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Lewis Hamilton wins British GP after surviving last lap with punctured tyre

The Mercedes driver limped to victory ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Not even a puncture on the last lap has stopped Lewis Hamilton from winning the British Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver's left front tyre failed halfway through the final lap.

But the British driver managed to limp to victory in Silverstone ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

The Dutch driver would have won if it wasn’t for a late pit stop to secure the point for fastest lap.

The victory was Hamilton's 87th career win and moves him within four of Michael Schumacher's Formula One record.

Hamilton said the race had been smooth sailing until the final lap.

"I nearly didn't get round the last two corners.”

"I noticed the shape of the tyre shifting, and that was heart in the mouth and I didn't know if it had gone down until I braked.”

The 35-year-old said his engineer Peter Bonnington was updating how close Verstappen was getting as he neared the flag over the radio.

"The car seemed to turn OK through Maggotts and Becketts… and then it was a real struggle in the last two corners. I could hear the gap coming down from 19 to 10. I could hear out of the last corner him going, 'Nine, eight, seven,' and I was just like: 'Get back on the gas.'"

Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas also suffered punctured late on and saw him drop out of the points.

The tyre problems didn’t end there with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz suffering the same issue. The Spanish driver’s slid back from fourth to 13th.

The late drama allowing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to claim third.

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