Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix in remarkable circumstances on Sunday as he crossed the line with a puncture.

The Mercedes driver scraped to the chequered flag in a dramatic finish, just seconds before a pursuing Max Verstappen could overtake him.

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Hamilton’s teammate Valteri Bottas had suffered the same issue on the penultimate lap, allowing Verstappen to jump into second position.

However, the Red Bull team then made what in hindsight turned out to be a calamitous decision which cost them the race.

They pitted Verstappen in the hope he could set a new fastest lap for an extra championship point, believing there was no chance he could catch Hamilton.

As it turned out, he was one corner away from doing so as the Brit limped over the line on three wheels.

Verstappen finished just five seconds back, having started the last lap 31 seconds behind the race leader.

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Bottas’ puncture saw him drop to finish eleventh while Carlos Sainz fell to 13th as he also picked up a late puncture.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo with Lando Norris fifth.

The safety car was deployed on two occasions at Silverstone following high-speed shunts involving Kevin Magnussen, and then Daniil Kvyat.

But Hamilton kept his cool at both restarts, leading from start to finish, despite the puncture, to move 30 points clear of Bottas in his seemingly inevitable march towards a record-equalling seventh world crown.

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“Up until that last lap, everything was smooth sailing,” said Hamilton.

“When I heard Valtteri’s tyre went I looked at mine and everything seemed fine.

“The car was still turning, and the last laps I started to back off and then the tyre deflated.

“It was definitely heart-in-the-mouth. You could see the tyre was falling off the rim.

“Oh my God, I was just praying to get it round. I nearly didn’t do it, but thank God we did.”

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Source: TalkSport.com Motorsport