MADRID – Lewis Hamilton is looking for a record sixth victory at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Mercedes driver arrives in Silverstone with a comfortable standing advantage.
The 34-year-old Briton is currently leading the standings with 197 points, 31 ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas and 71 in front of Red Bull Racing Honda’s Max Verstappen, who is looking for continued progress after his recent Austrian Grand Prix victory.
The race at the Silverstone Circuit, which signed on Wednesday a contract to host Formula 1 until 2024, comes at a time when Honda is expected to be seen at top of the podium again after Verstappen’s win on June 30.
Hamilton, who has earned six race wins this season, was vying for his seventh 2019 victory in Austria, forgetting that a year ago he briefly lost his lead in the standings to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel after he retired from the 2018 race due to a loss of power.
This year, Hamilton finished fifth in Spielberg, Austria, while Bottas came in third to complete the podium after Verstappen and second place Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen, who also won the 2018 race in Spielberg, repeated his victory after he overtook Leclerc.
This victory showed how the Honda engines can again win races against Ferrari and the team’s ability to climb to the top of the podium.
McLaren – which is often in the top four fastest teams behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – announced on Tuesday that it was sticking with Spain’s Carlos Sainz and British driver Lando Norris in 2020 Formula 1 season.
Sainz, 24, signed with McLaren from Renault as the replacement for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who stepped away from F1 at the end of 2018 to focus on endurance races and the Indy 500.
In Austria, Norris finished the sixth, while his teammate Sainz was in the eighth position.
In the ninth spot came Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo, three places ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo.
In this weekend’s race at Silverstone, Formula One tire provider Pirelli has selected the same tires picked for Bahrain and Spain; the C1 (white), C2 (yellow) and C3 (red).
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