit the Austrian Grand Prix winner and was given a 10-second time penalty to languish in 16th place.

Hamilton's win was cheered on with abandon by the crowd who had enjoyed a fine spectacle at Silverstone with close racing across the field. Once in the lead after his pit stop, he took hold of the race and did not let go.

While it had to some extent fallen to him after a safety car intervention, he was relentless in completing it, right down to taking the extra point for the fastest lap on his final circuit.

His 80th career victory is his sixth at the British Grand Prix, making him the most successful driver at the race, surpassing Jim Clark and Alain Prost's five wins and continuing a remarkable period of domination at Silverstone in front of a sell-out crowd of 141,000.

He has now won five of the last six races here, has seven wins from 10 meetings this season and Mercedes have been beaten only once this term. Afterwards, Hamilton told reporters no words could express "how proud I am to be here today in front of my home crowd".

The Briton added: "What a day, I love you Silverstone. You'd think you would get used to something like that, but it feels like the first time and I'm forever grateful to everyone who's come out.

"I couldn't have done it without my team, and the guys back at the factory, and their wives and their kids who support them.

"When I tell people (to say) 'thank you' to the team, there's nearly 2,000 people who make this possible. I'm just a chink in that chain, and I'm super proud to be a part of this."

For the five-time world champion, he will take the victory with open arms, having been on the back foot in Austria and against a feisty Bottas determined to reignite his title hopes.

The championship leader has now extended his lead over the Finn to 39 points in the standings, while Vettel has fallen to a full 100 points back. With 11 races remaining, Ferrari's task is surely insurmountable, while Bottas is only just clinging on, although he would "keep fighting".

He said: "I don't know what to say. I stopped first, and I was still effectively winning the race until there was a safety car, and Lewis got a free stop there and got me there.

"Not really my day, but at least the pace was good and it felt good out there. For sure, there's positives. We had a good fight. It's not over yet."

THE GUARDIAN