Verstappen surprised in Silverstone - next Vettel bankruptcy

Lewis Hamilton? No! Max Verstappen wins the Formula 1 anniversary race at Silverstone. Sebastian Vettel has another day to forget. In the end, Nico Hülkenberg has no chance of a podium.

Silverstone (dpa) - In the tactical thriller from Silverstone, Max Verstappen raced to his first Formula 1 win of the season in the next disaster for Sebastian Vettel.

With a masterful tire strategy, the Dutchman from Red Bull relegated the Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, beaten for the first time this year, to second and third place in the anniversary race of the motorsport premier class on Sunday. The British World Champion drew level with Michael Schumacher 70 years after the first Grand Prix in history in England with his 155th podium. "It wasn't our day," admitted Hamilton.

"Boys, what a great race. Thank you guys, thank you to the factory. We'll keep stepping on the gas," said the happy Verstappen on the pit radio after his ninth career win and jumped into the arms of his engineers and mechanics for joy: "We will to celebrate!"

Substitute driver Nico Hülkenberg missed the podium again in his second substitute assignment for Racing Point, but delivered a remarkable performance behind team mate Lance Stroll in seventh place. After a lightning spin, Vettel experienced his next disaster in position twelve. He even sharply criticized Ferrari's tire strategy over the pit radio. Stable rival Charles Leclerc narrowly missed the podium in fourth.

"I'm running out of answers," said a perplexed hag before the red lights went out. "The worm is in." And how! In the first corner, the four-time world champion began to lurch with his Ferrari and spun off the track. The 33-year-old was still lucky that he didn't touch a competitor. Vettel, who had already suffered an engine failure during training, was passed all the way back from position eleven.

Hülkenberg didn't come off as well as hoped. Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer noted that he hadn't been able to practice much, but in the same breath he praised the Rhinelander for the laps that followed: "He does it well." The substitute for the Mexican Sergio Perez, who had the corona virus, immediately received pressure from Verstappen and lost a place as a sensational start third. "I have the Zugspitze in front of me, I'm not a mountaineer, but I brought my mountaineering shoes with me," said Hulkenberg with a laugh before his second race for Racing Point after a clutch damage slowed him down last week.

Formula 1 suffered image damage on the weekend on which the premier motorsport class remembered the first Grand Prix in its history on May 13, 1950 in Silverstone: The poisoned dispute over the allegedly illegal copying of components at Racing Point overshadowed the formula 1 day in England.

Among the leaders, pole man Bottas and his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton got fresh tires first. In lap 16, Hülkenberg, who was now second behind Verstappen, also got new rubbers. The Emmericher came back in seventh place. Verstappen, who, in contrast to his rivals, had started with very hard tires, came into the garage on lap 27. With new medium tires he drove back on the track just behind Bottas, but still ahead of Hamilton. Shortly afterwards, Verstappen also took the lead back from the Finn.

Vettel meanwhile complained with violent words that, in his opinion, he was brought in too early for the first pit stop. "I'm stuck here. You know that you screwed it up," criticized the Hessian who received 25 hard tires in circulation.

Verstappen and Bottas, who will also drive for Mercedes in 2021, even came into the garage at the same time. Hamilton, who was struggling with his rubbers, now took the lead. On the 42nd lap, the Brit came to the pits for the last time and fell to fourth place. In the final phase, Hulkenberg tried everything again with another stop, but could no longer intervene in the fight for the podium. However, Verstappen could not take the lead after his brilliant performance.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200809-99-102028 / 3

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