Lap 15 of 52: Leclerc overtakes almost instantly once they get out of the pits, after Verstappen drifted way wide – he gets on the radio to tell his mechanics that he had no grip.
Lap 14 of 52: Leclerc and Verstappen both come into the pits! Both come out with fresh sets of medium compound tyres, and Verstappen comes out of the pit lane first!
Lap 13 of 52: Pierre Gasly becomes the first of the leading group to pit. He comes out with a fresh set of hard tyres.
Lap 11 of 52: Verstappen tries to overtake Leclerc, and when his move fails Vettel attacks him from behind, and from trying to third he’s suddenly fighting off fifth! In the end, positions remain unchanged.
Lap 10 of 57: The two Mercedes have stretched their lead a bit, and are about half a second ahead of Leclerc in third.
Lap 8 of 57: Kevin Magnussen is back in the pits, and this time he won’t be leaving them. That’s his first retirement of the season.
Lap 7 of 57: We see replays of the two Haas cars bumping each other in the opening lap, which was no the ideal start to proceedings.
The top four remain in the order they started the race in. Behind them Sebastian Vettel has overtaken Pierre Gasly to take fifth.
The race is at the front, where Hamilton is sniffing around Bottas. He looks one side, he looks the other. Then Hamilton takes the lead at Luffield! And then Bottas takes it back at Copse!
A horrible start for Haas, with problems to both cars and Magnussen already lapped by the leaders.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen are forced into the pits in the very early stages, with rear punctures apparently to blame.
Norris has overtaken Daniel Ricciardo to take seventh place. Before the race Norris said that him v Ricciardo was his mini-race.
Go go go go go! Bottas holds on to his lead into the first corner, and it looks a clean start.
Bottas leads Hamilton at the first corner. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters
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Preambles complete, we are ready to race. Well, not us. We’re ready to sit on our sofas. But some other people are.
Pierre Gasly’s car is also having some last-minute surgery. People in Red Bull overalls are sprinting around the pit lane.
Max Verstappen’s rear wing is being changed on the grid, with mechanics scurrying hither and yon, one of them pushing Sky’s cameras away.
“Hopefully I can put on a good show and go forwards, not backwards,” Norris says, setting the bar high.
“What an embarrassment of sporting riches we have today,” writes Guy Hornsby. “The race should be Lewis’s providing he makes a fast start, but predictions make fools of us all. But it’s hard not to be impressed by Lando Norris, not least because it’s finally an improved year for McLaren.” He is a really engaging character, and given a fair wind could be a star.
Brilliantly chaotic scenes on the grid. Lee Mack is there. Philip Schofield has a quick chat. Two Spice Girls (scary and ginger, since you ask) are there. Daniel Craig is looking predictably suave. “It’s my first time, I’m just trying to take it all in,” he says. Apparently it’s the 1,007th grand prix, which is why he’s been invited, and why Red Bull have a James Bond-themed paint job.
Sky and Channel 4 do their grid walks. Both bump into Mo Farah at the same time, and interview him together. He’s asked if he’s spoken to Lewis Hamilton. “He was in that zone,” he says. “Once someone’s in that zone you just want to leave him there.”
On Sky, Lando Norris is interviewed while driving round Silverstone, an enterprise ruined both by the fact he is unable to talk and drive at the same time, and by the fact he gets the car stuck in a gravel trap. “that’s the most embarrassing thing I think I’ve ever done,” he concludes.
On Channel 4, Gareth Southgate is interviewing Toto Wolff. So far, they have repeatedly established their admiration for each other. They eventually move on to management techniques. “Mistakes happen everywhere, but you can only eliminate them if you discuss them,” says Wolff. Southgate nods enthusiastically.
Sky interview Steve Coogan, who “was invited down here by Lewis”. They’re unlikely chums, are they not? “I’m quite friendly with him,” he adds. “He keeps threatening to make an appearance on Alan Partridge. Hopefully Lewis will do what he normally does.”
Hello world!
The third of the three sporting crown jewels glittering their way across this English Sunday afternoon is at Silverstone, where Lewis Hamilton – winner of four of the last five grands prix this year, and four of the last five British grands prix to boot – starts second. Here’s Giles Richards, setting the scene. Welcome!
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