Sebastian Vettel was victorious during an eagerly contested battle at Silverstone, giving him an 8 point lead over his British, championship rival Lewis Hamilton.

The start was ideal for Vettel, who flew past poleman Hamilton going into Turn 1. It got worse for Hamilton at Turn 3 as he was hit from behind by Kimi Raikkonen, dropping him to the back of the order. The incident was reviewed by the stewards, who awarded Raikkonen a 10 second time penalty.

Going forward, both Hamilton and Raikkonen complained about the state of their race craft. Ferrari and Mercedes checked the data but no further issues other than superficial damage were unveiled. So they sat tight, waited for further support during their first pit stops and focused on the recovery drive.

Silverstone is a naturally fast circuit and the addition of a third DRS zone saw the speedos being pushed to their absolute limits. Marcus Ericsson felt the full effects on Lap 32, when he locked up at the end of the start/finish straight, careered through the gravel and clambered into the wall at Turn 1. The safety car guided the cars around for five laps. The restart lap saw an intense battle between Raikkonen and Max Verstappen, but it was short lived due to another safety car appearance as a result of a high speed collision involving Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz.

Lap 42, safety car in, four way battle for the lead. Mercedes, Ferrari, Mercedes, Ferrari. Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Raikkonen. Lap 47; Vettel takes the lead. Lap 48; Hamilton passes Bottas, no team orders applied. Lap 49; Raikkonen moves up to 3rd.

Sebastian Vettel relaxed his injured neck, held his nerve and controlled his car heroically for the final three laps to take victory in the 2018 British Grand Prix. Despite just beating their countryman Hamilton, Vettel was greeted to rapturous applause by the 140,000 local fans as he mounted the top step of the podium. He heads to his home Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring with an 8 point lead in the Drivers Championship.

Driver of the Day: Lewis Hamilton