CAMS Ambassador Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh in an action-packed British Grand Prix, with hometown hero Lewis Hamilton claiming another victory for Mercedes.
Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas could consider himself unlucky, after a safety car in the early stages of the race ultimately gifted Hamilton the victory, with the incident playing perfectly into the Briton’s pit stop strategy.
Bottas ended the race in second, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounding out the podium.
Ricciardo was pleased to finish in the points, but continues to push for stronger results as the year goes on in his Renault.
“All in all, I think it was a good race. Initially, I thought my start wasn’t bad but Lando [Norris] just managed to get me after some clean racing,” Ricciardo said post-race.
“We got him (Norris) back on the undercut but then the safety car played into Carlos’ [Sainz] hands with a free pit stop and that was a bit frustrating. It was unlucky on our part but we hunted him down towards the end but couldn’t mount a real attack to get past.
“It feels positive to be back in the top ten especially after the last two rounds. Our single-lap and race pace has certainly been a solid turnaround in a short period of time. Looking back to two weeks ago, we’d have taken this result.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was understandably elated with the result – his sixth British Grand Prix win.
"I remember my first win here in 2008 and the feeling that I had coming out of Brooklands and going down the straight and seeing the crowd, it felt so reminiscent of that today - the excitement and happiness and joy that I felt were exactly the same as back then,” Hamilton said.
“I've done so many races now, and you would think that after so many races you'd get used to it and the feeling would numb down, but it felt like it was the first win I ever had.”
Further down the field, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen showed he continues to have plenty of race pace and was looking most likely to claim third until he clashed with Sebastian Vettel in the second half of the race. Somehow, despite the contact looking severe, both drivers were able to continue, albeit with some minor damage and places lost. Vettel, however was forced to pit and was penalised 10 seconds for causing the accident. Verstappen ended the race in fifth, Vettel out of the points in 16th.
With Sunday’s victory, Hamilton further cemented his lead atop the Drivers’ Championship standings, with a 39 point gap to teammate Bottas.
Crews will now prepare for the next event at Germany’s Hockenheim circuit on July 26-28.