Everyone inside the top 10 picked mediums for the start of the race apart from George Russell. The Mercedes driver, Ocon, Tsunoda and De Vries started on softs.
Hülkenberg and Bottas picked the hards.
Off the line, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made sensational starts and the home hero took the lead. Piastri just lost out as Verstappen swept around the outside at turn 1.
Hamilton went off at turn 3 and dropped to P9. However, he got one of the two places back by passing Gasly before the end of the lap.
Norris led Verstappen, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton, Gasly and Albon at the end of the opening lap.
The biggest gainer was Yuki Tsunoda as he moved up to P13 from 16th on the grid.
Sergio Pérez fell back one spot initially but got Sargeant on the second lap.
On lap 5, Verstappen’s persistent pressure paid off as he easily took the lead from Norris down the inside with DRS into Brooklands.
Later in the lap Leclerc made late moves under braking at Stowe and Vale, much to the annoyance of George Russell who was close to passing him.
Two laps later, Lewis Hamilton eased by Fernando Alonso for 7th as Aston’s tough weekend continued.
Contact at turn 4 resulted in early stop for Nico Hülkenberg on lap 7. The German clipped his front wing against the Red Bull as Pérez made a move up the inside for P13.
The first retirement came on lap 10 as Esteban Ocon’s day ended early as his team called him into the pits to retire. A hydraulic leak was the cause.
That DNF for the Frenchman moved Pérez up to P12, and he would move up another two spots by lap 17 by sending it down the inside of Stroll and Albon into Stowe on separate occasions.
Verstappen led Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Alonso, Gasly and Pérez a third of the way into the race.
The first of the big guns pitted on lap 19 as Charles Leclerc switched to the hard compound. He came out in P12 and made a critical move on Stroll seven laps later.
Just like his teammate, Sainz boxed for hards 8 laps later and rejoined five seconds and two places adrift of his teammate.
Russell, Pérez and Piastri all boxed within a couple of laps. It was mediums, softs and hards for the three of them respectively.
On lap 31, Russell used his fresh mediums to perfection as he swopped around the outside of Leclerc at Luffield to take P8.
A safety car was required on lap 33 as Kevin Magnussen’s Haas broke down on the Wellington straight with smoke and flames coming out of the back of his car.
Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Alonso and Albon could pit behind the Safety Car to make their only stop of the race and lose a lot less time. Charles Leclerc also came again to get off hards and put on mediums. McLaren made a bold call of putting hards on the car of Norris, while the rest put on softs.
Verstappen led Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Russell, Alonso, Sainz, Pérez and Leclerc on the restart with 14 laps to go.
It was elbows out for Lando Norris as Hamilton immediately applied the squeeze on his fellow Brit. On lap 39, he had to defend into Brooklands and Luffield. A lap later, Hamilton got to the inside at Luffield but on the run to Copse, Norris had more speed on the straight heading to Copse.
Stroll overtook Gasly at Stowe for P11, but he did so by going off the track. However, the stewards decided no investigation was necessary.
The race for Carlos Sainz fell away in the final 10 laps. Sergio Pérez got him out of shape through the first part of Vale and pulled off a beautiful switchback on the exit of the penultimate corner to take P7.
Sainz then lost out to Albon on the main straight with that bad exit and Leclerc went around the outside at turn 3 to drop the Spaniard to 10th.
The Ferrari would then lose out on the exit of Luffield to Gasly but fought back down the inside into Copse.
At Vale a lap later, Gasly and Stroll touched, damaging the Alpine and leading to a double DNF for the team. The Canadian was penalised 5-seconds for the collision.
A solid recovery drive from Sergio Pérez saw the Mexican use the DRS to pass Fernando Alonso on lap 47 to take 6th.
In spite of huge pressure, the Spaniard fended off Albon and Leclerc at the end of the race as the Thai also had to defend hard from the Ferrari on the final tour.
Out front, Max Verstappen made it six straight wins in a row by comfortably managing the final stint. He also set the fastest lap.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull have also now matched McLaren by securing 11 consecutive wins in Formula One.
Behind the Dutchman, there was delight for the home crowd as Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton finished P2 and P3. It’s a first one for Norris and a fourteenth for Hamilton at Silverstone.
Piastri, Russell, Pérez, Alonso, Albon, Leclerc and Sainz completed the points scorers.
