The Epic 20-Second Hunt by Max Verstappen That Left the Dutch Lion Howling as Crawling Arch Rival Lewis Hamilton Performed F1 Miracle

As we head towards the British Grand Prix, there have been a handful of predictions falling in from F1 analysts and fans across the world. Of course, quite unsurprisingly, Ferrari and Red Bull are yet again standing tall as the favorites, but here’s something interesting – A dark horse is itching to deliver a shocking surprise at Silverstone this time around; Mercedes & most importantly, Lewis Hamilton.

The Briton looked like a changed driver at Montreal last weekend, almost getting his elbows out against much superior Red Bull and Ferrari. This ultimately earned Hamilton a morale-boosting P3 as he will be hoping to carry this momentum into his home race, due in a week’s time.

Now, as a build-up to a potentially nerve-wracking British GP, let’s take a look at one of Hamilton’s most strenuous races at Silverstone. And, no! We’re not going to talk about last year’s outing, which had Hamilton and his arch-rival, Max Verstappen, coming together around the high-speed Copse corner.

Instead, let’s rewind to the 2020 British GP; Hamilton was looking in amazing touch and consequently, was the biggest favorite to win the race. However, little did he know of the twists that were waiting for him at the end of the weekend.

Max Verstappen & Lewis Hamilton engage in the greatest British GP duel

As mentioned earlier, Hamilton pulled off a stunning Q3 lap to clinch pole position against his then-teammate, Valtteri Bottas. Furthermore, on Sunday, he capitalized on the decent getaway at lights out to refrain the Finn from snatching the lead at any point.

A very straightforward race from thereon, and it pretty much seemed like it was Mercedes’ race to lose, with both Hamilton and Bottas pacing well against the rest of the grid. But, quite shockingly, there was panic in the Mercedes garage during the closing stages of the race. Bottas, subsequently, complained of unusually extreme vibrations, which only continued to worsen with each passing lap.

Ultimately, with just 3 laps left, cameras caught a Mercedes limping with a punctured tire around turn 1. And it was indeed Bottas, who then had to cover the entire lap before pitting for a fresh set of tires.

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Red Bull noted this incident and made the smart decision of pitting Verstappen; In the process, the Dutchman ended up over 30 seconds behind Hamilton but managed to hold on to P2.

The incredible final lap feat. Hamilton & Verstappen

Then arrived the surprising Mercedes call; the strategists chose to keep Hamilton out on the track despite the massive gap to Verstappen. And instead, they advised the 7-time world champion to preserve his tires, but, right at the start of the final lap, things began to go haywire.

The final layer of rubber on the leading Mercedes’ front left began to shred into pieces. And even before arriving at turn 4, there was no rubber left to drive with and the front wing, too, began to scrape against the tarmac, causing a massive drop in pace.

The hunting began! Verstappen received the information, as the Red Bull prodigy pushed his challenger to its absolute limits; Consequently, the gap began to drain out, and, heading into the final sector, Verstappen managed to bring the number down to 15 seconds.

Furthermore, the chilling commentary added spice to the chase, as down into the final corner arrived Hamilton with the Mercedes engineers hanging by the pit wall, waiting for the damaged W11 to cross the finish line. And he did! Not by a big margin though, with Verstappen barely 5 seconds away.

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Such was the intensity of the 2020 event. And, now, as we await this year’s British Grand Prix, will the hyped race deliver a spectacle? Well, let’s hope it does!