British GP 2016: Hamilton hat-trick, radio penalty for Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton won the 2016 British GP at Silverstone Circuit from pole position. He led every lap of the race bar one. His Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg crossed the line second on the road. However, he was handed a ten-second time penalty after the race for illegal radio assistance with a gearbox problem and dropped to 3rd place behind Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Hamilton laid the foundations for victory in the wet opening phase: he pulled clear at the front while Rosberg was stuck behind Verstappen for a long time.

Shortly before the start, a heavy downpour hit Silverstone. All the drivers therefore started on wet tyres, and the field spent the first five laps behind the Safety Car. By the time the race got under way, the track was already ready for intermediates. Many midfield drivers switched straight away, including Kimi Räikkönen in the Ferrari and Valtteri Bottas in the Williams.

Then Pascal Wehrlein aquaplaned into the gravel in his Manor Marussia, bringing out a brief Virtual Safety Car. Hamilton, Rosberg and Verstappen used the period to switch to intermediates, and the order at the front stayed the same. After the restart, Hamilton led Rosberg by 4.8 seconds, according to formula1.com.

The biggest beneficiary of the early chaos was Sergio Pérez in the Force India: he climbed from 10th on the grid to 4th. Esteban Gutiérrez, on the other hand, was hit hard. According to our data, his first stop took an unusually long 41.5 seconds in the pit lane, and he dropped from 14th to 21st. Bottas spun on lap 11 and fell back to 13th.

On intermediates, Verstappen was strong on the drying track and kept Rosberg under constant pressure. On lap 16, the 18-year-old went round the outside of the Mercedes at Chapel. It was the most spectacular overtake of the day. At around the same time, Sebastian Vettel was the first to switch to slicks, and the leaders soon followed.

Hamilton and Rosberg pitted on lap 17, Verstappen a lap later. That meant the Red Bull driver led the race for one lap before Hamilton was back in front. All the front-runners were now on medium tyres. Nobody was flawless: Verstappen had a big slide on lap 22, and according to grandprix.com, Hamilton lost around three seconds with an off at Abbey before half-distance.

Rosberg spent a long time trying in vain to find a way past Verstappen, as the Dutchman repeatedly defended Stowe skilfully. From lap 33 Rosberg attacked in earnest, and on lap 38 it worked: with DRS on the Hangar Straight, he passed Verstappen into Stowe.

Running 2nd, Rosberg chased Hamilton with a string of fast laps. According to formula1.com, he cut the gap from 8.7 to 6.1 seconds by lap 45. In the end, Rosberg did indeed set the fastest lap of the race. On lap 46, however, he reported gearbox problems. The team advised him over the radio to avoid seventh gear. Rosberg held on to 2nd place ahead of Verstappen to the flag, while Hamilton won on the road by 6.9 seconds.

After the race, the stewards ruled that the radio messages amounted to instructions on how to drive the car. That breached the rule that a driver must drive the car alone and unaided. The ten-second penalty dropped Rosberg behind Verstappen. Officially, Verstappen finished 8.250 seconds behind Hamilton, Rosberg 16.911 seconds. Mercedes announced it would appeal against the penalty. Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth in the second Red Bull and had no chance of a podium.

Six drivers retired. One of them, Magnussen, was nevertheless classified:

• Pascal Wehrlein (Manor Marussia): He aquaplaned into the gravel after lap 6, triggering the Virtual Safety Car.
• Marcus Ericsson (Sauber): After his crash in third practice he was given a new chassis and had to start from the pit lane. His race ended after lap 11 with a power unit failure.
• Romain Grosjean (Haas F1 Team): He retired after lap 17. The official classification lists only “Retired”, while the results overview on Wikipedia cites a transmission problem.
• Rio Haryanto (Manor Marussia): He spun off after lap 24, meaning both Manor drivers went off the track.
• Jolyon Palmer (Renault): His crew sent him out with the right rear wheel not properly fitted, earning him a stop-go penalty. He retired after lap 37 with a gearbox failure.
• Kevin Magnussen (Renault): He too was stopped by his gearbox, after lap 49. He had completed enough laps to be classified 17th.

For a long time, Pérez was the surprise of the race. After his jump to 4th, he lost that place to Ricciardo on lap 21 and fifth place to Räikkönen six laps from the end. With 6th place and Nico Hülkenberg in 7th, Force India scored 14 points. In terms of numbers, Felipe Nasr in the Sauber gained the most places: he went from 21st on the grid to 15th. Daniil Kvyat, who took a point for Toro Rosso in tenth, and Jenson Button in the McLaren each gained five places. Button had only qualified 17th with a damaged rear wing.

The biggest loser was Bottas: from 6th on the grid he dropped to 14th after his spin, a lap down. Fernando Alonso also had a big spin at Abbey and finished only 13th from 9th on the grid. Vettel took a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and started 11th. In his battle with Felipe Massa, he forced the Williams off the track and received a five-second penalty. In the end he could only manage 9th, just ahead of Kvyat. Räikkönen lost 6th place to Carlos Sainz after a mistake on lap 23, but took the position back and finished fifth. Sainz finished eighth.

According to formula1.com and grandprix.com, it was Hamilton's 47th career win and his fourth at his home race. It was also his third consecutive win at Silverstone.

In the 2016 standings, Rosberg's lead shrank to a single point: he had 168 points, Hamilton 167. Behind them, Räikkönen moved up to 3rd with 106 points, ahead of Ricciardo on 100. Vettel dropped two places to 5th with 98 points, while Verstappen stayed sixth on 90 points. In the constructors' championship, Mercedes extended their lead over Ferrari (204) with 335 points, while Red Bull, on 198 points, were within striking distance of Ferrari. After ten of 21 races, the title fight between the Mercedes drivers was wide open.