F1: Lewis Hamilton wins British Grand Prix with only three tyres

Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton proved once again why he is considered to be the best Formula 1 driver of his generation. On Sunday's British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit, Hamilton crossed the finish line with only three working tyres on his Mercedes.

It was a Mercedes 1-2 at the starting grid with Hamilton leading Valtteri Bottas. They qualified .7 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and continued to be leagues above the rest of the field during the race.

The British Grand Prix began with only 19 cars after Racing Point substitute driver Nico Hulkenberg failed to start. Mechanics failed to fire up what is effectively Sergio Perez's car, and a dream return to F1 turned into a disappointing mess for Hulk.

Speaking of troubled drivers, Red Bull's Alex Albon crashed into Kevin Magnussen in the opening stages of the race, resulting in a safety car period. Magnussen became the second casualty of the race, while Albon escaped with minor damages. At this point, the Mercedes drivers had already started building up a lead. Verstappen was able to reel them back in thanks to the safety car, but it became irrelevant as they immediately surged ahead as soon as racing resumed.

There was an exciting midfield battle involving the McLarens of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris. They looked to be in a good position to challenge Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for 4th position, but soon got caught up with a fight to defend places against the Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel languished between 10th and 11th place for most of the race before finally finishing in 10th place. Kimi Raikkonen is another former world champion who had a miserable race, finishing 17th after his front wing completely fell apart with one lap remaining.

It was status quo up front with the top four drivers maintaining their qualifying positions. However, Bottas had an unexpected puncture with two laps to go after the delamination of his front left tyre. He slid back the order before finally getting into the pits for fresh tyres. Bottas rejoined and only made it to 11th place. At this point, Hamilton was too far away up front and Verstappen had a big lead against Leclerc who was now in 3th.

Red Bull opted to give Verstappen fresh tyres in order to try for the fastest lap. In the end, it was a decision that cost him the race win. In the final lap, Hamilton's left front also started deflating. He still had most of the lap ahead of him and had to crawl around the lap. Luckily for him, Red Bull's extra pit stop meant that Verstappen was 30 seconds away.

Hamilton calmly drove to the chequered flag while remaining cautious about safety. It was an extremely dangerous and precarious trip around the track as his tyre had started to shred before locking up. Still, Hamilton kept his cool as his engineer updated him on the shrinking gap to the charging Verstappen.

In the end, Hamilton crossed the line with the Red Bull already visible in his mirrors. It was a heart-stopping dramatic finish that will surely be spoken about for years to come. In a post race interview, Hamilton said, ""As the minutes go by I feel worse and worse when I realise what just happened, In the heat of the moment you have the adrenaline going, and I guess that 'fight for survival' instinct comes out."