Lewis Hamilton battled back from a 10-second penalty for a crash with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen to pass Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and claim a dramatic victory at the 2021 British Grand Prix on Sunday.
It was a huge win for Hamilton, who not only captured his eighth British Grand Prix title but also sliced Verstappen's lead at the top of the Driver's Championship to just eight points after 11 races.
Racing in front of a partisan home crowd at Silverstone, Hamilton brought life to his stuttering title defense with a fantastic drive. With Verstappen holding a 33-point lead at the top of the standings after winning each of the previous three races, Hamilton knew that he could ill afford to give more ground to the flying Dutchman.
Verstappen crashes after Copse collision with Hamilton
That certainly was the case in the opening lap of Sunday's race as Verstappen and Hamilton went toe-to-toe in a heavyweight battle royale. For eight corners on the first lap, Hamilton and Verstappen went side by side through the sweeping turns of the Silverstone race track.
However, tragedy struck on turn nine as neither driver would give ground at the famously quick Copse corner. After being denied earlier with his passing move at the Brooklands corner, Hamilton dummied Verstappen as they headed down into the 190 mph Copse corner.
The seven-time world champion feinted to the outside before diving inside as he tried to move past Verstappen, who edged back ahead. The inevitable happened as Hamilton's front left wheel made contact with Verstappen's right rear in the middle of the corner, sending the Red Bull flying into the barriers on the outside.
Fortunately, the championship leader managed to escape the heavy crash largely unscathed, with the Dutch driver later going to the FIA medical center and then to a hospital for precautionary check-ups. Even though it appeared to be a racing incident at that point, FIA stewards ruled that Hamilton was predominantly to blame for the collision, handing the British driver a 10-second time penalty for his infraction.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner was livid with this decision, saying Hamilton's penalty did not fit the crime as he blasted his maneuver as an amateur and desperate mistake and not befitting of a seven-time world champion.
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Hamilton overtakes Leclerc late on for famous home win
Horner's disgust only exacerbated as the race went on as Hamilton slowly climbed up the podium places. Hamilton was still 2.3 seconds behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who gained the lead after the Copse incident in the opening lap when he made his first pit stop on Lap 27.
After serving his 10-second penalty in that pit stop, Hamilton dropped behind Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and McLaren's Lando Norris. However, the chase was on after Hamilton passed Norris on Lap 31, and Bottas was ordered to let him by on Lap 40.
Hamilton still trailed Leclerc by eight seconds at that point but was soon going a second a lap quicker than the Ferrari driver. The British star caught Leclerc with three laps remaining and made the momentous overtaking maneuver at Copse yet again, with the Monaco-based driver going wide to give Hamilton one of his most memorable wins.
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