Lewis Hamilton limped to a record seventh home British Grand Prix victory after his Mercedes suffered a dramatic last lap puncture on Sunday. In an astonishing finish to a race he had dominated from pole position, the Briton stretched his Formula One world championship lead to 30 points. It was the Briton’s 87th career win as he moved within four of Michael Schumacher’s Formula One record. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished second, and would have won had he not pitted for fresh tyres in a bid to score an extra point for the fastest lap, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third. Hamilton’s teammate and closest rival Valtteri Bottas failed to score after also suffering a late puncture and finishing 11th. WHAT THE... Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix with a puncture Valtteri Bottas drops from P2 to P11 with two laps to go Sainz drops from P4 to P13 on the final lap #BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Pb4oXxLEmx — Formula 1 (@F1) August 2, 2020 “Down the straight the tyre deflated and that was a heart in the mouth moment. I was just praying to get it round,” said Hamilton who has now won three straight races since the season began after the enforced break due to the pandemic. “I was really chilled at the end. Bono was giving me the info [about Verstappen]. I’ve definitely never experienced something like that on the last lap.” George Floyd protests: Lewis Hamilton criticises F1 for staying silent over death The race was forced to run behind a safety car after an opening lap crash. Kevin Magnussen of Haas collided with Alex Albon’s Red Bull at the final corner, the Danish driver spinning off into the gravel after trying to squeeze past the Thai driver. The front left wheel of his Haas car was smashed off after the impact as he attempted to cut across Albon at the apex of the corner leading on to the start-finish straight. CLASSIFICATION After an absolutely crazy final two laps, confirmation of Lewis Hamilton's seventh win at Silverstone And the first one by crossing the line with a puncture! #BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ueDrd5BwOo — Formula 1 (@F1) August 2, 2020 The safety car stayed out for five laps before the race resumed with pole sitting six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton out in front in his Mercedes. The London-born Thai driver Albon said: “I don’t know where he expected me to go, to be honest.” He pitted on lap seven, following the re-start, just as the stewards announced they were launching an investigation into the collision. Lewis Hamilton wins Hungarian Grand Prix with thrilling triumph over Max Verstappen Magnussen’s exit reduced the field to 18 cars after the pre-race elimination of Nico Hulkenberg whose Force India car failed to start. The German had qualified ninth after his dramatic late call-up on Thursday night to replace Sergio Perez, who tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier, Nico Hulkenberg’s dramatic return to Formula One suffered a setback when his Racing Point car failed to start ahead of the race. The German driver, called in to replace coronavirus victim Sergio Perez late on Thursday after the Mexican returned a positive test result, was left to stand aside as his crew worked on the controversial “pink Mercedes” car in the pits. The former Williams, Sauber, Force India and Renault driver could do nothing, but watch their desperate efforts. He had done a very solid job on his return, after being dropped by Renault at the end of 2019, to qualify ninth on the grid. The team removed the floor of his car to try and diagnose the problem, but ran out of time due to unresolved power unit problems. Sebastian Vettel, a four-time F1 champion, placed 10th and has now failed to get into the top five for his worst start to a season since 2008. Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Reuters