Hamilton storms to Brit GP winposted in F106 | 07 | 2014

LEWIS HAMILTON DRAMATICALLY reignited his Formula One world championship hopes when he won today's British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Brit, who entered the weekend 29 points behind his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, slashed the gap to just four points after the German was forced to retire. It was Rosberg's first retirement this season.

While Rosberg had started from pole, Hamilton lined up sixth, after mistakenly aborting his final flying lap in qualifying. The German immediately took advantage at the start, leading from the quick-starting McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen after fellow front-row starter Sebastian Vettel dropped back to fourth.

Hamilton though was a man on a mission. From row three, he jumped the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and drover around the outside of Vettel through Village to grab fourth. Such was Hamilton's intent, he briefly banged wheels with the reigning world champion as he stormed past.

The race though was to take a sickening turn after just five corners when Kimi Raikkonen crashed his Ferrari heavily on the Wellington Straight and stopped the race.

The former world champ lost control of his F14 T over a bump as he rejoined the circuit after running wide at Aintree. The Finn's car then struck the barrier on the right-hand side and spun back across the track.

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The collision also heavily damaged Felipe Massa's Williams when it clipped the Ferrari as the Brazilian tried to take avoiding action. Despite managing to return to the pits, his car was immediately retired with suspension damage..

Raikkonen was able to extract himself from the stricken Ferrari, but after limping away it was decided that he needed to be taken to the medical centre for checks.

A Ferrari spokesman later confirmed that the Finn had suffered no serious injuries, but was complaining of bruising to his knee and ankle.

The incident also accounted for the Caterham of Kamui Kobayshi, which had been running just ahead of Massa.

After a lengthy delay to repair the damaged barrier, the race resumed behind the safety car. At the restart, Rosberg sprinted away as Hamilton fought to get past the two McLarens, eventually making short work of it.

Clearly fired-up by his desire to win in front of the Union Flag-waving hordes in the packed grandstands, Hamilton eased passed Magnussen when the Dane ran wide at Copse on the third lap, then drove past Button into Brooklands on the next lap. Each manoeuvre, not surprisingly, brought patriotic roars from the partisan crowd.

By this time, Rosberg was four-seconds up the road, but as Hamilton hauled his team-mate in, Rosberg's Mercedes was forced to retire before the first pitstop as its gradually worsening gearbox problem became terminal.

That left the track clear for Hamilton to eventually cruise to a majestic and trouble-free 28.9-second victory over the Williams of Valtteri Bottas: the Finn drove superbly to battle through from 14th on the grid to finish second.

Button, proudly wearing his pink crash helmet in memory of his late father, John, narrowly missed out on the final podium place which was taken by the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo: the Aussie had started eighth. Both drivers successfully executed one-stop strategies.

Double world champ Fernando Alonso — who received a five-second stop-go penalty for starting his Ferrari out of position — lost his personal battle with Vettel, who eventually bagged fifth.

Behind sixth-placed Alonso, the top 10 was rounded off by Magnussen in his one-stopping McLaren, with Hulkenberg eighth, ahead of Toro Rosso duo Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne.

F1 — British Grand Prix, Silverstone. Result:

1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2h26m52.094s;

2. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +30.135s;

3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault +46.495s;

4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +47.390s;

5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +53.864s;

6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +59.946s;

7. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +1m02.563s;

8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +1m28.692s;

9. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault +1m29.340s;

10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault -1 lap;

11. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes -1 lap;

12. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault -1 lap;

13. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari -1 lap;

14. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari -1 lap;

15. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault -2 laps;

16. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari -2 laps;

17. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault -3 laps.

Retirements:

Nico Rosberg Mercedes 28 laps

Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 11 laps

Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 9 laps

Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1 laps

Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 0 laps

Championship standings:

Drivers':

1. Nico Rosberg 165

2. Lewis Hamilton 161

3. Daniel Ricciardo 98

4. Fernando Alonso 87

5. Valtteri Bottas 73

6. Sebastian Vettel 70

7. Nico Hulkenberg 63

8. Jenson Button 55

9. Kevin Magnussen 35

10. Felipe Massa 30

11. Sergio Perez 28

12. Kimi Raikkonen 19

13. Jean-Eric Vergne 9

14. Romain Grosjean 8

15. Daniil Kvyat 6

16. Jules Bianchi 2

Constructors':

1. Mercedes 326

2. Red Bull-Renault 168

3. Ferrari 106

4. Williams-Mercedes 103

5. Force India-Mercedes 91

6. McLaren-Mercedes 90

7. Toro Rosso-Renault 15

8. Lotus-Renault 8

9. Marussia-Ferrari 2

10. Sauber-Ferrari 0

11. Caterham-Renault 0

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Jim McGill