Max Verstappen cruised to victory within the British Grand Prix for his sixth win in a row and a record-equalling eleventh consecutive triumph for Red Bull.
McLaren’s Lando Norris fought off an assault from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes after a late security automobile to end second to give the 160,000 followers a double house podium to cheer.
Verstappen’s eighth win in 10 races this 12 months introduced Red Bull stage with the document McLaren established of their historic 1988 season with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Oscar Piastri made it an excellent day for McLaren with fourth forward of George Russell’s Mercedes.
Verstappen was untouchable out entrance, as soon as he had repassed Norris for the lead on lap 5 after the McLaren jumped forward when the world champion suffered an excessive amount of wheelspin at first.
His victory, which places his championship lead over team-mate Sergio Perez at 99 factors, extends a run of Red Bull wins that date again to final season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
On Verstappen’s present apparently unbeatable kind, Red Bull will break McLaren’s document on the subsequent race in Hungary in two weeks’ time and certain transfer far past it because the season progresses.
Verstappen lowered this race, like so many this 12 months, to an illustration run as soon as into the lead.
But behind him the race, static for an extended interval, got here alive after the security automobile, referred to as when Kevin Magnussen’s Haas caught hearth down the Wellington straight.
Safety automobile rolls the cube
Divergent tyre selections launched jeopardy and intrigue for everybody else over the ultimate 14 laps.
Norris and Piastri had regarded heading in the right direction for a double podium for McLaren, who launched a significant improve for Norris to nice impact on the final race in Austria and gave it to Piastri at Silverstone as properly.
But the security automobile modified all the pieces and gave Hamilton an opportunity not solely to soar forward of Piastri but additionally to threaten Norris briefly.
The seven-time champion, who began seventh, drove steadily within the opening laps, biding his time as soon as he had re-passed Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, which overtook him on the primary lap.
He moved up because the pit stops began to occur forward of him, with first Charles Leclerc pitting his Ferrari out of fourth place, adopted by the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the Mercedes of George Russell and Piastri.
Hamilton was heading in the right direction to end fifth behind Piastri and Russell, however stopping below the security automobile allowed him to soar each and line up behind Norris on the restart.
Norris had hinted closely a number of instances earlier than his cease that he may want the smooth tyre, with out ever explicitly asking for it, and McLaren caught with their alternative for hards as he got here in, simply as a digital security automobile was a full security automobile, as a result of altering tack would have precipitated too many dangers and created too massive a delay.
Norris expressed over the radio his fears that he would wrestle to maintain Hamilton again, with the Mercedes on smooth tyres and the McLaren on onerous, however the 23-year-old weathered an early storm after the restart with aplomb after which edged away to consolidate his second place.
Piastri, additionally fitted with onerous tyres at his pit cease, was equally spectacular in a automobile not fairly up to the identical specification as his team-mate, missing a brand new entrance wing.
The Australian rookie misplaced his hopes of a podium with the security automobile, which allowed Hamilton to soar him.
But within the closing laps, as Hamilton dropped away from Norris, the Mercedes got here below stress Piastri, who crossed the road lower than a second behind.
Ferrari fall away
Russell was the one man within the prime 10 to select smooth tyres for the beginning fairly than mediums, and jumped up a spot at first to threaten Leclerc for fourth place.
But he misplaced out by stopping earlier than the security automobile and got here house fifth as Sergio Perez recovered from one more poor qualifying session to end sixth from fifteenth on the grid.
Ferrari’s day crumbled after a promising begin. Leclerc had no tempo within the first a part of the race, spending the primary half of the race with Russell proper behind him not fairly managing to get previous.
Leclerc made an early cease for onerous tyres after which got here in once more below the security automobile for mediums.
But he once more struggled and misplaced eighth place to the spectacular Williams of Alex Albon, who selected smooth tyres on the security automobile, within the closing laps.
Sainz, who was left on onerous tyres when he didn’t cease below the security automobile, misplaced three locations in a couple of corners as Perez, Leclerc and Albon all handed him after the restart, and trailed in a disappointing tenth.
