Formula 1: 2018 British Grand Prix results – Sebastian Vettel wins

Sebastian Vettel earned his fourth victory of the 2018 Formula 1 season by winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit.

Coming into the 2018 British Grand Prix, four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari had not won a British Grand Prix since 2009. That changed today, as the leader of the driver standings earned his fourth victory of the 2018 season, his second career British Grand Prix victory and the 51st victory of his Formula 1 career, which ties him for third place on the all-time wins list with Alain Prost.

Vettel won the 52-lap race around the 18-turn, 3.661-mile (5.891-kilometer) Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone (part Northamptonshire and part Buckinghamshire), England, United Kingdom by 2.264 seconds over second place finisher Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished in third place for his third consecutive podium finish. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

The race featured a season-high five lead changes among three drivers. Aside of Vettel, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 38 laps led, one other driver led at least one lap of the race. That driver was Bottas, who led the race’s other 14 laps.

Hamilton officially started the race in first place, but he was passed for the lead by Vettel on the first lap and did not lead any laps. This race is the second race in a row during which the polesitter did not lead any laps, as Bottas, who started the Austrian Grand Prix from the pole position last Sunday, did not lead any laps in that race, either.

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The race was certainly an eventful one from the time it started until the time it ended. On the first lap, Hamilton was passed by Vettel and Bottas for first and second place, respectively, before Raikkonen spun him out, sending him to the back of the field. Raikkonen later served a 10-second penalty in the pits for causing this collision.

However, Hamilton recovered nicely by passing several cars on his own, and he utilized his tire strategy to his advantage by staying out of the pits during the first safety car period, which began on lap 33 after Alfa Romeo Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson crashed. Bottas also stayed out and took the race lead for the second time in doing so, as he also stayed out one lap longer than Vettel did before making his first pit stop earlier in the race.

This safety car period ended, but another safety car period began shortly thereafter on lap 39, which further helped Hamilton. This second safety car period took place as a result of a collision between Renault Sport’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and Haas’ Romain Grosjean.

After this safety car period ended, the top four drivers, who were the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers, battled for the win. Vettel, who made a pit stop for soft tires during the first safety car period, passed Bottas, who was still using medium tires, for the lead with six laps to go, and he held on for the win, as Bottas then relinquished second and third place to Hamilton and Raikkonen, respectively.

Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen were also forced to retire from the race. Hartley retired on lap two with an engine issue, while Leclerc retired on lap 19 with a loose wheel after making his pit stop. Verstappen retired on lap 47 after he made contact with Ricciardo and experienced gearbox issues shortly thereafter.

Of the 20 drivers who started the race, 14 finished it, and all 14 of the drivers who finished it did so on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2018 British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit.

Next: Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of all-time

ESPN2 is scheduled to host the live broadcast of the next race of the 2018 Formula 1 season. That race is the German Grand Prix, and it is scheduled to begin at 9:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, July 22.